Fort Pickett ACUB Announcement Public Meeting

Fort Pickett and National Guard Bureau staff meet with Ward Burton at Gov Tim Kaine’s conservation forum held recently in South Boston.

Recently, Fort Pickett held a public meeting announcing the kickoff of the Army’s new ACUB program here at the installation. The event, held in the post’s new multipurpose meeting facility, was attended by over 50 local land owners and representatives from numerous public and private organizations.

The ACUB, which stands for Army Compatible Use Buffer, program is a new Army and Department of Defense (DoD) funded program that helps to establish buffer areas around Army installations to limit the effects of encroachment and maximize the land inside an installation’s boundary that can be used to support the installation's mission. Basically, the program, working through third party, non-governmental non-profit conservation organizations as partners, helps local landowners tap into certain state and federal tax incentive programs, and even helps landowners with direct cash payments in return for local landowners selling conservation easements on their land.

Conclusion of the ACUB public meeting with the Training Site Commander, COL Robert Sparks and CPT James Shaver answering questions from the public.

In a nutshell, local landowners may receive yearly cash payments and qualify for yearly tax incentives just for doing what they are already doing and that is farming, ranching, raising timber, etc. just as long as they don’t sell off their land to developers, or build housing and apartment complexes on the land. ACUB is NOT a land grab. The government does not purchase, or forcibly condemn and take possession of land in any way. Residents continue to use the land as they always have in order to make a living, they just give up some limited development rights in exchange for regular cash payments and qualification for tax breaks.

In the case of Fort Pickett’s ACUB, some of the partners include the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation, Virginia Outdoors Foundation, and the Virginia Department of Forestry. The Fort Pickett ACUB basically includes rural land surrounding the installation’s northern, eastern, and southern boundaries.

Click to expand Fort Pickett ACUB Map with priority Areas.

Additional public meetings will be held in the future. For more information on ACUBs, Follow This Link, or specifically for Fort Pickett’s program contact Mr. Tom Inge, Director for the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation, which is the primary Fort Pickett ACUB partner at (434) 294-3138, or 1LT Douglas Austin, the Virginia Army National Guard and Fort Pickett’s ACUB manager at (434) 292-8390.

Fort Pickett ACUB Brochure.

Fort Pickett ACUB Fact Sheet.