1. Why the NTC needs to expand
2. Training Area Requirements
3. Determine acreage requirements
4. Previous NTC Land Expansion Proposals
5. Current Land Expansion Proposal

Today's United States Army is the finest army in the world, and serves in a number of vital roles both within the US and overseas. It is essential that today's Army be prepared to fight and win on the 21st century battlefield.

To meet the training needs of the Army today and in the foreseeable future, the NTC needs to expand to accommodate new tactics and doctrines, and to allow our soldiers to train in the most realistic environment possible. The land expansion will provide an expanded battle-space (land and airspace) environment for training Army brigade-sized ground and air units according to the Army’s training and combat operations doctrines. The training doctrine calls for training to be conducted in as realistic a battle-space environment as possible. To accomplish this mission, additional maneuver land and airspace changes are needed in locations, sizes, and configurations that not only support current and future training requirements, but also integrate with the current battle-space configuration and infrastructure on Fort Irwin.

In 1981, when Fort Irwin was designated as the NTC, Army combat tactics were structured around equipment that could effectively engage an enemy at ranges of 1 to 12 miles. Today’s Army equipment effectively engages an enemy at ranges out to approximately 60 miles. Also, the pace of tactical operations has increased from 10 miles per hour (mph) to more than 25 mph. A modern tank can now reach speeds of more than 60 mph. The operational experience from Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom has also confirmed the need to train heavy mechanized units in larger, brigade-sized assemblages, spread out over large land areas. The current available maneuver area at the NTC is not adequate to realistically support the increased distance and pace of today’s tactical operations or today’s brigade-sized units.

The Army, with its new generation of sophisticated equipment, tactics, and technology, moves faster, covers a greater area, and engages more enemy systems than ever before. The NTC must be flexible enough to meet the training challenges presented by such equipment, tactics, and technology well into the 21st century. The next generation of threats to U.S. security may come from a divergent array of sources: regional instabilities, terrorism, rogue nations, etc. The ability to fight and win anywhere in the world is essential to the mission of the Army.

See the NTC Land Expansion Article.

The current maneuver training area at Fort Irwin is composed of three training corridors, each with specific advantages and disadvantages:

The northern corridor has approximately 1,600 remote-controlled targets buried in shallow pits, where live-fire brigade operations are normally conducted. The target pits restrict the use of the area for other maneuver training, especially at night. The central corridor is the primary training corridor used for force-on-force training. It is up to 50 km (31 miles) in length and varies in width from 8 to 15 km (5 to 9 miles). The southern corridor is unsuitable for brigade maneuver due to the width of the corridor where land has been set aside for desert tortoise habitat (at the UTM 90 line). There are several limitations to the current brigade maneuver area:

The width of the available maneuver corridors effectively limits brigade maneuver to the central corridor and the eastern part of the southern corridor;

The corridors are not wide or long enough to effectively support Army equipment at its designed operating ranges. The short corridor length requires that support areas be put near the front lines an unrealistic condition;

The same corridor must be used for every rotation, limiting the ability to mitigate or repair maneuver-related damage; and

Future training requires dispersed operations, with units operating a minimum distance from a support base. This training situation requires a larger maneuver area that allows greater separation between units.

The airspace over the current NTC land is categorized as restricted airspace. To be fully useable for combat air support training, the Army intends to request that airspace over the expanded maneuver training areas to the northeast, over the Silurian Valley, be changed to restricted airspace with altitude clearances similar to current NTC airspace. The airspace over the expanded maneuver training areas to the southwest, in the Superior Lake area, is already restricted (R-2515); therefore, no additional changes there are needed. Access to, and use of, R-2515 airspace will be coordinated with other airspace users and requested through the scheduling process so as not to impact USAF and Navy test/training operations.

See Maneuver Diagram.

The Army completed Land Use Requirements Studies (LURS) in 1985, 1993, and again in 2002, to determine the amount of training land required to meet current and future training needs at the NTC. The 2002 LURS is included as Appendix A and takes into account the types of units, the kinds of maneuvers, and the organizational characteristics of realistic battlefield training missions. The 2002 LURS indicates a need for approximately 593,041 net maneuverable acres. The NTC currently has approximately 350,304 net maneuver acres available for training, leaving a shortfall of about 274,167 acres needed to conduct training. The shortfall is based on the battle scenario that requires the largest acreage for a brigade maneuver event.

