ENCSL PARTNERSHIP DOCUMENTS
Sentinel Landscapes are landscapes that overlap with military missions and possess significant conservation value. Integrating these elements harmoniously can be intricate, demanding a comprehensive and well-orchestrated strategy. The Eastern North Carolina Sentinel Landscapes Partnership successfully united a varied array of partners dedicated to resolving land-compatibility challenges in eastern North Carolina. Recognizing that merely adopting a project-based approach would be insufficient to holistically address these issues, the collaborators started a partnership-building initiative in 2012. This effort, spearheaded by extension specialists at North Carolina State University, laid the groundwork for institutionalizing the partnership by crafting a strategic plan, evaluation plan, and communications plan. Though these documents are tailored to North Carolina’s endeavors, the partners are confident they can serve as templates for subsequent Sentinel Landscapes initiatives.
THE STRATEGIC PLAN
The Eastern North Carolina Sentinel Landscapes Strategic Plan aims to achieve a convergence of military readiness, working lands and water resources, and conservation to ensure prosperity, health, and security. The plan emphasizes collaboration and innovation to maintain and enhance working lands, water resources, conservation, and military readiness. The challenge at hand is the threat posed by unplanned development and incompatible land uses, which jeopardize both the health of working lands and natural systems and the viability of the military training network in eastern North Carolina. The plan outlines a strategic approach that integrates science, economics, and policy to advance working lands, conservation, and national defense. It also emphasizes the importance of cross-sector partnerships and collaboration with various stakeholder groups, including private landowners, academia, agricultural and forestry organizations, conservation districts, economic development agencies, legislative bodies, the military, and non-governmental organizations. The plan sets forth goals and objectives for the short, middle, and long term, focusing on increasing awareness, understanding, and problem-solving abilities among stakeholders, enabling working landowners to maintain their lands, increasing enrollment in Sentinel Landscapes initiatives, championing policies and regulations that support working lands and conservation, promoting regional cooperation, enhancing the value of working lands and living shorelines, and sustaining Sentinel Landscapes for military training, conservation, and working lands. The plan also includes an action plan with specific tasks and timelines for each element of the program, such as coordination, agriculture development and farmland preservation, working forests, food and fuel initiatives, and market-based conservation.
THE COMMUNICATIONS PLAN
The Eastern North Carolina Sentinel Landscapes Partnership Communications Plan aims to bring together military readiness, working lands and waters, and conservation for the prosperity, health, and security of all. The plan emphasizes collaboration and innovation to maintain and enhance working lands, conservation, and military readiness. The challenge lies in the threats posed by unplanned development and incompatible land uses, which endanger both working lands and the military training network in eastern NC. The plan identifies eight priority groups for communication, including private landowners, academia, agricultural and natural resource agencies, conservation districts, economic development agencies, legislative bodies, the military, and non-governmental organizations. The goal is to encourage cooperation and partnerships to achieve multiple benefits, preserve private lands, and support sustainable landscapes. The plan outlines different strategies and channels for each priority group to disseminate key messages and information, such as websites, tours, workshops, newsletters, social media, and conferences. Overall, the plan aims to foster understanding and collaboration among various stakeholders to achieve the mission of Sentinel Landscapes.
DISSEMINATION GUIDE
“Establishing a Partnership for Sentinel Landscapes: The North Carolina Experience” is a guide for states where military installations, agriculture, other compatible economic development, and natural resources drive the economy. This guide introduces the NCSLP and offers recommendations for developing and establishing such a partnership based on the lessons learned in North Carolina.