The world is full of many different types of environments, just ask Robert Drumm, who has been in a few of them.
From working as a fisheries inspector in the waters off Alaska, to conducting assessments in the heat and desert of Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, to managing woodpecker habitat in the longleaf pine forests of the Southeastern United States, Drumm has worked in all types of climates and conditions.
“It is a big learning curve jumping from very different habitats like that, but I’ve always wanted to be learning new things, and figure out the very different ecosystems,” he said.
“One of the things I always want to know is ‘why?’, ” Drumm said, “Why are we doing it, what’s the mechanism behind it to justify what we are doing? Why are we doing that? What are we helping and what are we hurting if we do this? Is there a better way?”
Drumm, who leads the Environmental Division at Fort Eisenhower, said his natural curiosity into how things work helps to keep installation priorities and the work of the environmental team he leads on track. He said this perspective also allows the group to anticipate where there might be issues and take proactive action to prevent problems.
“When you try to look at the big picture of how things fit together, it helps to understand what course to take,” he said. “In the big picture, at some point these things are connected, and if you do things wrong, it will have an impact. It’s better to understand how things will work to get them right and keep things moving.”
Originally from Muncie, Indiana, Drumm grew up “always outside” and working on neighboring farms. He joined the Air Force for four years, then enrolled at Ball State University, studied biology, and earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
One of his early career experiences was monitoring the use of “beepers” installed on nets to catch Atlantic cod to prevent the nets snagging harbor porpoises.
“If you put the beepers on the nets, the fish can’t hear, but the harbor porpoises can – it worked pretty well,” he said.
From the ocean swells and freezing temperatures of cod fishing and after earning his master’s degree, Drumm moved to a job working at the Nevada Test Site at Yucca Mountain, doing natural resource assessments to determine the baseline information on the desert installation.
“Being out on a boat in a giant storm, not knowing if you’re going to sink or not, was pretty interesting, and very, very different than being out in the desert in the incredible heat, in Nevada,” he said.
His next assignment was at the National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina, where he first worked with preservation and habitat management for the red cockaded woodpecker – a species down-listed from endangered to threatened, considered both a focal point and a success story at military institutions across the region.
“In 1996, one bird from the Savannah River Department of Energy site flew over to the fort and took up residence in one of those old clusters,” he said, adding that from that start, the team at Fort Eisenhower grew both the habitat for the birds and the population. “Today, we’ve got about 63 active clusters. Last year we banded 101 babies – the most ever. We’ve remained busy creating the right habitat, and as fast as we can build it, they appear. Right now, between 26,000 to 27,000 acres are managed for the woodpeckers.”
Drumm said staff continuity is one key to success. “The key staff, a biologist and forester, have been involved from the beginning. For this entire 28-year span, we have had the same group of people on the same page, making this happen. It takes 80 years to grow an 80-year-old tree, the kind the birds like to nest in, so it takes continuity and we have been very fortunate to have that, and it has helped produce results. We can do it all, we can grow the bird population and we can train the Army at the same place.”
Drumm also said that Fort Eisenhower’s role in training for military intelligence and cyber security has produced significant growth and increased demands in support of these critical areas.
“This used to be a sleepy little post, with not much going on. We’re now at the center of cyber and national security for the Army, and that has made things very busy. We’re now doing billions of dollars in new construction, and our team is involved from Day 1,” he said. “When they say they want to put a 200,000-square-foot building here, we check on the environmental issues, the footprint and construction issues, permits, air quality issues, water runoff issues. It’s a challenge, because we have to manage this new construction even as we have to maintain our regular day-to-day mission.”
For example, Drumm said the compliance team is dealing with a legacy of old fuel storage tanks at the installation and is dealing with state and federal regulators in determining the appropriate remediation strategies and plans to fit the conditions on the ground. By understanding the regulations, the team has been able to put forward plans that will drive cleanup and site management, while also limiting the regulatory burdens.
“I do enjoy it; been doing it a long time,” he said. “The main job here is to keep the Army operational in light of all these environmental rules and regulations – preserving the environment, meeting the mission. I enjoy our team being able to get the win and work it out.”
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