Natural Resources Conservation: Large Installation: Camp Ripley

	U.S. Army's Nomination for FY 1998 Secretary of Defense ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY AWARD NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION -- LARGE INSTALLATION

	CAMP RIPLEY Minnesota Army National Guard Training Site

	INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION \| Training Mission \| BACKGROUND \| Integrated Natural Resource Management Plan \| Cooperative Agreements \| Organization/Staffing \| PROGRAM SUMMARY \| SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS \| Overall Conservation Mgmt \| Ecosystem Mgmt \| Forest Mgmt \| Land Use Mgmt \| Wildlife Mgmt \| Pest Mgmt \| Conservation Education \| Community Relations \| Mission Enhancement \| Environmental Enhancement \| Natural Resource Compliance Program \| CONCLUSION \| Home

Figure 1. Location of Camp Ripley within Minnesota.

Camp Ripley is located in the central portion of Minnesota approximately 100 miles northwest of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. Camp Ripley lies entirely within Morrison County and is bordered on the north by the Crow Wing River and on the east by the Mississippi River. Camp Ripley occupies a gross area of 51,160 acres (approx. 80 sq. miles) within the posted limits of the installation. Land ownership is 98% state land under the administration of the Minnesota Department of Military Affairs (DMA), with the remainder under lease from Minnesota Power Corporation. An additional 1,687 acres of off-post land within the vicinity of Camp Ripley are also administrated by DMA.

In 1920, the Minnesota National Guard was located on a 189 acre site known as Camp Lakeview near Lake City, Minnesota. As military technology

evolved, a larger training site was required that could accommodate additional types of military equipment. Little Falls, MN was chosen, and by 1953, several land acquisitions had increased the acreage of Camp Ripley to 52,847acres.

Camp Ripley’s landscape was sculpted during the last glacial period (the Late Wisconsinan). Because the glaciers receded along the northern two-thirds of the Camp, a sharp contrast is evident from north to south within the Camp, both topographically and biologically. The high diversity of life forms (over 600 plant species, 126 breeding bird species, 50 mammal species, and 25 reptile and amphibian species) is also a result of Camp Ripley’s location along the forest transition zone in central Minnesota (Figure 1).

The young, glacially deposited soils at Camp Ripley vary in thickness from 50 to 200 feet. Fifty-one percent of the installation is characterized by low slopes of 8% or less. Moderate slopes (8–25%) make up 33% of the area and steep slopes (>25%) cover 7%. The remaining 9% is water.

Dryland forest dominates the landscape, covering 27,875 acres or 55% of the installation. The remainder is almost equally divided between wetlands (8,233 acres or 16%), dry open grass and brushlands (7,753 acres or 15%) and areas of no data (7,299 acres or 14%). A breakdown of Camp Ripley land use categories follows (Table 1). The no data areas are almost entirely within the impact areas and cantonment area. Specialized ranges and impact areas have been expanding and will continue to expand in the near future.

Table 1. Camp Ripley land use categories.

CATEGORY	ACRES
IMPROVED LANDS
Cantonment (Post headquarters, offices and support facilities).	2,014
SEMI-IMPROVED LANDS
Small Arms Ranges (A Complex)	1,359
Biathlon (F Range)	260
Multi-purpose Range Complex	2,007
Recreational Areas	152
UNIMPROVED LANDS
Small Arms Impact Area	345
Large Impact Area (Hendrickson)	3,478
Large Impact Area (Leach)	2,123
Maneuver and Training Land	41,109
TOTAL	52,847

	Training Mission
INTRODUCTION \| Training Mission \| BACKGROUND \| Integrated Natural Resource Management Plan \| Cooperative Agreements \| Organization/Staffing \| PROGRAM SUMMARY \| SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS \| Overall Conservation Mgmt \| Ecosystem Mgmt \| Forest Mgmt \| Land Use Mgmt \| Wildlife Mgmt \| Pest Mgmt \| Conservation Education \| Community Relations \| Mission Enhancement \| Environmental Enhancement \| Natural Resource Compliance Program \| CONCLUSION \| Home
	Camp Ripley has two primary missions: Support military and civilian training by providing customers with the highest quality training atmosphere and resources available. Work in partnership with local communities to foster cooperation and facilitate economic growth. Camp Ripley supports the state mission for military reserve component training as a 7,800 person, year-round training facility for the National Guard, primarily consisting of units from Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois. However, other units from throughout the U.S. also choose to train here. Camp Ripley is used for weekend inactive duty training, two week annual training, and other training activities of both active and reserve components. The military training mission is supported by seven broad areas of activity including maneuver training, weapons familiarization, and qualification. The latter includes aviation gunnery and armor gunnery through Tank Table XII, military occupational specialty producing and leadership provision of a central maintenance facility, direct service support in all classes of supply, provision of personnel services and chaplain services, and military morale, welfare, and recreation activities. The civilian training mission focuses primarily on law enforcement activities, natural resource education, environmental agencies, and emergency management activities. As a National Guard Installation, Camp Ripley does not have a year-round population of military or civilian personnel that reside on post. Instead, Camp Ripley’s 500 full-time and 1000 part-time personnel are residents of the neighboring communities and provide positive influence as community leaders and citizens. The central mission of the natural resource management program is to ensure that the multiple demands for land use can be met without sacrificing the integrity of Camp Ripley’s resources and training mission. A secondary consideration is to maintain and enhance the economic and educational value that Camp Ripley’s natural resource program represents to the local communities and the State of Minnesota. The economic benefit attributable to Camp Ripley exceeds $100 million/year. While this is impressive on a statewide basis, Camp Ripley’s impact on the local economy is tremendous. In a community of just 7,000 residents, demand for goods and services necessary to operate Camp Ripley is of pivotal economic importance. Also, Camp Ripley is one of the largest employers in central Minnesota.