The Department of Defense (DOD)’s Readiness and Environmental Protections Integration Program (REPI) is a federal funding mechanism to manage potential encroachment that can limit or restrict military training, testing, and operations at military installations. The REPI program protects these military missions by helping remove or avoid land-use conflicts near installations. Learn more about the REPI program.
In Colorado, more than 100,000 acres of State Land Board properties are important to protecting the integrity of military installations and the training activities of the young men and women serving in our nation’s defense. These landscape-scale properties are proximate to military installations, and they are primarily leased for agriculture. View a map of these proposed properties.
REPI is a voluntary program. In recent years, representatives from the State Land Board, DOD, Trust for Public Lands (TPL), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and others have discussed opportunities to protect large landscapes where conservation, working lands, and national defense interests converge.
At the January 2023 board meeting, State Land Board Commissioners approved making available certain state trust land parcels for acquisition and conservation by using REPI funding.
(Updated as of January 2023.)
Questions and Answers
Mariah Pillmore, South Central District Manager, is your point of contact if you hold an agriculture lease on a property owned by the State Land Board that is being considered for this initiative.
REPI is a voluntary program for the landowner. The intention of this program is to keep the land under agriculture production. Please read the REPI website pertaining to benefits of the program. An excerpt from that site says: "Preserving working lands for agricultural and silvicultural (forest) production can help support a sustainable local economy. Keeping farmers and ranchers productive also preserves a way of life that has endured for generations. Unlike residential development, working lands are generally compatible with military training. Agricultural uses produce fewer lights that impact night training and testing, and a lower population density eases safety concerns."
The inclusion of all state trust land properties identified by the DOD for the REPI program is likely to take a minimum of ten years. The timeline began in 2022.
Please view the REPI website for information about applying for REPI funding and the DOD's criteria.
A Sentinel Landscape is a large landscapes where conservation, working lands, and national defense interests converge. Please visit sentinellandscapes.org for more information.
This effort is currently focused on the REPI real estate plan. If successful with REPI, our partners may pursue an application to become a Sentinel Landscape to support larger efforts for regional sustainability.