Introduction to ITAM program and ATTACC module

Introduction to ITAM program and ATTACC module The Department of Defense is responsible for the management of over 25 million acres of land, making it the 5 largest federal land management agency (Mendoza, et al, 2002). The Army's Integrated Training Area Management (ITAM) Program is responsible for the management of training lands and a formal strategy for the sustained use of the Army's training and testing areas. A major objective of the ITAM Program is to develop a method for estimating training land carrying capacity. Training land carrying capacity is defined by ODCSOPS (Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans) as the amount of training that a given portion of land can accommodate in a sustainable manner based on a balance of use, condition, and maintenance practices. The ATTACC (Army Training and Testing Area Carrying Capacity) Program, an initiative sponsored by ODCSOPS, is the standard methodology used to estimate the operations and support costs for the use of land on an Army installation for the purpose of training and testing. The ATTACC methodology includes specific processes and algorithms to predict land rehabilitation and maintenance requirements based on the aforementioned training land carrying capacity. These decision support tools include Workplan Analysis Module (WAM), ATTACC Integration Module (AIM), ATTACC functions of the Range Facility Management Support System (RFMSS), and the Land Condition Module (LCM). The ATTACC methodology consists of three main components: (a) training load characterizations, (b) environmental characterizations and (c) cost analysis. Training loads, quantified in terms of MIMs (Maneuver Impact Miles), are based on mileage projections. All vehicles in every training event have a different impact on the land. To account for these differences, all training events are normalized to a standard unit in a standard event. The cost component characterizes land maintenance and repair practices in terms of type of practice, cost, practice effectiveness and areas affected. Land rehabilitation and maintenance costs are obtained from existing installation records and regional cost estimates. The environmental component currently characterizes land condition in terms of erosion status as a function of training load.