CONSERVATION Conveyance

Conservation conveyance legislation enacted by Congress in December 2002 offers a promising new approach to a challenge many military installations face: transferring surplus property for natural resource conservation. The Sierra Army Depot in Herlong, Calif., has undertaken the nation's first conservation conveyance and the transfer of its Honey Lake parcel is successfully underway. Property transfers are complex transactions, especially those conducted between the military and state or other government conservation agencies, which typically accept only property that is remediated to the point of protecting ecological resources. Remediation may entail contaminant clean-up, in-depth environmental studies and management planning. The military can find it highly challenging to protect ecological resources on surplus property while observing the military's established protocols and primary mission. As a result, such transfers to conservation agencies can be very slow and may stall completely.