What?

Assessment of the envi-

ronmental performance

of the USAG Bavaria.

The assessment covers

20 environmental media

areas, e.g. hazardous

materials and waste,

medical waste, recy-

cling, spill prevention, and also the status of

the Environmental Management System

(EMS).

Why?

The EPAS is a program to determine if

environmental laws are met and how and

the Environmental Management System

(EMS) is working. The EPAS helps to

identify environmental deficiencies and

resources necessary to correct those

deficiencies.

What will be evaluated?

Environmental management practices,

SOPs, environmental training records, re-

cycling, energy conservation, green pro-

curement, spill prevention, command em-

phasis and oversight, etc.

Who will do the assessment?

A multi-disciplinary team (16 people) from

HQ IMCOM-E and Army Environmental

Center, Fort Houston, Texas.

More info:

AEC Home Page

http://aec.army.mil/Services/Support/

EnvironmentalPerformanceAssessment-

System.aspx

Environmental POCs

USAG Bavaria (DSN 475-7711)

Hohenfels (DSN 466-2258)

Garmisch (DSN 440-3828)

USAG Bavaria “Go Green” “Go Green” “Go Green”

USAG Bavaria Newsletter

“Go Green”

Issue 5

Spring 2014

Page 1

Inside this issue:

EPAS announcement 1

Bird of the year 2014 1

Keep your housing area clean 2

Recyclilng saves tax $$$ 2

EPAS essentials 3

Nature walk 3

Downrange environmental … 4

Training land management 4

E nvironmental

P erformance

A ssessment

S ystem

CCCHECKHECKHECK---UPUPUP ONONON THETHETHE ENVIRONMENTALENVIRONMENTALENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMPROGRAMPROGRAM

Announcement!

From 07-17 April, 2014 all organi-

zations and tenants of

the US Army Garrison Bavaria

will undergo an assessment of

their environmental compliance.

TTTHEHEHE LLLAUGHINGAUGHINGAUGHING BBBIRDIRDIRD ——— BBBIRDIRDIRD OFOFOF THETHETHE YYYEAREAREAR 201420142014 By Caecilia Meier, DPW, Environmental Division

The Green woodpecker (Picus viridis) also called the laughing bird

because of his yaffling voice, is the bird of the year 2014.

Where to see them—Green woodpeckers live in open woods, parks or

gardens with old trees - also in our military communities. You will very

likely see them feeding on the ground. Like other woodpeckers, these

birds breed in holes they peck out of dead wood.

When to see them—All year round.

What they eat—Ants, ants, and more ants. They

use their strong beak to dig into ant colonies and

eat the inhabitants. Female bird feeding on ants

Photo: T. Reich Male bird on tree

Photo: P. Kühn Green woodpecker’s food

By Tobias, Schwemmer, DPW, Environmental Division

Please help the Garrison stay in compliance with environmental laws by following a few simple rules.

Store hazardous materials in suitable storage rooms only. Hazardous substances pose a risk to the environment and to your and your children’s health. Examples of haz-ardous substances are propane cylinders, aerosol cans, oil cans, vehicle batteries, paints, detergents, and antifreeze.

Take ALL your hazardous waste and house-hold hazardous waste to Bldg 394 at Tower Barracks and Bldg 103 at Rose Bar-racks. Disposal of hazardous waste in regu-lar trash is prohibited by law.

Change your car oil in designated areas only. Your housing area is not a suitable place for car maintenance or oil changes. Use the Auto Skill Centers or any other designated area.

Page 2

Newsletter Bavaria Military Community “Go Green” March 2013

KKKEEPEEPEEP YYYOUROUROUR HHHOUSINGOUSINGOUSING AAAREAREAREA CCCLEANLEANLEAN ANDANDAND GGGREENREENREEN

Newsletter USAG Bavaria “Go Green” Spring 2014

Page 2

RRRECYCLINGECYCLINGECYCLING SSSAVESAVESAVES TTTAXAXAX $$$$$$$$$

Contact Information

Housing Division:

Mr. Gerhard Engelhardt, DSN 475-5312

gerhard.engelhardt.ln@mail.mil

Environmental Division:

Mrs. Elisabeth Prem, DSN 476-2932

elisabeth.a.prem.ln@mail.mil

Household hazardous waste and electronic waste disposal guide for

Tower Barracks and Rose Barracks

By Reinhold Fröhlich, DPW, Hohenfels Environ-

mental Branch

Improving your recycling rate will increase

how much your community receives through the Residential Recycling Incentive (RRI)

Program and decreases the amount your community spends on waste disposal.

A few recycling facts:

Recycling is the law in Germany and the

USAG Bavaria Garrison Commander’s Policy!

Disposal of yellow bag is free of charge.

Disposal of one ton of trash costs

approx $ 350!

$$$ 350.00 = disposal costs

for one ton

of trash.

Vacuum cleaner goes into the e-waste container at the recycling yard, bldg. 25

Improperly stored hazardous substances in Family Housing areas.

Hohenfels Military Community

Sort Facility/Recycling Center

Bldg. 25, Camp Nainhof

Green Procurement

Green products are

Energy-efficient

Biobased

Environmentally

Preferable

Low or non-toxic

Recycled content

Water-efficient

EPAS EEPAS EEPAS ESSENTIALSSSENTIALSSSENTIALS

EEENJOYNJOYNJOY NNNATUREATUREATURE IIINNN SSSPRINGPRINGPRING

Follow environmental SOPs and guide-

lines. Recycling guides, environmental SOP

for tenant units, environmental SOP for

training units, household hazardous waste

guide, hazardous waste disposal guide and

others can be found on the Garrison share-

point portal https://home.army.mil/sites/eur/Ger/

gra/dpw/Environmental/SitePages/Home.aspx.

