Blackwater State Forest Grows By 625 Acres

November 17, 2016

The Blackwater State Forest has grown by over 600 acres.

The Trust for Public Land announced Wednesday that 626 acres of Wolfe Creek Forest  has been acquired and added to the Blackwater River State Forest. The acquired property includes frontage on Big Coldwater Creek, which is widely used for kayaking, tubing, and canoeing by community members. It also includes a spring-fed state paddling trail beloved by area paddlers and birdwatchers.

This acquisition will also protect naval air base operations, water sources, public recreational activities, bird migration, and habitat for endangered species and other wildlife. The Trust for Public Land purchased the property on October 18th from CF Florida, LLC. The purchase price was $1,526,038.85 and was sold to the State of Florida for the same price on November 4.

“Incorporating this section of Wolfe Creek Forest into the Blackwater River State Forest protects it from development, forever, protecting both the natural resources on the property as well as assuring continued naval air station operations. Our goal is to make sure this land remains a recreational hub and habitat center for generations to come while investing in the future of Whiting Field,” said Trust for  Public Land Project Manager Doug Hattaway.

Funding for the acquisition came by leveraging both Florida Forever funds, with the US Navy contribution through its Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program. Protecting  the property ensures that land adjacent to the base will not be incompatibly developed in ways that may limit flight operations and vital military training.

NAS Whiting Field is the busiest aviation complex in the world, accounting for nearly 15 million annual flight operations including primary flight training for over 1,200 students and is the host of 21 tenant activities. Additionally, approximately 600 new helicopter pilots are winged annually and 100 percent of all Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard pilots are trained at NAS Whiting Field. The base supports over 14,000 local jobs and is a vital economic engine for the area with more than $1.1 billion in economic impact on the local economy.

The acquisition will also accelerate efforts to fill in a strategic landscape-level gap of long leaf pine forest. Land management will see to the replacement of existing commercial tree species with the native long leaf pine species. Longleaf Pine Forests once covered over 90 million acres in the Southeastern United States but prior logging practices reduced their range to only about 3 million acres.
Bringing back the native trees will provide the habitat upon which several endangered animal and plant species, such as the red cockaded woodpecker, indigo snake, black-bear, and gopher tortoise depend.

Comments

4 Responses to “Blackwater State Forest Grows By 625 Acres”

  1. Charlie on November 17th, 2016 11:43 pm

    Glad to see this also benefits & helps protect Whiting Field, which gives quite a financial boost to our area. @Phil—LOL—I think you meant “whether”. Weather is what gives us hot/cold, wet/dry days! Yes, we do have local & national weather.

  2. Phillip on November 17th, 2016 7:30 pm

    I am glad to see this. We need to conserve more of our natural resources

  3. Phil on November 17th, 2016 5:36 pm

    Phil thinks that we should stop the government land grab, weather it local or national.
    Phil for smaller government!

  4. Lone Chief on November 17th, 2016 4:36 pm

    NICE!!! There are a few additional places we should let go back to the natural/idigenous state.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News