EGLIN AFB — The state has purchased a 20,850-acre buffer zone to help fend off any development that could interfere with the base’s mission.
A conservation easement for the property located on the eastern side of Eglin Air Force Base in Walton County was purchased from M.C. Davis for $12.5 million. Davis will continue to own and manage the land, but it will not be developed.
In addition to preserving the ecosystem, the buffer will help prevent development from getting too close to the base.
“This is avoiding any incompatible development before it happens so there’s not a problem in the future,” said an Air Force official who declined to be identified before the official announcement of the acquisition.
The buffer was purchased through a partnership of state and federal governments and agencies. Florida committed $10.2 million, the federal government chipped in $1.75 million and Eglin is providing $550,000.
Military bases across the country grapple with how to fend off development that could impact their missions. When commercial or residential developments are built close to military bases, they can potentially restrict the type of training or testing that can be accomplished.
“We do this so we don’t have problems like what has occurred in California and everywhere else, where a base was put in 50 or 60 years ago and over time people develop right up to the edge of the runway,” said David Goetsh, a local economist who chairs the Florida Defense Support Task Force.
Eglin, the Air Force’s largest installation, spans 474,000 acres, but its footprint in the air is much larger.
It includes extensive special use airspace to accommodate the wide range of testing, evaluation and training missions conducted out of Eglin, Hurlburt Field and Duke Field. That includes flights of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the military’s newest fighter jet.
The airspace over the 20,850-acre buffer is primarily used for low-level flying operations, the Air Force official said.
If neighborhoods or commercial businesses were built in that area, it would likely require limitations on the type of missions that could be flown there or spur residents’ complaints about noise.
Officials have been pursuing buffer zones around Eglin for years, but the Davis property is the largest single acquisition in some time, the Air Force official said.
The effort to acquire the easement began in 2007 with the inception of the Department of Defense’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative, which works to establish buffers at bases across the country.
Some smaller parcels adjacent to the latest buffer have been purchased since the program began, the official said.
Goetsch said the buffer could help protect the area’s largest economic generator from being relocated.
The federal government’s next Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process could occur in 2017, he said.
“One of the most important things they look at is whether there is a sufficient buffer around the base to allow it to do its mission uninterrupted and without the mission adversely affecting the community,” he said.
Goetsch said the area already is at a disadvantage because of lawsuits filed by Valparaiso regarding noise from the F-35, which started flying at Eglin last year.
Some of those issues have been resolved, but Goetsch pointed out that the buffer zone will prevent that from occurring in the first place.
When Eglin was built, there were no houses anywhere near the base.
“Valparaiso over the years grew towards the base, the base didn’t grow towards Valparaiso,” he said.
Geotsch said the economic impact of keeping the military in the area far outweighs that of commercial or residential developments.
“They are our economic engine, the heart of our economy,” he said.
Davis, who runs the Nokuse Plantation, a land conservation organization, sold the easement for $7 million less than its appraised value, the Air Force official said.
As part of the agreement, Davis and Nokuse Plantation will preserve the longleaf pine ecosystem there. It is home to several endangered and threatened species, including the red-cockaded woodpecker.
“We’re confident of their land stewardship based on past performance and what their mission is,” the Air Force official said.
The Nokuse Plantation also will rescue and relocate gopher tortoises from other properties that are being developed.
Officials heralded the acquisition of the buffer zone, dubbed the Seven Runs Creek Project, for its benefits to the local area, the state and the military.
“This helps not only the military, but also our environment, community, quality of life and business development,” U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said in an email. “The Seven Runs Creek Project is an excellent example of various stakeholders coming together to benefit Northwest Florida.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Lauren Sage Reinlie at 850-315-4443 or lreinlie@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @LaurenRnwfdn.