JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi National Guard’s Environmental Team has been recognized for excellence and exceptional leadership in natural resource conservation. Camp Shelby is a steward of landscape conservation and species recovery in central Mississippi. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced the selection of the National Guard’s Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center as the 2021 recipient of the Military Conservation Partner Award.

This national award acknowledges Camp Shelby’s success in implementing landscape ecological management for threatened and endangered species in its longleaf pine ecosystem such as the black pine snake, the red-cockaded woodpecker, the dusky gopher frog, and the gopher tortoise.

Camp Shelby has implemented a highly significant conservation partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, the U.S. Forest Service, and The Nature Conservancy. That partnership includes the conservation of at-risk, candidate, and federally listed species, as well as management of game species and providing public recreational hunting opportunities.

“Deep roots build strong relationships and strong relationships yield positive results and successful outcomes,” TNC State Director Alex Littlejohn said. “This award highlights the power of such an approach when it comes to building partnerships that deliver results.”

“As part of the DOD (Department of Defense), we do a lot of conservation work because we are one of the biggest landowners in the U.S.,” said Bryan Fedrick, natural resources manager, Mississippi National Guard. “This is a culmination of several years of hard work. In 2005, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established the Military Conservation Partner Award to recognize military installations for exceptional cooperative conservation efforts. Since establishment of this annual award, they have recognized the work of 17 installations.