Joint Base Lewis McChord Sentinel Landscapes
The Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM) Sentinel Landscape Partnership is a collaborative partnership coordinating the delivery of federal, state, and local programs protecting the military mission of JBLM while supporting prairies and oak woodlands in the South Puget Sound region. It includes a diverse group of partners implementing innovative approaches and leveraging resources from multiple sources.
Primary objectives
The primary objectives of the JBLM Sentinel Landscape include conserving prairie and oak woodland habitat and limiting incompatible development near the installation.
JBLM contains 90% of the remaining prairies in Western Washington and is a stronghold for multiple ESA-listed prairie species solely reliant on these habitats including Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas editha taylori), Mazama pocket gopher (Thomomys mazama sp), and the Streaked horned lark (Eremophila alpestris strigata).
The presence of these and other sensitive species impacts JBLM by affecting critical open training lands while creating mandatory - and costly - habitat management and population monitoring requirements. This DoD led partnership is a catalyst for integrated strategies managing prairie ecosystems, supporting agricultural resilience, and supporting the military mission of JBLM.
Regional Collaboration
As with the Oak Alliance, collaboration is at the core of the JBLM Sentinel Landscape program. We rely on voluntary cooperation of local partners and private landowners to develop and achieve shared goals and objectives. Managing prairie and oak ecosystems and recovering sensitive and ESA-listed species can’t happen without regional collaboration. Many JBLM Sentinel Landscape partners are working throughout the PNW and are associated with the Oak Alliance.
Joint Base Lewis McChord Sentinel Landscapes Work
JBLM Sentinel Landscape partners are involved with a diverse range of initiatives
Background on the JBLM Sentinel Landscape Partnership program
In 2013 the U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA), Defense (DOD) and the Interior (DOI) announced a new initiative─ the Sentinel Landscapes Partnership ─ through a Memorandum of Understanding. This partnership is a nationwide federal, state, local, and private collaboration dedicated to promoting natural resource sustainability in areas surrounding military installations. A coalition of federal, state, and local governments and non-government organizations in the South Puget Sound region have a long history of collaborating on prairie conservation, dating back to 1995. In 2013, this group was designated as the first Sentinel Landscape in the nation: the Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) Sentinel Landscape Partnership (Partnership).