Liaisons with the Defense Community Resilience Program connect communities and provide solutions
Daniel Wyatt wasn’t expecting to find an immediate problem to solve when he first arrived at Fort Moore as a military community liaison with the University of Georgia Carl Vinson Institute of Government last year. However, a detour to the U.S. Army installation’s Lawson Army Airfield presented an opportunity.
During a meeting with the installation’s public works department, Wyatt learned that flooding and erosion had widened a waterway at the end of the airport’s runway. The channel, Laundry Creek, had become a hazard to aircraft and personnel.
Although a traditional concrete culvert was already proposed to address the issue, Wyatt suggested an idea that involved returning the creek to its original flow path.
He enlisted colleagues at the UGA College of Engineering, Warnell School of Forestry, and the College of Environment and Design to develop a plan using natural processes and stream restoration techniques to provide flood control, water quality and ecological benefits. The resulting proposal—estimated to cost between $20 and $30 million—was less expensive than the original.
“This represents a new scope of work that helps military installations be better stewards of the environment, save taxpayer dollars, and alleviate infrastructure issues critical to the military mission,” Wyatt said.
The plan was “a lightbulb-going-off moment,” said Brent Widener, chief of environmental management at Fort Moore.
“We probably never would’ve considered this solution, so having a partner like UGA come in and present ideas that can save money and time—and also support mission, ecosystem and species resiliency—is a win-win-win scenario,” he said.
The Defense Community Resilience Program, housed in the UGA Institute of Government, is helping build a stronger military with on-the-ground experts like Wyatt. Such liaisons connect military communities with UGA knowledge and experience in community engagement, governmental policy, infrastructure planning, economic development and natural resource management.
“The relationships our defense community liaisons are building are a key component of our burgeoning partnership with defense communities. It leverages our unique abilities in Public Service and Outreach to connect them with the necessary resources to bolster economic development and enhance quality of life,” said Scott Pippin, program leader.
Wyatt, a native Alabamian and graduate of Auburn University, served as a former field artillery land surveyor with the Marine Corps before working in the public sector managing large engineering projects. The experience taught him how to foster relationships between multiple entities.
Institute of Government faculty provided innovative plans to mitigate flooding and erosion at the end of the runway of Lawson Army Air Field, a key component of the military mission. (Photo by Sara Ingram)
Maintaining infrastructure at Fort Moore is like managing a midsized city. Spreading across more than 182,000 acres, the installation includes over 26 million square feet of facilities and 1,000 miles of roadways. Nearly 80,000 soldiers train there annually, and more than 100,000 soldiers, family members, veterans, civilians and contract employees use services on the installation every day.
“It’s an immense workload, and we’re always looking for ways to get things done in a timely, cost-effective manner,” said Andrew Wilson, a civil engineer with the installation’s Directorate of Public Works. “Daniel’s military experience allows him to speak the language, understand mission goals and how to address leadership.”
One recently funded project will improve access to Garnsey Range, a training site for U.S. Army Rangers and other units that had been degraded for three years because of a washed-out stream crossing. The structure was vulnerable to rising water during storms and using traditional drainpipes only perpetuated damage and erosion.
Wyatt remembered a company that recycles railway cars into turnkey bridges from his experience as a transportation planner with the Lee-Russell Council of Governments in Alabama. He enlisted Will Mattison and Zak Ruehman of the UGA College of Engineering to create concept drawings. The team presented the idea to Fort Moore, which reviewed and accepted the plan, with construction of this novel bridge to be completed over the next year.
The plan’s price tag—approximately $400,000 instead of the originally projected $1.3 million traditional box culvert design—has freed up funds to address other infrastructure repair priorities.
“Stormwater management is a growing concern. Critical infrastructure development and a lot more capability from UGA allows us to supplement and make that finished project even better,” Wilson said.
Developing relationships also opens doors to other opportunities, like the regional intergovernmental support agreement (RIGSA) that supplements the university’s partnership with the military. The groundbreaking agreement streamlines the ability of Army installations to obtain services from UGA and its partners.
“Serving governments and their communities by understanding and addressing their needs is the central mission of the Institute of Government. Dedicated professionals working directly with military installations deepens our ability to provide the best information for leadership and decision-makers,” said Rob Gordon, director of the Institute of Government.
ABOUT THE DEFENSE COMMUNITY RESILIENCE PROGRAM
Housed at the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, the UGA Defense Community Resilience Program aims to strengthen military installations and their surrounding communities by leveraging UGA’s expertise in natural resources management, infrastructure planning, governmental policy, economic development and community engagement. Based in Athens, UGA’s Defense Community Resilience Program employs professionals based in partner defense communities to serve as liaisons with the installations, adjacent communities and UGA’s network of researchers and technical experts from academic, government, private and nongovernmental partners.