Southeast Sentinel Landscapes
About
Sentinel landscapes are areas where conservation, working lands, and national defense interests converge. As part of the Sentinel Landscapes Partnership, designated sentinel landscapes are supported by the DOW's Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program, and complementary natural resource and conservation programs administered by the Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and Forest Service (USFS) and the Department of Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Coordination among these programs provides military installations and other sentinel landscape partners with essential tools to protect irreplaceable training areas supporting our warfighters. The SERPPAS Sentinel Landscape work group, more specifically, includes designated landscapes where local partners are working collaboratively to strengthen military readiness, conserve natural resources, bolster agricultural and forestry economies, increase public access to outdoor recreation, and enhance landscape resilience across the Southeast. The SERPPAS Sentinel Landscapes work group connects current and future designated sentinel landscapes to address shared challenges, share learned lessons, and promote landscape-scale efforts across sentinel landscapes in the Southeast.
Strategic Objectives
- Coordinate with the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC) on promoting Compatible Land Use Planning efforts in the Southeast.
- Accelerate conservation of working lands through advocacy and support of greater funding for existing programs that acquire conservation easements over working landscapes.
- Encourage implementation of landowner engagement and outreach efforts across the sentinel landscapes to promote greater awareness of state and federal programs for landowners that advance sustainable land use practices and promote greater land conservation around military installations and ranges.
- Expand coordination and collaboration between all SERPPAS work groups to better integrate actions that complement and support regional efforts across the sentinel landscapes on Regional Species of Greatest Conservation Need (RSGCN), State Wildlife Action Plans, and wildlife corridors.
- Assist Sentinel Landscapes in the Southeast to assess their encroachment and hazard exposures and vulnerabilities and integrate resilience planning and adaptation into their landscape implementation.
- Use the SERPPAS network to share information, resources, and lessons learned from the designated Sentinel Landscapes to demonstrate the value and purpose of these partnerships supporting national defense.
Work Group Lead
Dr. Kathryn (Katy) Smith is a project manager at Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute on the Strategic Conservation Policy and Planning team. Katy is currently the Department of War (DoW) liaison for America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative (ALRI), a collaborative restoration and conservation partnership, where she provides coordination for the needs of the partnership and assists in the development of strategic conservation planning for the restoration of longleaf pine ecosystems in the Southeastern U.S. Outside of ALRI, Katy helps develop innovative conservation strategies and regulatory solutions for complex threatened, endangered, and other at-risk species’ conservation challenges. A large focus of her work is to increase flexibility for military mission activities while simultaneously advancing conservation and recovery of species on both public and private lands.
Katy earned a Bachelor of Science in biology from the University of Central Arkansas and a Master of Science in wildlife and conservation from Texas A&M University-Commerce. She then completed her Doctorate in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University in 2016. Katy originally began working for the Institute in 2008 as a graduate research assistant conducting research on black-capped vireo and golden-cheeked warbler ecology and conservation. Since then, she has worked for the Institute developing natural resource planning assistance for military installations, writing Species Status Assessments for the USFWS, and overseeing ESA-related conservation planning projects that have allowed her to integrate her ecology and policy background.
Katy currently lives in Arkansas with her daughter, Juniper. In her free time, she enjoys hiking with her dogs, birding, and promoting the building of a local library in her small community.
Bruce Beard (Co-Lead)
Associate Director of PolicyTexas A&M Natural Resources Institute
bruce.beard@ag.tamu.edu
Bruce Beard was the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute’s Associate Director for Policy and led NRI’s Military Land Sustainability Program. Bruce brings more than 30 years of federal land management and natural resource policy experience to NRI and is a nationally recognized advocate for Sentinel Landscapes.
Bruce served within the Executive Office of the President at the Office of Management and Budget in three Administrations, where he was a principal advisor on federal land management and natural resource policy issues. He was the OMB Branch Chief for the Interior Branch responsible for coordination of budget, legislation and regulatory issues affecting the Department of the Interior. At the Department of Defense, he was instrumental in establishing the Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program, which he directed, and helped to initiate the Sentinel Landscapes Partnership between the Departments of Agriculture, Defense and the Interior.
