Final Fort Hunter Liggett Special Resource Study

National Park Service - Pacific West Regional Office, Park Planning and Environmental Compliance

The National Park Service (NPS) has prepared the Fort Hunter Liggett Special Resource Study to evaluate whether the resources of Fort Hunter Liggett are appropriate for inclusion in the national park system. The Fort Hunter Liggett study area includes 164,261 acres. lt is located in Monterey County, California, in the San Antonio Valley and on the east side of the Santa Lucia Mountains. This study report was prepared with the recognition that Fort Hunter Liggett is an active Army Reserve training installation. Congress authorized a study of Fort Hunter Liggett in November 1999, partly in response to the 1995 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission's (BRAC) recommendation that certain structures within the Fort Hunter Liggett cantonment area were excess to the Army's needs. The inventory of BRAC excess properties available to the NPS was analyzed in the Draft Fort Hunter Liggett Special Resource Study and Environmental Assessment released in June 2004. This property included the Julia Morgan designed Milpitas Hacienda and adjacent swimming pool, tennis court and outbuildings; five ranch bungalows; the Gil Adobe; and one acre of land under and adjacent to the Tidball Store. In addition, the Javelin Court area, including 41 housing units in twelve buildings, was also considered. The Draft Special Resource Study and Environmental Assessment addressed the resources of the entire installation. However, the management alternatives considered and the Environmental Assessment focused only on the BRAC excess property as the remainder of the installation, an active Army Reserve training installation, could not feasibly become a national park system unit while in active use by the Army. On May 27, 2005, the National Park Service received a letter from the Department of the Army stating that the BRAC property at Fort Hunter Liggett considered in the draft tudy report is no longer excess to the Army and is needed in order to support the Army mission. Therefore, the property formerly referred to as the BRAC excess property is no longer available for consideration of management by the National Park Service or transfer to another agency. The Army will continue to own and manage these properties. As a result, the management alternatives considered in the draft study report which proposed the transfer of properties to other agencies are no longer under consideration. This final study report contains the resource analysis completed according to the NPS special resource study process. It al o presents resource protection measures that emerged during the study process that the Army could pur ue to support and enhance protection of nationally significant cultural and natural resources at Fort Hunter Liggett.

Final Fort Hunter Liggett Special Resource Study

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