Tag: Natural Resources Management
From wilderness guide to environmental specialist: How CEMML’s early-career program helped one intern find her path
After early job experiences as a wilderness guide and ski instructor, Ellery McCaw came into CEMML’s Early-Career Development Program expecting just a part-time internship. What she found was a platform to gain career insights and build on technical skills. She left the program confident that the critical administrative and procedural skills she acquired will help her advance her career ambitions.
March 13, 2026
Community partnerships drive conservation success at Bellows Air Force Station
For Emma Beard, a CEMML natural resource specialist based at Bellows Air Force Station in Hawai’i, the work is all about sustainability – ecologically, culturally, and operationally. To achieve that, it takes a whole community. Beard regularly brings together service members, educators, community leaders and volunteers all in the name of an island-wide conservation effort.
February 12, 2026
It started with a single map: How wetland delineation is becoming a pillar in CEMML’s $10M Air Force GIS program
It began as just another mapping project, albeit a challenging one, for CEMML’s GIS Team to map the boundaries of wetland areas at Patrick Space Force Base in Florida. Little did the team know that their efforts would result in the creation of a new model for wetland delineation across the military’s vast network of land.
February 10, 2026
An intertwined ecosystem: Species monitoring helps wildlife and the military mission
What does the behavior and health of a small, roundish mammal scampering through the sandy soil at Hill Air Force Base’s Utah Test and Training Range have to do with the military mission? More than you’d think. CEMML, in partnership with the base’s Natural Resources Program, is tracking the dark kangaroo mouse and several other species to better understand the health of the local ecosystem and inform military training operations.
December 9, 2025
Conserving reptiles — and training troops – in the Mojave Desert
The arid Mojave desert sprawls across roughly 50,000 square miles, mostly in southeast California and southern Nevada. Several rare species of wildlife live here, including the western pond turtle and the Mojave desert tortoise. These reptiles thrive in habitat free from development and human intrusion — and they find it on the Mojave’s vast military bases. CEMML, in partnership with the Air Force, is keeping a close eye on their behavior and numbers.
December 2, 2025
From Myanmar to Florida: A global journey to a natural resources career
Originally from Myanmar, Soe Min Thu has long had an interest in the preservation of natural spaces. His pursuit of a career in natural resources management led him to CEMML’s Early-career Development Program and an internship as a vegetation technician at Florida’s Avon Park Air Force Range. That experience evolved into a permanent position with CEMML as part of Avon Park’s botany team.
August 6, 2025
CEMML Early-Career Program supports creek revitalization at McConnell Air Force Base
In June, CEMML Early-Career Development Program participant, Melina Takvorian supported a stream bank revetment project at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas. The work involved repurposing invasive red cedar trees to stabilize the McConnell Creek in an effort to reduce erosion, improve water quality, and protect critical infrastructure.
June 27, 2025
Nothing but flowers: On an Air Force base, CEMML helps create pollinator habitat
As a participant in CEMML’s Early-Career Development Program, Rebecca Morse is supporting pollinators and the military mission at Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas. Morse and her counterparts at the installation planted native wildflowers and grasses in a new pollinator garden they created on land once occupied by military housing and a golf course. Work on the garden has also involved local families as well as airmen from the installation.
May 6, 2025
CEMML staff present as part of Natural Areas Association webinar
CEMML Assistant Director, Mindy Clarke, and Principal Investigators Jennie Anderson and Dave Jones recently presented as part of a webinar hosted by the Natural Areas Association. Clarke began the presentations by providing an overview of CEMML and our work on military lands. Jones then presented on the ‘Importance of DoD Lands to Biodiversity Conservation,’ and Anderson wrapped things up with her insights on ‘Natural Resources Management Planning & Partnerships.’
April 1, 2025
CEMML supports prescribed burn season at Fort McCoy
The 2025 prescribed burn season has been under way in early to mid-March 2025 at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. The prescribed burn team includes personnel from CEMML in partnership with several other entities at the installation. The prescribed burn season continues into the spring with the aim of improving wildlife habitat, controlling invasive plant species, maintaining native plant communities, and reducing wildfire potential.
March 26, 2025
Colorado State University and University of Guam sign MOU
Alonso A. Aguirre, Dean of the Warner College of Natural Resources, and the leadership team from the Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands recently traveled to Guam to sign a MOU between the University of Guam and Colorado State University. The MOU aims to provide opportunities for future collaboration and cooperation including internship placement of University of Guam students into natural and cultural resource management opportunities with Warner College/CEMML.
February 27, 2025
CEMML executive director named as key personnel in CSU $326M award
The Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency have awarded $326 million to three Colorado State University research projects that aim to improve U.S. oil and gas operations and reduce methane emissions nationwide. The executive director of the Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands, Barker Fariss, has been named as key personnel on one of the three projects. That $300 million grant focuses on reducing methane emissions from low-producing and conventional wells.
January 18, 2025