PDF: NBVC - Partners for a Compatible Future (Information Pamphlet)

Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) is a premier naval installation composed of three main operating areas - Point Mugu, Port Hueneme, and San Nicolas Island. Strategically located 55-miles west of Los Angeles in coastal Southern California, NBVC is a key element in the Department of Defense infrastructure because of its superior geographical location that allows direct access to restricted air and sea-space within the 36,000 square miles of the Point Mugu Sea Range, the largest instrumented Sea Range in the World.

NBVC supports approximately 80 tenant commands and supports over 20,000 total jobs, including direct, indirect, and induced jobs, including those employees who live outside of Ventura County. Tenant commands encompass a diverse set of specialties that support both Fleet and Fighter, including three warfare centers: Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division, and Naval Facilities Engineering Command Expeditionary Warfare Center. NBVC is also home to deployable units, including the Pacific Seabees and the West Coast E-2/D Hawkeyes.

AREAS OF OPERATION

NBVC provides airfield, seaport, and base support services to fleet operating forces and shore activities with operations onboard NBVC Port Hueneme, NBVC Point Mugu, San Nicolas Island, and eight special areas. Point Mugu consists of 4,500 acres, including Laguna Peak, and is bordered by parkland, wildlife reserves and intensively farmed agricultural lands. The primary runway at Point Mugu is 11,000 feet (ft) by 200 ft. The secondary runway is 5,500 ft by 200 ft. Port Hueneme covers more than 1,600 acres and has more than 29 miles of roads, 10 miles of railroad track and a deep water port. SNI is approximately 13,370 acres, 8.7 miles long by 4 miles wide and lies in the Santa Barbara Channel 74 miles west of Los Angeles. SNI also has a runway, which is 11,000 ft by 200 ft.  

Employing more than 20,060 military and civilian personnel, over 80 tenant commands and departments located at NBVC support the diverse missions of the Department of Defense. These tenant commands support both Fleet and Fighter, including three warfare centers: Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division, and Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center [EXWC]. 

NBVC is also home to the Pacific Seabees and the West Coast E-2C Hawkeyes. Combat and weapon systems testing takes place on the 36,000 square mile Point Mugu Sea Test Range, MQ-8B/C (Fire Scout) and MQ-4C (Triton) unmanned platform operations occur at Point Mugu, and Littoral Combat Ship missions are supported at Port Hueneme. 

NBVC has also identified a Military Influence Area within which military operations may occur, defined by flight patterns, noise zones, range hazard zones, mobilization corridors, and security buffers.

BRIEF HISTORY

During World War II, the Navy established Port Hueneme and Point Mugu as temporary training and staging areas for the newly created Seabees. The Navy established Port Hueneme in 1942, later naming it the Naval Construction Battalion Center in 1945. As the need for a sea test range became evident, the Navy approved the Missile Test Center at Point Mugu in 1946 and established the Naval Air Station in 1949 to provide associated material and service support. In 2000, NBVC was created by consolidating Point Mugu and Port Hueneme into one installation. San Nicolas Island, a major test and evaluation site, transferred to NBVC in 2004.

ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS

NBVC is the number-one employer in Ventura County and a major contributor to the Region of Influence, providing economic stimulus in the form of good-paying jobs, demand for housing and consumer products, expenditures for supplies and operational support services, and related economic activities that ripple through a wide range of economic sectors. Each Fiscal Year NBVC generates over $2.5 billion to the local economy. The number of jobs includes 6,231 military, 4,701 civilian, and 3,172 contractor personnel residing in Ventura County, and an estimated 6,672 jobs stimulated by Navy operations, personal spending, and other spending.

ENVIRONMENTAL

NBVC manages a highly successful, award-winning environmental program that balances stewardship of its extensive natural and cultural resources with its critical mission as a major aviation shore command and Naval Construction Force mobilization base. The NBVC Natural Resources Conservation Team [NRCT] has a record of excellence and outstanding achievement. These accomplishments support the mission by: 

1)    Leveraging partnerships to fulfill Integrated Natural Resource Management Plan [INRMP] requirements by collaborating with outside researchers to address data gaps;
2)    Creating a substantial time and cost savings to the Navy by maintaining excellent working relationships with Federal and State regulators, other agencies and land managers, Sikes Act partners, and community groups; and
3)    Capitalizing on new and innovative methods to accomplish more efficient and effective species management.

The NRCT implements three INRMPs as the basis for managing natural resources while accomplishing NBVC’s military mission in a sustainable manner. In addition, they oversee 21 Environmental Program Requirements, or individual programs supporting the goals and objectives described in the INRMP, with a combined average annual operating budget of approximately $1.7 million. The NRCT also ensures compliance with two Programmatic Biological Opinions covering ongoing naval operations at NBVC, as well as a number of project specific BOs such as Bird/Animal Aircraft Strike Hazard Program [BASH], Countermeasures Testing and Training, and Directed Energy Testing.  

NBVC Point Mugu is comprised of 1820 hectares [ha] on the coast, 890 ha of which are jurisdictional delineated wetlands, the largest remaining coastal salt marsh estuary in Southern California. The Calleguas Creek Watershed, which drains approximately 88,800 ha of Ventura County empties into the Mugu Lagoon. The estuary’s varied habitats pro- vides for thousands of migrating and wintering birds, as well as numerous invertebrate, fish, and plant species. 

Six federally listed species are present year-round or seasonally, including salt marsh bird’s-beak (Chloropyron maritimum subsp. maritimum), light-footed Ridgway’s rail (Rallus obsoletus levipes), western snowy plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus), California least tern (Sterna antillarum browni), least Bell’s vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus), and tidewater goby (Eucyclogobius newberryi). State listed species and species of special concern include Belding’s savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis beldingi) and southwestern pond turtles (Actinemys pallida). 

Port Hueneme is home to one of a few mainland rookeries of Brandt’s cormorants (Phalacrocorax penicillatus) and experiences casual use by two federally listed species, the western snowy plover and the California least tern. Port Hueneme covers 668 ha, including the only deep water port between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area. 

San Nicolas Island lies 68 miles south-southwest of Ventura and consists of 5,411 ha with a topography dominated by a broad central mesa which drops off as gullied steep slopes around the islands coastline. SNI is home to three federally listed species including the western snowy plover, black abalone (Haliotis cracherodii), and southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris). State-listed species include the SNI island fox (Urocyon littoralis dickeyi), SNI buck-wheat (Eriogonum grande), and beach spectacle-pod (Dithyrea maritima). The second most dense seal and sea lion rookery in North America, the island is hosts upwards of 170,000 California sea lions (Zalophus californianus), northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris), and Pacific harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) during the breeding season.