The study also suggests that evolving military tactics, technology, and emerging doctrine may contribute to additional future training land shortfalls as the Army transforms from the Legacy to the Objective Force.

The LURS is based on Army Training Circular 25-1 and uses the Army Training Land Analysis Model (ATLAM) to determine the adequacy of maneuverable training land. An acre per day approach is used to determine the amount of maneuverable training land required, based on land area requirements of mission tasks performed during a typical rotation.

The net maneuverable acreage on Fort Irwin is determined by subtracting from the total land acreage the following areas:

Off-limits: environmentally-sensitive and archaeological restricted areas, land used by the NASA Goldstone, permanent impact areas such as the Leach Lake Bombing Range, and land used by the Fort Irwin cantonment area;

Non-usable lands that are too steep (slope greater than 20 percent) or too remote for realistic maneuver training.

The 2002 LURS found that approximately 593,041 net maneuverable acres were needed. The current maneuverable training area on Fort Irwin is 350,304 acres; this leaves a shortfall of 274,167 acres. Net maneuverable acreage is determined by taking all the off-limits areas and unusable terrain and subtracting the total from the total land acreage of the installation.

1989 The Coyote Basin Alternative (300,000 acres) After completion of the original LURS in 1985, the NTC and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) signed a Memorandum of Agreement to study expansion alternatives and to complete an Environmental Impact Statement to document their findings. In 1989, the NTC's preferred alternative was to expand southward to include lands in the Superior Valley, Coyote Basin, and Cronese Mountain area. The "Coyote Basin Alternative" would be comprised of approximately 300,000 acres south, southwest and southeast of the current Fort Irwin boundaries. A southern expansion, absent environmental and other concerns, has long been considered the most militarily advantageous alternative. This area is largely composed of maneuverable acreage (less than 20% in slope), which is suited for mechanized/armored training and flows into existing maneuver corridors on the installation. However, in 1990 the listing of the desert tortoise as a federal threatened species, and the designation of the majority of lands to the south of Fort Irwin as desert tortoise critical habitat, made the southern expansion infeasible.

As a consequence, consultation with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 1991 resulted in issuance of a draft "jeopardy" Biological Opinion (dated October 1991) for the southern expansion because of potential threat to the desert tortoise. In its draft opinion, the USFWS recommended expansion to the east of Fort Irwin primarily because no threatened or endangered plant species were present in the Silurian Valley - with only a few very small populations of desert tortoise.

As a result, the Army re-evaluated its options and proposed an eastern expansion into the Silurian Valley. Such an alternative was one of the named "reasonable and prudent alternatives" articulated in the USFWS draft biological opinion. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the impacts on desert tortoise cited by USFWS, NTC remains convinced that a southern and western expansion alternative provides the best maneuver capability and training opportunities of all expansion alternatives studied.

1993-1997 Silurian Valley Expansion (331,000 acres) A Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) was released for public review and comment on 3 January 1997. The 90-day public review period was extended to 150 days by BLM. The comment period ended on 3 June 1997. The DEIS addresses the environmental impacts associated with 6 expansion alternatives, including the Silurian Valley and Coyote Basin, and the no project alternative.

The Army's proposed action in the DEIS (preferred alternative) was to acquire approximately 331,000 acres eastward of the NTC in the Silurian Valley consistent with the USFWS biological opinion. The Silurian Valley alternative includes enough maneuverable acreage to satisfy the LURS requirements with minimal impact on the environment and at relatively low cost; however, the alternative does not allow for heavy, force-on-force capability. Its primary use would only be as a staging and support area to meet doctrinally correct distances for support units and to free areas on the existing installation for heavy maneuvers. The configuration of the land and presence of a large steep mountain range, the Avawatz Mountains, makes it impossible to maneuver the proposed Eastern Expansion area. Access to the eastern area is limited to two steep narrow mountain passes (one vehicle in width) and restricted areas beneath exiting utility lines. Due to these factors, a southern expansion was noted in the DEIS as the militarily preferable option.

Eight public hearings were held on the DEIS in the cities of San Bernardino, Victorville, Barstow, Baker, Pasadena, and Sacramento. More than 1000 letters have been received regarding the project and more than 20 hours of testimony recorded. Comments expressing opposition to the expansion project concern potential impacts on wildlife, utility planning corridors and existing utilities, impacts to Highway 127 and Death Valley National Park, loss of access to off-highway vehicle uses (OHV) and to hiking or mineral exploration.

