Forestry, food program cultivate partnership

By Amy Newcomb, Fort Campbell CourierApril 17, 2015

Forestry, food program cultivate partnership
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – John Paul Hart, installation forestry technician, holds two of the thousands of tree saplings set to be planted on post. The environmental division of the Directorate of Public Works recently acquired a walk-in cooler from the Installation Food Progr... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Forestry, food program cultivate partnership
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – John Paul Hart, installation forestry technician, looks through an Installation Food Program walk-in cooler full of tree saplings house waiting to be planted across post.. Following the closure of several installation dining facilities, the Installat... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- As John Paul Hart opened the door to a walk-in cooler he revealed thousands of saplings that will be used at Fort Campbell. Approximately 18,000 trees will be planted on post, while 3,000 will be given to schools and Arbor Day participants April 24.

The installation forestry technician may have been in a bind if not for the help of Roman Singleton, Installation Food Program manager, because the tree saplings had to be in a refrigerated environment prior to planting.

Last year, the Fort Campbell Directorate of Public Works environmental division used the Morale, Welfare and Recreation cooler, but because of renovations that was not an option this year, said Hart.

"When you keep them in a cooler, the trees still think they are dormant," Harts said. "So, if we keep them in a cooler, we have a greater window to plant."

Without a cooler, the forestry section would have needed to plant the tree saplings within just a few days, and with the uncooperative spring weather, this could have posed serious issues, said Hart.

Luckily, after several Fort Campbell dining facilities closed, the Installation Food Program recovered four walk-in coolers, two of which were in excellent condition.

"One of them went to the Forestry [Division], and one we have on standby because we have a facility we think may need increased capability," Singleton said.

The walk-in cooler was delivered to the forestry section Thursday, and should be up and running soon. In the meantime, Singleton is letting the forestry section store the saplings, along with 5,000 saplings that belong to the U.S. Forest Service, in another cooler he has on-hand to safeguard the supply. "[Scott Osbourne, forestry section supervisor] called me and told me that he had all of these trees -- about 26,000 trees -- that he needed to store," Singleton said. "That's a lot of trees, so I definitely tried to help him as much as I could."

The storage unit repurposed for the forestry section cost approximately $27,000, with the average cost of the walk-in coolers costing $30,000 each. Without finding another use for the coolers, they would have been turned into the Defense Logistics Agency disposition services to be auctioned for a fraction of the value, or disposed of without profit.

"Fort Campbell is big on recycling, and rather than it going to DRMO -- that was a no-brainer really," Singleton said. "We don't want to throw away something that is reusable."

The two units no longer capable of functioning as a liquid cooling system, will be recycled for dry storage.

"Those were inoperable and we had numerous maintenance issues with them," Singleton said. "We are going to repurpose them as storage units."

Singleton's actions encompass the Qualified Recycle Program's reduce, reuse and recycle message.

"The Army is going to a new program … Net Zero -- where whatever we get, we keep, and don't waste it," said Rob Anderson, Qualified Recycle Program manager. "We are trying to reduce what we are throwing away and create a waste aversion."

The Army Net Zero Energy Program is a holistic strategy founded upon long-standing sustainable practices and incorporates emerging best practices to manage energy, water and waste at Army installations.

"These coolers were utilized at the mess halls for many years, and the military in a way got their money's worth out of it, and now they got moved to the cold storage facility to continue to be used here on the installation," Anderson said. "It was a concentrated effort from several different departments … everyone was willing to play because it was the right thing to do and everyone benefits."

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