Eglin Natural Resources named best in DOD

  • Published
  • By Mike Spaits
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  The Department of Defense announced April 21, that Eglin Air Force Base was named winner of the 2014 Secretary of Defense Environmental Award for Natural Resources Conservation.

Eglin's Natural Resources Team won the Natural Resources Conservation, Individual/Team award for offered long-range solutions that ensured regulatory compliance while maximizing the use of land and water ranges to maintain mission readiness.

"Being recognized three times out of the last four years as the best in the Department of Defense is a direct result of the professionalism and care our team brings every day to the management of Eglin's natural resources," said Vicki Preacher, Eglin Deputy Base Civil Engineer.

The Eglin Natural Resources Team consists of 32 biologists, foresters, forestry technicians, fire management specialists and fire ecologists. They are responsible for managing a remarkable assemblage of biodiversity of distinct natural community types, the largest forested military reservation, and over 120,000 square miles of water ranges while enabling essential DoD missions.

Credit for the accomplishment goes well beyond the team at Jackson Guard, said Preacher. "It's also a reflection of the dedication to stewardship by our base leadership. Understanding the military missions here can thrive, because our natural resources are thriving, not in spite of it, is key to having total buy-in to our management practices."

During the award period, Eglin's Natural Resources Team developed ground breaking, one-of-a-kind programmatic consultation, resulting in Eglin being granted a "blanket take" for endangered Red-Cockaded woodpeckers due to their growing population on the reservation.

The team also hosted an Interagency Prescribed Fire Combustion and Atmospheric Dynamics Research Experiment, a set of unprecedented prescribed fire experiments in which more than 100 renowned fire scientists and support staff used Eglin's forest to fully instrument and measure fires in a controlled environment.

Among the other accomplishments, they restored 12,200 acres of longleaf pine habitat through logging operations by removing 150,000 tons of invasive sand pine, teamed with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to create a Black Bear Management Plan and the first Black Bear Management Unit in the state, and fielded a web-based "Decision Support System" adopted by 19 other Air Force installations and will soon be implemented by the Air Force Wildland Fire Center.

"This award is a perfect example of how Team Eglin promotes innovative environmental practices and partnerships that promote conservation while enhancing and supporting the military mission," said Brig. Gen. David Harris, 96th Test Wing commander.