Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1497871
An odd offshoot of the environmental program, which is specific to the base, is the aptly named BASH or Bird Aircra Strike Hit program. BASH documents when a bird strikes an aircra or helicopter in flight. Besides killing the bird, damage can occur to aircra. Some of these strikes can be avoided by encouraging birds to nest in areas that avoid flight paths. Part of the work of the Natural Resources Team involves water. ey monitor compliance and permits for the five types of water used on base, which include municipal, construction, disinfectant, waste, and drinking water. e Natural Resources Team works to improve the health of streams, ponds, and banks on Air Force property. is wet work can include streambank erosion mitigation, such as grading, planting vegetation, and placing stones to keep water from eroding banks. Within the last year, they stabilized and restored a streambank near a missile alert facility. Malmstrom has an Installation Tribal Relations Plan, or ITRP, relating to the seven federally recognized tribes within Montana. is plan may involve the Natural Resources Team in protecting areas of significance or items of cultural interest to Native Americans. Yellowstone was part of a trade route used by many tribes, so team members sometimes find precontact artifacts--- obsidian, turquoise, and shells from the Columbia Basin---which are of interest to the tribes. e Natural Resources Team is also used to evaluate manmade structures within the boundaries of Malmstrom's oversight, such as historic bridges and the Milwaukee Railroad's train tracks. ey also aid in revamping or repairing what was thought to be appropriate environmental measures from Malmstrom's 80-year past, which may need to be revisited. One favorable example of this revamping is the solution the Natural Resources Team helped develop for Pow Wow Pond. Fishing Pow Wow Pond. 48 | SIGNATURE MONTANA The O-11 wooden bridge, built in 1962, is too small for modern farm equipment but is a perfect candidate, with a little help from various entities, including the Natural Resources Team, for the Historic American Engineering Record.