Assembled by Elisabeth Prem, DPW, Environ-

mental Division

Things you need to know or do for the

EPAS:

Know the EMS Policy, know where to

find it (e.g. Garrison home page

www.grafenwoehr.army.mil/policies.aspx)

Know the Garrison’s top environmental

issues:

- Energy saving

- Green procurement

- Proper handling of hazardous

materials

Take environmental training, if needed

for your job; keep records.

Examples are Environmental Officer Train-

ing, green procurement training, spill train-

ing, natural resources training.

What can you do to contribute?

- Save energy

- Buy green products

- Properly recycle your waste

- Handle hazardous materials/wastes

properly.

- Avoid spills and report spills

immediately, if they occur.

Page 3

Newsletter USAG Bavaria “Go Green” Spring 2014

E E E nvironmental

PPP erformance

AAA ssessment

SSS ystem

Aerial view of nature trail. Photo: Bayerische Staatsforsten

Male moor frogs turn blue during mating time Photo: Wikipedia

By Caecilia Meier, DPW, Environmental Division

In the immediate vicinity of Rose Barracks you’ll find the Beaver Trail. The trail is approx. 2.5 km long and leads through a very scenic terrain. You will find informational boards on several topics, e.g. the European beaver and bogs/swamps in Germany. Ani-mal species that call this area their home are the beaver, common toad, brown frog, moor frog, Kingfisher, Egret, Grey heron, and others. Access: Use exit “Wernberg-Köblitz” on

interstate A 93, go direction Hirschau on

highway B14, turn right onto ST 2123 to

Großschönbrunn, follow B299 in Northern

direction, turn left to ST 2166 towards

Vilseck. Starting point is a parking area lo-

cated to the right of the road (North of

ST 2166).

EARTH DAY 2014EARTH DAY 2014EARTH DAY 2014

Visit the environmental booth

at the ACS Kinderfest

Friday, 25 April 2014,

1530 — 1830 Wild B.O.A.R Complex

Tower Barracks, Bldg. RC 600

Create your own Create your own Create your own LAND ARTLAND ARTLAND ART

Use secondary containments.

Dispose of trash properly!

By Colleen Bergmanis, TSAE, ITAM

Going back in time, let’s say fifty years, back

to the late 1960’s, the Grafenwoehr and

Hohenfels training areas looked nothing like

what our soldiers see today. Cold-war mili-

tary training exercises had decimated the

natural landscape to such an extent that the

training areas are remembered as surreal

‘moonscapes’. Eroded top soil washed off

bare land and small punctuated mud flows

continually exceeded load capacities of local

steams. The result: significantly reduced

training capacity and flooding of down-river

German communities with dirty, muddy wa-

ter. Training capability was compromised as

tanks tracked through meter-thick mud, con-

tinually requiring recovery missions while in

our neighboring towns, water flowed up and

over creek beds, through streets and some-

times into yards and houses. Needless to

say a land management strategy was des-

perately lacking. The result was a unique

collaborative land sustainment program be-

tween the German Federal Real Estate Of-

fice (Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben

or BImA) and the US Army and today not

only are the dramatic moonscapes a thing

of the past, many of us can’t even imagine

what that could look like.

The amazing transformation is due entirely

to the very significant initial efforts of the

German Federal Forestry Office and our

own DPW Environmental Division. And

since the 1990’s, to the additional efforts of

the US Army’s Integrated Training Area

Management (ITAM) program as well. Each

of these three organizations contributes to

the continued management of the training

areas in one way or another but success is

sustained by their collaborated efforts.

DDDOWNRANGEOWNRANGEOWNRANGE EEENVIRONMENTALNVIRONMENTALNVIRONMENTAL PPPROTECTIONROTECTIONROTECTION

Page 4

Newsletter USAG Bavaria “Go Green” Spring 2014

Erosion due to military training

Android

TTTRAININGRAININGRAINING LLLANDANDAND MMMANAGEMENTANAGEMENTANAGEMENT

By Colleen Bergmanis, TSAE, ITAM

Ensuring optimal training capability is the

responsibility of not only those managing

the land but also of those using the land,

and here is where an educational compo-

nent becomes critical.

Environmental SOPs

Documents such as the Training Unit Envi-

ronmental SOP, You Spill You Dig, and the

Red Plan were generated specifically for

this purpose; to educate the soldier on the

five ‘w’s of how to manage their footprint

on the land while using the training area

during an exercise.

Soldier Field Cards

Another such informational is the Soldier

Field Card. The pocket-sized card pro-

vides MEDEVAC steps, safety and POC

information, a map indicating re-fueling

pads and potable water points, as well

as basic Dos and Don’ts of training land

utilization.

Soldier Field Card Apps

Besides hardcopies, Soldier Field Card

i Phone and Android phone Apps are also

available and can be found via your favorite

App store by searching: ‘JMTC’ and ‘Soldier

Field Card’.

Available in Foreign Languages

Every US Army training area within the

USAREUR footprint has a specific Soldier

Field Card and many of these have been

translated into the languages of those NATO

and partner nation militaries, which frequent

the respective training installation.

Produced by ITAM, Soldier Field Cards are

distributed via all US Army military installa-

tion Training Support Centers (TSCs).

USAREUR

Soldier

Field Card

App

i Phone

After re-seeding

For more information

please contact your local TSC or the

USAREUR Sustainable Range Program

at: usareur.srp.contact@us.army.mil and

https://srp.usareur.army.mil