response to hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes
(Doe et al. 2006). While the total footprint remains ap-
proximately the same as it did during the Cold War
era, several large installations have been closed or
realigned under the congressionally mandated Base
Realignment and Closure process (BRAC). The pro-
jected redeployment of many forces from abroad in
Germany, Iraq and other countries back to the United
States will require additional space on current instal-
lations in the United States. For example, Fort Bliss,
TX and Fort Carson, CO are increasing by over 10,000
soldiers (in addition to their family members) each in
the next two years.
Of all the Armed Services, the Army has the largest
requirement for land to provide the maneuver space,
ranges and munitions impact areas necessary for the
conduct of training and testing. Army installations
are geographically distributed throughout the conti-
nental U.S., Hawaii and Alaska, representing a vari-
ety of landscapes and environmental conditions that
are found throughout the rest of the world. There are
more than one hundred major (50,000 acres or larger)
Army installations currently managed by the Active
Army, Reserves and Army National Guard.
The sizes of today’s major Army installations vary
considerably, ranging from approximately 25,000
contiguous acres (10,118 ha or 100 km^2 ) to as many as
2 million contiguous acres (809,000 ha or 8,500 km^2 )
(Doe and Palka 2011). The largest Army installations
with land available for training and testing are found
in the southwest and far western regions of the coun-
try. These include Fort Bliss, TX, and White Sands
Missile Range, NM (separate installations joined by
a common boundary), comprising approximately
3.2 million acres (1.30 mill ha), and Yuma Proving
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