Bruce earned his Bachelor of Science in wildlife and fisheries from Texas A&M University, and a Master of Public Affairs in environmental policy from Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He received the 2011 Outstanding Alumni Award from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M and the 2012 Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service at the Department of Defense.
Resources
Documents
News
Two New Sentinel Landscapes Designated in Mississippi and Colorado
6/29/26
The Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service helps ensure that wildlife habitat remains healthy and resilient in two newly designated Sentinel Landscapes in Mississippi and Colorado.
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NFWF Awards $20 Million in Grants to Restore Longleaf Pine Habitat across the Southeast
6/17/26
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) announced $20 million in grants for 25 projects through the Longleaf Landscape Stewardship Fund aimed at restoring and protecting longleaf pine forests across nine Southeastern states, including Texas. Combined with matching funds, the effort will generate $38.6 million in total conservation investment. The projects will restore more than 380,000 acres of habitat, including planting longleaf pine seedlings, expanding prescribed burns, and helping private landowners manage their forests.
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Army Reserve, Conservation Partners Safeguard Endangered Gopher Tortoise During Operation Sentinel Justice
6/15/26
A unique partnership between the U.S. Army Reserve, The Nature Conservancy, and the Camp Shelby Environmental Office is ensuring that military readiness and environmental stewardship advance side by side. Their collaborative efforts focus on protecting one of the Southeast’s keystone species, the Gopher Tortoise, through strategic planning, habitat management, scientific conservation initiatives, and soldier education.
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Announcing the 2026 Sentinel Landscape Designations and Release of the 2025 Accomplishments Report
6/8/26
The Sentinel Landscapes Partnership announced the 2026 Sentinel Landscape designations, the East Mississippi Sentinel Landscape and the Pikes Peak Sentinel Landscape in Colorado, as well as the release of its 2025 Accomplishments Report. Together, these milestones reaffirm the Partnership’s commitment to strengthening national defense, enhancing installation resilience, and advancing coordinated action among Federal, State, Local, Tribal, and private partners.
Comprised of the Department of War (DoW), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Partnership integrates conservation and working-lands stewardship with national security priorities and the operational needs of defense installations. With the addition of Pikes Peak and East Mississippi, the network now includes 21 designated landscapes, marking over a decade of collaboration to safeguard critical training areas, promote compatible land use, and strengthen the resilience of defense communities. To learn more about Sentinel Landscapes, visit: https://sentinellandscapes.org/.
Anchored by Naval Air Station Meridian and home to Columbus Air Force Base, the East Mississippi Sentinel Landscape supports a critical portion of the nation’s pilot training enterprise through its extensive training routes, special-use airspace, and compatible rural lands. The East Mississippi Sentinel Landscape joins five other Sentinel Landscapes within the SERPPAS six-state region.
The 2025 Accomplishments Report underscores substantial progress in FY 2024, highlighting more than $1.75 billion in combined federal, state, local, and private investment to date, including $368 million secured in FY 2024 alone. These strategic investments play a critical role in supporting military readiness by protecting vital training corridors, mitigating encroachment pressures, and enhancing landscape resilience around priority installations. For more information on the 2025 Accomplishment Report, visit here.
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State Roadmaps Released by the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative (SASMI)
4/1/26
Implementation teams led by a state-based organization and comprised of local, state, and federal partners worked together with communities and key stakeholder groups to develop action-oriented roadmaps for each of the SASMI states.
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Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program released its 2026 Report to Congress
3/20/26
The Department of War’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program released its 2026 Report to Congress, highlighting two decades of protecting mission-critical capabilities. From FY 2003–FY 2025, REPI leveraged $1.7 billion, alongside $1.5 billion in partner contributions, to safeguard more than 1.4 million acres across 41 states and territories.
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Events & Webinars
- 80th Annual SEAFWA Conference
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October 26 - 30, 2026
Nashville, TN - Installation Innovation Forum 2026
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October 26 - 28, 2026
Tampa, FL - 16th Biennial Longleaf Conference
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October 27 - 30, 2026
Williamsburg, VA
SERPPAS Meetings
August 2026
- Fall 2026 SERPPAS Steering Committee Meeting
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August 19 - 20, 2026
Atlanta, GA