NASHVILLE (Tenn). Each year, the National Guard Bureaus Installations and Environment Directorate honors states for their outstanding achievements in environmental stewardship. On February 3, the Tennessee National Guards Construction and Facilities Management Office Environmental Program won the NGB Installations 2021 Environmental Stewardship trophy for the best overall environmental program.
The trophy was presented to Tennessee for the highest overall score in cleanup and conservation, energy, construction and energy. They also received high scores in all other sections.
The National Guard’s environmental responsibilities include conservation and compliance. The United States Department of Defense controls 8.8 million acres of US land. The Tennessee National Guard manages 13,790 acres. For the future force readiness, land conservation is essential.
Retired Command Sergeant. Maj. Greg Turner, Tennessee National Guards Environmental Program Coordinator. Our job is to keep these properties in good condition so that we can continue to use them for training. When planning projects in our state, we do our research and consider future possibilities. Recognizing our team for their outstanding work in executing the program is a great honor.
Tennessee was also awarded an Environmental Security Award in recognition of multiple natural resource conservation projects at Catoosas Volunteer Training Site. The environmental team managed a threatened species population that is now flourishing and also surveyed an endangered, threatened, or endangered bat species. The Tennessee Species Team supported bat habitat improvement with innovative solutions for constructing artificial homes. They also conducted radio-telemetry surveys to track habitat usage, identify roosts and locate maternity colonies of endangered bat species.
Turner said that being recognized as one the most successful states in the nation requires working together as an entire team. We all work together to achieve success in the CFMO, which is why we have all been grouped together.
NGBs Installations Division also awarded Tennessee’s CFMO the region three award for its overall performance in all their programs. The division honors one state in each region for their environmental program and military construction execution, budget estimations, property management, CFMO certificate, energy management, installation status reporting, and military construction execution.
The Tennessee program excels due to the dedication of all federal and state CFMO employees, as well as all their relationships with other Tennessee National Guard directorates and federal agencies, said Col. Andrew Milligan (director of the Tennessee National Guards CFMO). This is an award that goes to the entire team.
On February 3, the Tennessee National Guards Construction and Facilities Management Office received multiple awards for their outstanding performance in conservation and environmental work. The 2021 Environmental Stewardship Trophy, and the Best Regional Installations Programme in Natural Resources Conservation were among the awards. Tennessees Assistant Adjutant General, Army, Brig. Gen. Warner A. Ross II poses in a photo with members of the CFMO as well as their environmental program team, March 9. (photo by Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Cordeiro)
On February 3, the Tennessee National Guards Construction and Facilities Management Office received multiple awards for their outstanding performance in conservation and environmental work. The 2021 Environmental Stewardship Trophy, and the Best Regional Installations program in Natural Resources Conservation are the two awards. The National Guard Bureau presents the Environmental Stewardship Trophy to the territory or state with the highest overall score for cleanup, conservation, energy, and construction. (photo by Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Cordeiro)
