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

《远离炸弹：美国军事向野生动物转变的新地理》（Bombs Away：New Geographies of Military-to-Wildlife Conversions in the United States）作者：Scott Kirsch 大卫哈夫利克，合作PI北卡罗来纳州大学在查佩尔山，地理系项目摘要这项研究的重点是美国国防部（DOD）的土地转换为国家野生动物保护区。自1988年以来，国防部已经将21个基地重新分类，面积超过110万英亩，由美国鱼类和野生动物管理局管理为国家野生动物保护区。计划于2005年关闭的目标是多达25%的国防部剩余基地，或100多个大型基地。这项研究将研究这种转换与两个关键问题：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？本研究首先通过询问这些网站如何在政治上，科学上和naradically影响他们转换为国家野生动物保护区。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，作为前军事用地，作为生态军事化的例子，或认为军事生产和环境保护是兼容的。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，以及在科罗拉多和印第安纳州实地考察期间进行的大约30次访谈，以及在华盛顿，华盛顿特区的美国鱼类和野生动物管理局总部进行的访谈。这项研究为美国的环境政治和公共土地管理的调查带来了新的途径，它的独特之处在于它专注于从军事基地关闭中创建的野生动物保护区。通过记录自然，社会和技术如何通过这些转换整合，该项目为未来可能增加频率的现象提供了重要见解。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，并在相关主题上发表了学术性的、以保护为导向的和流行的出版物。更广泛的影响：该项目为联邦土地管理者和环境监管者、州和县卫生官员以及避难所游客提供关键信息。这项研究带来了经验信息，以承担转换过程中，特别是在两个案例网站，并记录在全国范围内的军事野生动物转换的范围。国际保护工作也可以受益于军事转变为野生动物的教训，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。军事关闭往往会引起公众的极大兴趣和关注-这项研究将使公众更多地了解在军事地点发生的一些做法，如何解决或补救这些做法，以及这些做法如何与公共野生动物保护区的新用途相兼容。该项目将提供地理方面的研究生培训，研究结果将以文章和书籍的形式发表。

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.