Research Topic Proposal

     In my spare time I have often read much on military history, and a common footnote in these readings is the environmental devastation wrought by military actions both in times of war and peace. It is common knowledge that battles tend to leave hazardous materials all over wherever they are fought, and many military bases become Superfund sites even before they are abandoned. That is why the readings on an emerging military-environmentalism was so fascinating to me, as it directly challenges the notion that military actions are strictly bad for the environment. Further readings on this topic drew even more interest from me as various examples made it clear that perhaps there is some merit to the idea; perhaps its not just some PR stunt. 

     There are several important trends both in favor and against this idea. In many ways the idea even makes a degree of sense as military lands are off limits to the public and the majority of them are just undisturbed buffers around the core of the installation. These buffers are good wildlife habitats as almost no human activity happens here, and this is enforced by the US military. In addition, many military bases in the US even have specific policies to protect native species present. Of course there are still challenges to this notion including but not limited to the continuing presence of toxic materials on bases and the fact that many portions of these lands are solely dedicated to the purpose of being bombed. This leads us to the question: is military-environmentalism a valid phenomenon or are the net benefits just happy coincidences promoted for good PR?

     Of course this  topic is too broad to be explored thoroughly in one  presentation, so in order to examine the issue closely I have chosen to examine the dessert tortoise preservation efforts present on Edwards Air Force Base. This base is an ideal research subject because the base is still operational, the preservation policies are readily available, and it is nearby. The later two points are important because these make researching the topic easier. The first point is also important because this means that the base can be used to examine how modern standards apply, standards that did not apply many older, abandoned bases which tended to be worse for the environment then 'modern bases'. By evaluating the success of the bases' desert tortoise programs I hope to shed some light on the success and validity of military-enviromentalism.

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