Dissertation Research: Bombs Away: New Geographies of Military-to-Wildlife Conversions in the United States

题目：炸弹消失：美国军事与野生动物转换的新地理斯科特·基尔希，PI大卫·哈夫利克，北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校地理系合作PI项目摘要本研究重点关注美国国防部（DOD）土地向国家野生动物保护区的转换。自1988年以来，国防部已将21个基地重新分类，面积超过110万英亩，归美国鱼类和野生动物管理局管理，作为国家野生动物保护区。2005年计划关闭的目标是多达25%的国防部剩余基地，或100多个大型基地。这项研究将以两个关键问题来考察这种转换：这些景观是如何产生的，以及它们如何作为公共土地发挥作用？这项研究首先通过询问这些地点是如何在政治上、科学上和叙事上被塑造成国家野生动物保护区的来解决这些问题的。其次，它考虑了这些空间如何作为新的国家野生动物保护区，作为以前的军事用地，以及作为生态军事化的例子，或军事生产与环境保护相容的观点。该研究将应用扎根理论和内容分析两个主要来源：在基地关闭和转换过程中产生的文件和报告，以及在科罗拉多州和印第安纳州以及华盛顿特区的美国鱼类和野生动物管理局总部进行的大约30次实地考察中进行的访谈。知识优点：这项研究为调查美国公共土地的环境政治和管理提供了一种新的方法，并且在关注军事基地关闭后创建的野生动物保护区方面是独一无二的。通过记录自然、社会和技术如何通过这些转换整合在一起，该项目为未来可能增加频率的现象提供了重要的见解。研究人员已经展示了分析联邦土地上复杂问题的专业知识，并就相关主题发表了学术性的、以保护为导向的、受欢迎的出版物。更广泛的影响：该项目为联邦土地管理者和环境监管机构、州和县卫生官员以及避难所访客提供关键信息。这项研究提供了有关转化过程的经验资料，特别是在两个案例地点，并记录了在全国范围内军事转化为野生动物的范围。国际保护工作也可以从从军事到野生动物的转变中获益，因为生态和社会优先事项在这些地点以新的方式结合在一起。军事关闭通常会引起巨大的公众兴趣和关注——这项研究将增加公众对军事场所发生的一些做法的理解，如何解决或补救这些做法，以及这些做法如何可能或可能不与作为公共野生动物保护区的新用途兼容。该项目将提供地理学方面的研究生培训，研究结果将以文章和书籍的形式出版。

Title:Bombs Away: New Geographies of Military-to-Wildlife Conversions in the United StatesScott Kirsch, PI David Havlick, Co-PIUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of GeographyProject SummaryThis study focuses on the conversion of U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) lands to national wildlife refuges. Since 1988, the DOD has reclassified twenty-one bases on more than 1.1 million acres to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for management as national wildlife refuges. Closures scheduled for 2005 target as many as 25 percent of the remaining DOD bases, or one hundred more large sites. This research will examine such conversions with two key questions in mind: How have these landscapes been produced, and how do they then function as public lands? This study first approaches these by asking how such sites have been cast politically, scientifically, and narratively to effect their conversion to national wildlife refuges. Second, it considers how these spaces work as new national wildlife refuges, as former military lands, and as examples of ecological militarization, or the view that military production and environmental protection are compatible. The research will apply grounded theory and content analysis to two main sources: documents and reports produced during the base closure and conversion process, and approximately thirty interviews conducted during site visits in Colorado and Indiana, as well as at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service headquarters in Washington, D.C. Intellectual Merit:This study brings a new approach to inquiries of environmental politics and management of public lands in the United States, and is unique in its focus on wildlife refuges created from military base closures. By documenting how nature, society, and technology are integrated through these conversions, the project contributes important insights to a phenomenon that is likely to increase in frequency in the future. The researchers have already demonstrated expertise in analyzing complex issues on federal lands, and have academic, conservation-oriented, and popular publications on related topics.Broader Impacts:This project provides key information to federal land managers and environmental regulators, state and county health officials, and refuge visitors. The research brings empirical information to bear upon the processes of conversion, particularly at two case sites, and documents the scope of military-to-wildlife conversions at a national scale. International conservation efforts can also benefit from the lessons of military-to-wildlife conversions, as ecological and social priorities come together in new ways at these sites. Military closures often generate tremendous public interest and concern - this research will add to public understanding of some of the practices that occur at military sites, how these are addressed or remedied, and how these may or may not be compatible with new uses as public wildlife refuges. The project will provide graduate training in geography and findings will be published in articles and book form.