Department of Defense 2021 REPI Challenge Grants Announced

Innovative awards benefit natural resource conservation in support of the military mission

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (July 21, 2021)

Greenville, SC – The Department of Defense Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program has announced $15.6 million in funding for the 2021 REPI Challenge Program. Partners in seven states will undertake projects benefitting 12 installations and the communities that support them. These new awards will leverage nearly $21.6 million in partner contributions.

This is the tenth year of the REPI Challenge Program. As noted on its website, the REPI Challenge supports “…innovative projects that limit incompatible development, enhance military installation resilience to climate change and extreme weather events, and/or relieve current or anticipated environmental restrictions on military testing, training, or operations at locations hosting key mission capabilities.”

“The REPI Challenge Program continues to stimulate projects that protect critical training areas and enhance resilience at these sites,” said Peter Stangel, Chief Operating Officer at the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, which administers the program as a service to the Department of Defense. “These projects also enhance the communities that support military installations—REPI Challenge projects benefit working lands, such as forests, farms and ranches, that fuel rural economies and enrich our quality of life.”

The 2021 REPI Challenge funding recipients are:

U.S. Army Garrison, Hawaii: Pohakuloa Training Area, Makua Military Reservation, and Schofield Barracks, HI. Wildfire mitigation management and restoration; $1.1 million.
Camp Ripley, MN. Resilience and implementation strategic planning; $0.2 million.
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, NC. Protection of family farms and forests; $1.0 million.
Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, National Training Center Fort Irwin, CA. Desert tortoise habitat restoration and management; $1.5 million.
Tyndall Air Force Base, FL. Living shoreline construction and coastal restoration; $4.8 million.
White Sands Missile Range, NM. Compatible land protection; $5.1 million.
Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, VA. Living shoreline construction and coastal restoration; $2.0 million.

A fact sheet on the 2021 REPI Challenge Projects and information about a webinar highlighting some of the projects is available at http://www.repi.mil/Buffer-Projects/REPI-Challenge/.

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For more information contact:
Brandon Walters, Communications and Administrative Coordinator; 864-233-7646; brandon@usendowment.org

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 and forest-reliant communities.

For more information about REPI and the REPI Challenge, please visit www.REPI.mil.