Installation Resilience

The Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation’s Installation Resilience program activities presents states and communities with the opportunity to partner with their local installations (including testing and training ranges, special use airspace, military operations areas, and/or military training routes) and the Military Departments to support installation resilience.  It merges previous installation resilience and compatible use (formerly a Joint Land Use Study, or JLUS) elements into one broader program continuum.

Installation Resilience activities are designed to support the organizing, planning, and implementation actions necessary to foster, protect, and enhance the sustainability of our military installations. Local civilian jurisdictions partner with their local installations as “one community” to identify man-made or natural threats across the community that are likely to impair the continued operational utility of local military installations, and then plan and carry out responses to enhance infrastructure and other resilience measures and projects involving the protection, restoration, and maintenance of natural features.  This program enables a “one community” response through a collaborative Federal, state, local, and private effort to optimize the capacities and resources each can bring to the effort.

These program activities establish or reinforce an ongoing collaboration between civilian (public and private) and military equities that thrives beyond the term of any project.  

Projects may include the following:

• a comprehensive review of natural and man-made threats and vulnerabilities;
• targeted studies or plans concerning, but not limited to, transportation, land use/encroachment, utility services, housing, stormwater management, sewer, and communications; and,
• table-top exercises with local military and civilian (public and private) leadership to review capacities of hard infrastructure and public services to respond to natural and/or man-made disruptions.

Compatible Use Studies also provide an opportunity for a community to comprehensively understand the concerns of a neighboring military installation around encroachment, opportunities for civilian growth, and to develop actions that work in concert with the installation’s mission.

The program allows project managers to work with potential grantees in determining what program activity is most appropriate for a community, and then to provide guidance during the application process.

Click here to view and download the Fact Sheet for the Installation Resilience program.

States, counties, municipalities, other political subdivisions of a state; special purpose units of a state or local government; other instrumentalities of a state or local government; and tribal nations are eligible if the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation determines there is a threat to military installation resilience or encroachment of a civilian origin on the local military mission that involves, or may be significantly impacted by, resources or activities outside of the military installation, and that this threat is likely to impair the installation’s ability to maintain, improve, or rapidly reestablish installation mission assurance and mission-essential functions.

There are two ways a community can participate in Installation Resilience program activities:

• Service Nomination Process. The Military Services may nominate installation(s) for assistance through annual requests or may also nominate installations out of cycle. 
• Community Nomination Process. State and local governments may self-nominate.

The Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation will evaluate existing or potential resilience and encroachment issues to determine if a project is reasonable and beneficial to supporting the military mission.  

The relevant Assistance Listing numbers are:
12.003 Community Economic Adjustment Assistance for Responding to Threats to the Resilience of a Military Installation.

12.610  Community and Economic Adjustment Assistance for Compatible Use and Joint Land Use Studies

Eligible Installation Resilience activities may include:

• Identification of risks to resources outside of the installation that are necessary to maintain, improve, or rapidly reestablish installation mission assurance and mission-essential functions, allowing for the development of a responsive strategy for implementation;
• Assessments that analyze key areas and drivers of military installation resilience with respect to a specific military installation or (in the case of a regional approach) installations, and develop proactive strategies and/or action plans to protect and enhance military installation resilience;
• Planning and design development of valid executable projects (work completed from schematic design up to and including preparation of construction documents);
• Preparation of land use or jurisdictional ordinances;
• Analysis and dissemination of information, including community outreach activities;
• Timely consultation and cooperation among Department of Defense, state and local governments, and other stakeholders;
• Coordinated interagency and intergovernmental assistance;
• Technical and financial studies, including business plans and property valuation;
• Clearinghouses or websites (to include Geographic Information System data) to exchange information among Federal, state, and local efforts;
• Resolution of regulatory issues impeding the support of resiliency or compatibility measures;
• Drafting of state legislation;
• Feasibility studies, including housing, alternate use, and transportation;
• Development of follow-on open space/easement opportunities for the Department’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program;
• Integration of the Department’s Military Aviation and Installation Assurance Siting Clearinghouse procedures with local/state reviews; and
• Compatible Use Studies to comprehensively understand concerns and opportunities, and to develop a responsive strategy and implementation actions.

These activities may be undertaken with respect to areas or activities that support, protect, or enhance installation resilience or prevent and respond to encroachment.

Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation funds may be used as part or all of any required non-Federal contribution to a Federal grant-in-aid resiliency program.

The following are unallowable activities under this grant program:

• Construction on installation property;
• Demolition;
• Land Acquisition;
• Duplication or replication of activities otherwise eligible for or funded through other Federal programs;
• International travel; and
• Lobbying on behalf of, or at the direction of, any Department of Defense component or organizational entity.

Funds for this program should not be used to substitute or undertake any activity that would otherwise be undertaken by the Military Departments with military funding.

Installation Resilience grantees may find themselves working with other Department of Defense agencies, Military Services, and Federal agencies in addition to the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation. These may include: 

Military Aviation and Installation Assurance Siting Clearinghouse, 
Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration, 
Economic Adjustment Committee (EAC), 
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA),
Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and 
United States Department of Agriculture Office of Rural Development.

Partner Resources:

• Hazard Mitigation Planning | FEMA.gov
  • State Mitigation Plan Review Guide Fact Sheet (2021)
  • Hazard Mitigation Planning for Local Communities (fema.gov) (2021)
  • FEMA Hazard Mitigation Plan Status (arcgis.com) -
• Risk Management | FEMA.gov
• Coastal Flood Risk | FEMA.gov
• Resilience Planning Program | CISA - Main web page for DHS resources related to resilience planning, and the Infrastructure Resilience Planning Framework.

USAF Academy/Peterson AFB/Schriever AFB/Fort Carson Joint Land Use Study Implementation

• The Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments is carrying out high-priority Compatible Use Study implementation strategies to continue partnerships with the Air Force Academy, Fort Carson, and the Peterson-Schriever Garrison (Peterson AFB, Cheyenne Mountain AFS, and Schriever AFB) to ensure land uses are compatible with military operations. Deliverables include sub-area development planning, maps to aid in siting decisions for energy projects, identification of parcels suitable to buffer the military sites, standardized real estate disclosure language for nearby residents, and outreach to inform the public about mission related impacts. These tools and ongoing collaboration will help prevent radar and signal interference and protect military flight operations.

MacDill Air Force Base Installation Resilience Review

• The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council is partnering with the City of Tampa to conduct a resilience study analyzing energy, water, and wastewater vulnerabilities; transportation limitations; as well as the impact on associated critical infrastructure and services with the goal of creating an action plan that supports the continued mission readiness of MacDill AFB.

San Diego Region Installation Resilience Implementation

• After an initial Installation Resilience Review identified storm surge, sea-level rise, and traffic congestion as threats to three targeted access corridors to Naval Bases Point Loma, San Diego and Coronado, the San Diego Association of Governments is developing the necessary conceptual designs, cost estimates, and policies needed for transportation infrastructure improvements to ensure military readiness.