August 6, 2026
Mr. Whitesides (for himself, Mr. Haridopolos, and Ms. Houlahan) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
To amend the Sikes Act to make certain improvements to integrated natural resources management plans of the Department of Defense for military installations, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Military Readiness Through Resilient Lands Act
.
Sec. 2. Improvements and modifications to integrated natural resources management plans for military installations
(a) In general
Section 101 of the Sikes Act (16 U.S.C. 670a) is amended—
(1)
in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
(5) Standardized metrics
The Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and appropriate State agencies, shall develop and maintain installation-specific goals and metrics for using technologies and artificial intelligence for the assessment of natural resources and ecosystem services as relevant to mission readiness, climate resilience, or community safety on military installations. Such metrics shall, at a minimum, be consistent with the purposes and elements of the integrated natural resources management plans to allow for comparison of conditions and trends on specific military installations and shall address—
(A)
biodiversity, including populations and habitat condition for threatened and endangered species and other species of concern;
(B)
habitat extent, quality, and connectivity;
(C)
water quality and quantity;
(D)
wildfire risk and fuels conditions;
(E)
ecosystem condition, including soil health and vegetation condition;
(F)
flood risk and watershed condition, including on adjacent lands measurably affected by watersheds originating or passing through military lands; and
(G)
other ecosystem services identified by the Secretary of Defense—
(i)
as relevant to mission readiness, climate resilience, or community safety; and
(ii)
consistent with the military installation resilience elements in sections 2801, 2802, 2815, 2815a, 2866, and 2866a of title 10, United States Code.
(6) Technology and methodologies
The Secretary of Defense, acting through the Secretaries of the military departments, shall, to the maximum extent practicable and consistent with national security, evaluate, test and, where the Secretary determines doing so would improve existing approaches, use technologies and methodologies to improve the management and implementation of natural resources programs on military installations, including—
(A)
remote sensing;
(B)
automated environmental monitoring networks;
(C)
geographic information systems;
(D)
artificial intelligence; and
(E)
other advanced data analytics tools, to collect, process, and analyze data on natural resources and ecosystem services on military installations.
(7) Updates to collected data
The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that—
(A)
to the extent practicable, data collected pursuant to paragraphs (5) and (6) are updated on a consistent and regular basis appropriate for use in integrated natural resource management plans; and
(B)
such data is used for the appropriate installation-level and enterprise-level decisionmaking for natural resources management, infrastructure resilience, and mission sustainment.
(8) Use of metrics and data
To the extent practicable and consistent with military mission requirements, the Secretary concerned shall, during the review required under subsection (b)(2), prepare, review, and implement each integrated natural resources management plan under this subsection in accordance with the following:
(A) Assess and project conditions
The Secretary concerned shall use the metrics established under paragraph (5) and the data generated by the monitoring technologies described in paragraph (6) to assess baseline conditions, trends, and projected future conditions of key natural resources and ecosystem services on the installation.
(B) Identify net condition objectives
The Secretary concerned shall establish quantitative or otherwise measurable net condition objectives, as appropriate, for maintaining or improving the condition of such resources and services, including such resources and services specified in paragraph (5).;
(2)
in subsection (b)—
(A)
in paragraph (2), by striking ; and
;
(B)
by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (4); and
(C)
by inserting after paragraph (2) the following new paragraph:
(3)
shall, at the same frequency as the review of the operation and effect of the plan under paragraph (2) and to the extent practicable, use the metrics, technology, and methodologies under paragraphs (5) and (6) of subsection (a) to—
(A)
assess trends in key natural resources and ecosystem services, including biodiversity, habitat condition, wildfire risk, watershed condition, and other relevant ecosystem services, on each military installation covered by the plan;
(B)
evaluate whether the plan is contributing to the maintenance or improvement of the net condition of such resources and services at the military installation; and
(C)
inform any revisions to the plan, including adjustments to management actions designed to improve conditions in some areas to offset or compensate for degradation related to mission-essential activities in other areas; and; and
(3)
by adding at the end the following new subsection:
(b) Implementation guidance
Not later than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, and five years thereafter, the Secretary of Defense shall, as part of the report required under section 2711 of title 10, United States Code, submit to the congressional defense committees supplemental materials with respect to the administration of section 101 of the Sikes Act (as amended by subsection (a)) that includes a summary of—
(1)
progress made toward—
(A)
the use of the metrics, technology, methodologies, and collected data under paragraphs (5), (6), and (7) of subsection (a) of such section (as added by subsection (a)); and
(B)
deploying such metrics to compare natural resource trends across military installations;
(2)
the benefits of such paragraphs (5), (6), and (7) in accelerating, simplifying and otherwise streamlining environmental permitting, environmental review and other similar interagency processes; and
(3)
recommendations of the Secretary with respect to opportunities to improve the efficiency, coordination, and timeliness of interagency environmental review and permitting processes applicable to individual military installations.
(h) Ecosystem services defined
In this section, the term
ecosystem servicesmeans the direct and indirect benefits that natural systems provide to people and communities.