Management of Vegetation on Ammunition Magazines at AMC Facilities

Ammunition magazines, commonly called igloos, are large, above- ground, earth-covered bunkers used to store munitions at almost all military facilities. Properly maintained igloos have perennial, well-knit vegetation cover that reduces erosion, have relatively low maintenance cost, provide wildlife habitat and grazing land, and are pleasing to look at. On poorly managed igloos, soil erodes at an excessive rate, and they become unsafe and need to be rebuilt. An ideal vegetation would require little or no maintenance, would retard soil erosion, would not become a fire hazard and would resist invasion by woody vegetation and annual weeds. The purpose of this project was to survey Army Materiel Command facilities to determine their strategies for managing ammunition bunkers, or igloos. This work is part of a research program to develop cost effective methods for safely establishing and maintaining vegetation on igloos. The results of the survey will be used to help standardize management requirements at all facilities, improve vegetation management techniques, and plan research objectives in areas where there is limited information.