appear nowhere but on military lands (Nature Serve
2004). These threatened species are attracted to mili-
tary installations as a refuge from an increasingly ur-
ban environment. Because they are largely undevel-
oped, defense lands are often the only place left where
a species can exist.
These conditions make military lands attractive re-
search locations to better understand what promotes
biodiversity. Military sites provide a ‘lab’ to study
how various land use patterns affect biodiversity. For
example, Warren et al. (2007) suggests the heteroge-
neous nature of the disturbance patterns on military
training lands allows for increased biodiversity. This
information is relevant and important to any land
manager attempting to rehabilitate habitat, not just
those managing DOD facilities. As human population
increases, pressures on other species will only sharpen
and hence, military lands will increasingly be islands
of biodiversity which DOD has a responsibility to pro-
tect and to study.
Purchasing Power and Social Change
Since the early 1990s, multiple executive orders
focused on green procurement and waste reduction.
Within the DOD numerous initiatives encourage
more environmentally friendly purchasing. In 2002,
the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) began identify-
ing which products in the Federal Catalog System met
definable environmental standards and more than
4,000 items are so designated (Stack 2009). In 2004, the
DOD issued a Green Procurement Policy, which sets a
goal of 100% compliance with all federal requirements
for purchasing environmentally friendly products
and services. In the 2008 update of the procurement
policy, the DOD stressed the policy about roles and