Army Compatible Use Buffer
(ACUB) Partnership Protects
Military Mission, Land, Species

The ACUB program protects land around military bases, to avoid conflict with military training

Georgia Land Trust, Inc. is working with Fort Stewart and Fort Benning and other conservation partners on the Army Compatible Use Buffer (ACUB) program. As partners, Georgia Land Trust and Alabama Land Trust are qualified holders of conservation easements (CEs) generated by the program.
In the Army Compatible Use Buffer (ACUB) program, we team with the U.S. Department of Defense and other land protection entities. At Fort Stewart, Georgia Land Trust has been involved since 2005, becoming a primary partner in August 2008.

At Fort Stewart – the largest armor training base east of the Mississippi River – the ACUB program targets the buffering of private land to retain the ability of assigned Army units to continue training along the perimeter and enable enhanced land management efforts to increase the soldier-carrying capacity of the existing ranges and mechanized maneuver areas.

Fort Stewart is located in the heart of the once vast longleaf pine ecosystem.

Today, less than 3 million acres of longleaf forest remains, and less than 3 percent of the acreage is considered to be in relatively natural condition. Fort Stewart supports some of the best remaining examples of longleaf forest. The installation is home to six federally listed species and 20 state-listed or federal species of concern.

These considerations – compounded by development pressures associated with surrounding scenic areas and the city of Savannah – significantly affect training. Fort Stewart’s conservation efforts and ACUB partnerships are directed toward sustaining Fort Stewart’s training mission and the natural resources in the vicinity of Fort Stewart by conserving land around the installation.

 
If you own land near Fort Stewart or Fort Benning and would like to help preserve military readiness, protect valuable conservation values while continuing low-density use of your land, please contact:

Georgia Land Trust staff members visit longleaf pine, RCW habitat at Fort Stewart, Ga.