1997 - The BLM Southern Expansion Proposal (153,425 acres) Due to the heavy opposition from public and private parties and entities and the poor training value associated with the eastward expansion, this alternative is no longer being considered by the Army as a viable or preferred alternative.

In May 1997, BLM representatives contacted NTC and asked for a meeting to discuss a potential southern expansion scenario. Information from BLM indicated that they could provide a 'solution' to the expansion problem created by USFWS' draft biological opinion via land trades and certain mitigation measures for the desert tortoise. In June 1997, BLM representatives outlined a plan to expand the NTC southward, into the Coyote Basin, as a joint preferred alternative between the Department of Interior (DOI) and Department of Defense (DOD). The plan included consultation with USFWS to find appropriate mitigation measures to offset impacts on desert tortoise habitat within the expansion area. BLM began developing the proposal after meeting with USFWS representatives. BLM developed and presented a potential southern expansion scenario to the chain of command at the Department of Interior. The details of consultation with USFWS or other DOI interests were not provided to NTC or DOD during this time.

1998 - The NTC Southern Expansion Counter Proposal (174,461 acres) NTC evaluated the BLM proposal and developed a counter proposal for southern expansion based on specific expansion criteria.This modified proposal allowed the NTC to regain the use of approximately 23,659 acres of existing Fort Irwin land below the UTM-90 gridline, and 45,961 acres of land in the Silurian Valley, which were both consistent with the BLM proposal. In addition, approximately 83,721 acres of land in the Superior Valley, west of Fort Irwin Road and southwest of the NTC, along with 21,120 acres immediately east of Fort Irwin Road and west of Coyote Lake, would be acquired.

The new lands requested under this proposal equaled approximately 150,802 acres, of which about 137,190 acres were maneuverable. It also reinstated 22,736 acres of net maneuverable land below the UTM 90 gridline. Total net maneuverable land made available under this modified southern expansion alternative was approximately 159,926 acres.

In October 2000, extended negotiations between DA and DOI resulted in a DA/DOI agreement on proposed legislation that would determine boundaries of a western expansion area. This legislative proposal is a culmination of discussions in which the Army modified its training land requirements to avoid use of Paradise Valley, the most sensitive desert tortoise habitat. Under this new concept, the Army would seek the use of about 133,000 additional training acres, which includes approximately 22,000 acres of Fort Irwin land that is not currently used for this purpose, plus 46,438 acres east in Silurian Valley and 63,673 acres west in Superior Valley. The Army is confident that the additional acreage will permit full use of a second brigade-sized maneuver corridor and fully meet the critical training requirements of today's transforming Army.

The proposed action has been the subject of several congressional actions and requirements. The following is a summary of actions and documents produced in relation to this proposal:

Congress approved the DA/DOI joint approval for expansion and the President signed the legislation on 21 December 2000. The first legislative requirement, the Key Elements Report, was completed on 4 January 2001.

Key Elements Report: The Army submitted a report to Congress on January 4, 2001 to comply with the directive set out in Public Law 106-554, H.R. 5666, Section 323 to draft a Key Elements Report of the proposed plan to expand maneuver training lands at the NTC, Fort Irwin, California. The Key Elements Report provides a brief history of Fort Irwin and describes the need for expansion and the proposed alternatives for additional maneuverable lands. The report also examines the environment including threatened and endangered (T&E) species and conservation measures.

See the Key Elements Report

See H.R. 5666, Section 323 (Public Law 106-554)

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Preliminary Review: USFWS submitted a Preliminary Review of the Effects of the Expansion of the National Training Center/Fort Irwin on the Desert Tortoise and the Lane Mountain milk-vetch on March 28, 2001. The USFWS, complying with the congressional deadline of 90 days after the Key Elements Report, made a determination on the impacts to the threatened desert tortoise and the endangered Lane Mountain milk-vetch. The USFWS found  “The expansion of the National Training Center, absent measures to offset or reduce impacts, may substantially impair the survival and recovery of the desert tortoise in the western Mojave Desert.” The USFWS stated recommendations to mitigate the impact the expansion would have on LMMV.

See the USFWS Preliminary Review

Proposed Expansion Plan: This report was submitted to Congress on July 13, 2001 to comply with congressional requirements. It builds on the two previous reports mentioned above.

See the Proposed Expansion Plan