COLORADO SPRINGS – The Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments will use a nearly $700,000 Military Installation Resiliency Review grant recently awarded from the Department of Defense Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation to continue work on nine years of coordination between the region’s five military installations and local governments.
“Our military partners are an important part of our community, and a grant like this allows us to take the planning steps to enhance civilian and military communication and collaboration,” said Andrew Gunning, executive director at PPACG. “For almost 10 years, we have worked to bring the right people to the table to identify and work on projects together that can benefit everyone.”
The 18-month grant will bring together military and community leaders and planners on five projects:
- Establishment of senior leadership group: Quarterly meetings between military installations, local governments and community organizations to provide technical, political and functional guidance for the grant deliverables.
- Support of wildfire mitigation efforts: Coordination with local fire protection districts to determine and apply for grants to support wildfire mitigation efforts bordering military installations. This is a continuation of ongoing efforts in previous Department of Defense grants.
- Stormwater mitigation work along Jackson Creek: Streambed and embankment erosion outside of the northeastern boundary of the U.S. Air Force Academy has led to habitat degradation of the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse, identified as threatened under the United States Endangered Species Act. This is a continuation of efforts under previous grants.
- Critical infrastructure planning: A tabletop exercise will focus on the infrastructure supporting military installations and the communication between Department of Defense entities and local emergency management.
- Ongoing coordination between military installations and local governments: Maintaining and enhancing the coordination for long-term planning and community topics with military installations.
“We expect that we’ll be able to increase the capacity of our military installations to plan, respond and recover from a wide array of environmental conditions that could impact mission-critical functions,” said Paul Rochette, military planning program manager at PPACG. “It takes a large amount of coordination from multiple entities to address, and we appreciate the continued support from the Department of Defense to continue this work in our region.”
PPACG secured its first military planning grant in October 2015 for the establishment of the Colorado Springs Regional Joint Land Use Study, examining the impacts of existing and future land uses and missions of the five military installations. The report, produced in December 2018, recommended 12 strategies and 109 actions. Subsequent grants from the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation have supported the implementation of those actions, including the accomplishment of:
- U.S. Air Force Academy sub-area report on airfield, stormwater and transportation issues
- Regional support for the U.S. Air Force Academy’s 2019 Aircraft Noise Levels study.
- Participation in the City of Colorado Springs’ ReToolCOS, which designated the U.S. Air Force Academy’s airfield as an airport for the first time.
- Conservation easements with the state’s Trust for Public Lands around the U.S. Air Force Academy’s auxiliary airfield in eastern El Paso County.
- Preliminary work to identify ownership and responsible jurisdictions for roadway improvements to Peterson Space Force Base’s North entrance. The project recently received a $10.7 million grant from the Defense Community Infrastructure Program.
About the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments
PPACG’s 16 local governments collaborate on issues that cross political boundaries and work together to reach solutions that benefit the entire Pikes Peak region. PPACG’s primary focus is regional planning in transportation, aging issues, military impact planning and air and water quality.
About the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation Military Installation Resiliency Review
The Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation’s Installation Resilience program activities are designed to support the organizing, planning and implementation actions necessary to foster, protect and enhance the sustainability of our military installations. Local civilian jurisdictions partner with their local installations as “one community” to identify constructed or natural threats across the community that are likely to impair the continued operational utility of local military installations, and then plan and carry out responses to enhance infrastructure and other resilience measures and projects involving the protection, restoration, and maintenance of natural features. This program enables a “one community” response through a collaborative federal, state, local and private effort to optimize the capacities and resources each can bring to the effort.