2015 Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program Challenge RFP

U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, Greenville, SCFor IMMEDIATE RELEASE (March 13, 2015)

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) today announced that it is accepting proposals for the 2015 Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program Challenge. The 2015 Challenge Request for Proposals and the downloadable PDF proposal form are now available on the U.S. Endowmentfor Forestry and Community’s (the Endowment) webpage. This information is also available by contactingPeter@runslikeclock.work. The deadline for submissions is 8 p.m. EDT, Friday, May 29, 2015. Up to $8 million is available for the 2015 REPI Challenge.

“The REPI Challenge Program is an effective way to generate innovative, high-impact land transaction projects that maintain compatible land uses and conserve habitats around DoD installations in support ofmilitary readiness,” said Peter Stangel, Senior Vice President at the Endowment. “The increase inpotential funding available in 2015 from $5 million to $8 million should result in even better projects thisyear.” The Endowment helps administer the REPI Challenge for DoD.

The 2015 REPI Challenge seeks to harness the creativity of the private sector to facilitate land transactions at any DoD installation that limits incompatible development in the vicinity of the bases or that relieves current or anticipated environmental restrictions on military testing, training, or operations.

The REPI Challenge is particularly effective at stimulating partnerships which advance the Sentinel Landscapes Program, which seeks to promote large-scale land protection with significant conservation and working lands benefits by leveraging the resources of the Departments of Agriculture (primarily Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the U.S. Forest Service) and Interior (primarily the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

In 2014 two REPI Challenge grants were awarded. Fort Huachuca, Arizona, received $4 million for a dynamic partnership that includes Arizona Land and Water Trust, Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs, NRCS, the Bureau of Land Management, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, who are working together to reduce land and water development between the post and the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area. Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, received $1 million to protect land under the Atlantic Test Range airspace heavily used by planes for Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation missions. The Chesapeake Conservancy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NRCS, and the states of Maryland and Delaware are collaborating on this effort.

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For more information contact:
Peter Stangel, 404-915-2763, peter@runslikeclock.work
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) is a not-for-profit public charity working collaboratively with partners in the public and private sectors to advance systemic, transformative, and sustainable change for the health and vitality of the nation’s working forests andforest-reliant communities – www.usendowment.org