Many geographic regions where Department of Defense (DoD) assets are concentrated, such as Alaska, the Sonoran Desert, the Southeast United States, and the Pacific Islands, are experiencing rapid ecological changes to natural infrastructure. Increased climate variability is causing historic hydrologic alterations, permafrost degradation, wildfire, rising sea levels, and non-native species invasion. To respond to these issues, projects selected for this topic area will develop and demonstrate region-specific tools, strategies, and technologies that are designed to accelerate installation-scale adaptation. Proposers considered the following issues in the development of their proposal: 

• Demonstrate and validate climate-resilient tools, adaptation strategies, and emerging technologies that are ready for deployment in one or more key DoD geographies already experiencing rapid ecological change. 
• Define the translational steps needed to gain end-user confidence and acceptance resulting in implementation at multiple DoD installations. Proposals should include appropriate metrics of success that as an outcome demonstrate technology transfer to and acceptance of actionable science by installation end-users. 
• Proposals should clearly demonstrate and communicate how, if successfully implemented, the proposed tools, strategies, and/or technologies will increase the pace of adaptation to the currently anticipated changes to DoD’s natural and built infrastructure that will occur within the coming decades. 
• Proposed tools, strategies, and technologies should not require major further development beyond site (i.e., installation scale) calibration and must show documentation of previous development, testing, and appropriate validation. 
• Proposals should avoid extensive development of climate information; rather, such information should be readily available, geographically relevant, and focused on demonstrating tool, strategy, and technology performance relative to incorporating climate information for resilience purposes. 

Proposals should have also considered the following information for specific sections of the proposal: 

• In the Technical Approach section, provide a detailed description of the technical approach, including the availability of data to determine tool, strategy, or technology performance. Proposers should clearly state expected deliverables and provide sufficient detail so that the technical approach can be clearly understood by reviewers. 
• In the Expected Benefits section, include a qualitative and semi-quantitative description of the expected benefit to DoD and broader impacts of a successful project. 
• The Technology Transfer section should discuss activities, including the key elements of science and technology translation that will be followed and needed to engage with key stakeholders to facilitate information exchange. In addition, the narrative should consider how various translation approaches can be used to enhance the collaborations with installation planners and engineers to understand how project outcomes can be incorporated into existing processes. This section should be detailed, accounting for the inherent need to communicate to, translate to, and gather information from the end-user community of installation planners, engineers, and natural resource managers. 

The assessment and resulting implementation of tools, strategies, and technologies for key DoD geographies benefits DoD end-users responsible for increasing the climate resilience of DoD assets. Accelerating the response to current and anticipated future changes to the DoD’s natural and built infrastructure is essential to sustaining its mission and stewardship activities across its 27 million acres. 

The DoD manages more than 27 million acres of land containing its built and natural infrastructure assets, which directly support its test and training missions and meets its stewardship requirements. Many geographic regions where these DoD assets are concentrated are already experiencing rapid ecological changes that challenge both the built and natural infrastructure. Affected regions include Alaska and the arctic/sub-arctic environment, Hawaii and island territories in the Pacific, the southeastern U.S., coastal areas of California and the eastern seaboard, and the southwestern U.S. These regions are at risk of mission degradation due to various combinations of the preceding list of threats. Despite this increasing pace of ecosystem change and possible transformation to new ecosystem states under climate change and other perturbations, the science solutions, technology transfer and adoption, and ultimately adaptation are not keeping pace. 

Kevin Hiers
Program Manager for Climate Resilience 
Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) 
4800 Mark Center Drive, Suite 16F16 
Alexandria, VA 22350-3605 
E-Mail: john.k.hiers.civ@mail.mil and ellen.westfall@noblis.org