DVIDS – News – KYNG environment works with companies to improve training locations for soldiers

GREENVILLE, Ky. – In a green initiative that combines military readiness with environmental stewardship, the Kentucky National Guard Environmental Team planted more than 77,000 trees on March 14, 2024, at the state training center, the Wendell H. Ford Regional Training Center, in Greenville, Kentucky. .

Kentucky Army National Guard environmental personnel worked with Beam Suntory, Beam Vets Organization, RJ Reynolds, Kentucky Division of Forestry, the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative (ARRI) Office of Surface Mining-Reclamation and Enforcement, and the Kentucky Department of Natural Resources to plant 700 trees per hectare, spread over 110 hectares on the training site.

Dave Jackson, an environmental protection specialist with the KYARNG, coordinated the project with the various partners to benefit the state’s lands.

“Forming these partnerships with these companies and organizations was the only way to make this whole thing possible,” Jackson said. “Without their help, we wouldn’t have been able to get this project off the ground.”

The aim of the tree planting project and the environmental protection staff is to provide suitable and sustainable training grounds for soldiers. Planting more trees prevents harmful soil erosion and improves water drainage. They also suck up standing water to prevent swampy conditions and control mosquitoes.

There are secondary benefits to the trees based on the diversity of trees planted.

“We planted 13 different types of trees,” Jackson said. “With this diversity we increase the habitat and food supply for various animal species that provide natural services to the training areas.”

The tree species include white oak (40%) northern red oak, Kentucky coffee tree, pecan, persimmon, black locust, red oak, swamp chestnut oak, swamp white oak, loblolly pine, port leaf pine, chestnut oak, black walnut and shagbark hickory.

According to Jackson, shagbark hickory is prime habitat for an endangered bat species: the northern long-eared bat. During the warmer months, northern long-eared bats and some other species of non-threatened bats nest under the sheets of bark hanging from the truck and main branches.

Providing bats with roosts can help reduce the population of mosquitoes that can transmit diseases and impact soldier training.

Another added benefit for soldiers is that it provides more habitat for wild turkeys, opossums and ground and tree birds that feed on ticks.

Historically, the soil and land at WHFRTC was not of good quality as most of the land was used for mining. Most of the land has been disturbed and some mining operations continue in remote areas of the training area.

KYARNG’s environmental team has worked hard over the decades to improve the quality of the land and diversify the flora on the training land. The main methods are prescribed burns, planting native grasses and planting trees.

“This is part of our good neighborly policy,” Jackson said. “Environmentally, what we do on those 12,000 hectares impacts the surrounding communities. We are not only improving the training area, but also the air and water quality in Muhlenberg County.

“This is about future generations of soldiers and the people of Muhlenberg County. I want a better place for my grandchildren, this is a way to do that.”