Eglin Air Force Base is the winner of the 2014 Secretary of Defense Environmental Award for Natural Resources Conservation, the Department of Defense announced.
Eglin's Natural Resources Team won the Natural Resources Conservation, Individual/Team award for offering long-range solutions to ensure regulatory compliance and maximized land and water use range to maintain mission readiness.
The group manages an assemblage of biodiversity of distinct natural community types, the largest forested military reservation and more than 120,000 square miles of water ranges while enabling essential DoD missions.
Among their many accomplishments, Eglin's Natural Resources Team:
•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.
•Their Decision Support System was adopted by 19 other Air Force installations and will soon be implemented by the Air Force Wildland Fire Center.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Eglin Environmental named best in DOD