HERMISTON, Ore. — Rees Training Center received the 2026 Secretary of the Army Environmental Award in the Natural Resources Conservation, Small Installation category, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment announced April 17.

The award recognizes outstanding achievement in mission-focused environmental program management and is among the Army's highest honors for environmental stewardship. As a category winner, RTC has been nominated for the 2026 Secretary of War Environmental Awards competition, with final winners to be announced by June 2026.

"This award reflects the hard work of an entire team committed to proving that environmental stewardship and military readiness go hand in hand and directly supports our soldiers' ability to train. Through the connections with our partners, like the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, we have invested in making Rees Training Center a model for what competent and responsible land stewardship looks like on a military installation."

Located on 7,500 acres on the former Umatilla Chemical Depot site near Hermiston, RTC supports Oregon Army National Guard units and regional forces with weapons ranges, maneuver areas, tracked vehicle driver training, and a Regional Training Institute. The installation is also home to one of the DoD's most significant Western Burrowing Owl conservation programs — a species designated as both a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Bird of Conservation Concern and a DoD Military Sensitive Species.

When the depot was under Army management in 2008, the owl population had fallen to just four nesting pairs. Through sustained conservation work in partnership with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, RTC and adjacent tribal lands now support more than 80 nesting pairs across 11,500 acres, making RTC a model for burrowing owl recovery across the DoD.

Central to the program's recent success is a low-cost artificial burrow system built from 55-gallon barrels donated by the local Tree Top plant. Each burrow is relocatable to avoid conflict with active training operations  a design approach that reflects the program's core philosophy.

"Our work with the Western Burrowing Owl at Rees Training Center proves that environmental stewardship and military readiness aren't mutually exclusive; they actually reinforce one another," said Rhande Shaw, Natural Resources Program Manager, Oregon Military Department. "By strategically placing artificial burrows, we are able to carefully deconflict wildlife habitat from active training. Our priority is always the mission and ensuring soldier training remains unimpeded while conserving natural resources, and that is what makes working for this program so rewarding."

Last year's donation of 100 barrels from Tree Top will yield 200 burrows. The design has been adopted by the CTUIR and drawn interest from University of Boise scientists and Idaho Army National Guard environmental staff, who visited RTC to observe construction and installation. RTC also hosted a DoD Avian Knowledge Network owl training event open to Army, Guard, tribal, and state agency participants.

Beyond owl habitat, RTC has tackled cheatgrass and wildfire risk along Coyote Coulee through a prescribed fire followed by targeted herbicide treatment. The installation has since signed an intergovernmental agreement with Oregon State University and the USGS FIREss Team to reseed more than 350 acres with native grasses and forbs. Data from the partnership will be used to develop customized fire models and update RTC's Integrated Wildland Fire Management Plan.

 

Released Photos:

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Solai Le Fay, a master's student in raptor biology at Boise State University, holds an adult burrowing owl during monitoring and banding operations at Rees Training Center, Oregon, June 11, 2025. Le Fay is leading field research efforts for the colony and using 11 years of data for her thesis work as part of the ongoing collaborative conservation effort between the Oregon Military Department and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Maj. W. Chris Clyne, Oregon National Guard Public Affairs)

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A visitor holds a burrowing owl chick during monitoring and banding operations at Rees Training Center, Oregon, June 11, 2025. The installation hosts the most successful burrowing owl colony in the United States, with over 100 nesting pairs supported through artificial burrow systems developed through a collaborative conservation effort between the Oregon Military Department and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Maj. W. Chris Clyne, Oregon National Guard Public Affairs)

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Janet Johnson, Natural Resources Program Manager for the Oregon Military Department, places a burrowing owl on a digital field scale during monitoring operations at Rees Training Center, Oregon, June 11, 2025. Weight measurements are part of the comprehensive data collection that tracks the health and development of the owls in what has become the most successful burrowing owl colony in the United States. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Maj. W. Chris Clyne, Oregon National Guard Public Affairs)

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Members of the Oregon Military Department, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Global Owl Project install a new artificial burrow on Oregon Army National Guard training lands at Rees Training Center, Hermiston, Ore., Feb. 8, 2024. The burrow installation program has helped grow the Western Burrowing Owl population at the installation from four nesting pairs in 2008 to more than 80 today. (Courtesy photo, Oregon Military Department)

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A prescribed fire burns along Coyote Coulee at Rees Training Center, Hermiston, Ore., Oct. 12, 2022. The burn was conducted to reduce fuel loads and manage invasive species as part of the installation's integrated natural resources management program. (Courtesy photo, Oregon Military Department)

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