Eglin Air Force Base Management of Floodplains and Wetlands 1994-2023
William N. Pizzolato
Eglin AFB Natural Resources
Niceville, FL
Situated within the Gulf Coastal Plain along the northwest Florida panhandle, Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) is the largest forested AFB in the USA, encompassing 464,000 acres. Home to the Okaloosa darter (Etheostoma okaloosae), Eglin AFB Natural Resources in partnership with US Fish & Wildlife Service began a recovery program in 1994 to remove this fish species from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as originally listed in 1973, and later downlisted to threaten status in 2011. On the ESA 50th anniversary, Etheostoma okaloosae was declared recovered and no longer meets the definition of an endangered or threatened species (88 FR 41835). Management actions in this dynamic alluvial valley (groundwater supported headwaters) have reduced anthropogenic erosion into floodplains to background levels and reconnected stream habitat as decommissioned natural areas.
Sedimentation and impoundments are the primary stressors impacting riparian ecosystems by smothering aquatic habitat and altering water quality. Primary sources of sediment result from unpaved roadways, borrow pits (unpaved roadway earthfill resource), test ranges, and silviculture. Artificial impoundments such as recreational ponds or undersized culverts are fish passage barriers that fragment aquatic habitat and degrade environmental parameters. Beaver impoundments naturally occur on Eglin AFB but are not actively managed outside wildland/urban interfaces.
Okaloosa darter habitat comprise 25 percent of Eglin AFB watersheds. Between 1995 and 2005, 510 nonpoint and borrow pit erosion sites (680 acres) have been rehabilitated and maintained within Okaloosa darter watersheds. Lessons learned from annual Etheostoma okaloosae monitoring allowed further restoration efforts across the remainder of Eglin AFB. Through 2023, a total of 847 sites comprising of 1,066 acres have been completed.
Since 1998, 81 permitted stream restorations have restored 20 acres of riparian habitat, including 13 decommissioned recreational impoundments. All permitted sites had upland erosion control measures installed (waterbars, sediment basins, established vegetation, and vehicle barricades). Sites underwent riparian management (replanting wetland vegetation, removing asphalt approaches/wingwalls) and channel reconfiguration (converting culverts and bridges to open channels). Half of sites employed floodplain reconnection practices (grading slopes to existing natural contours, removing excess earthfill to upland areas). A quarter of sites utilized in-stream habitat improvements (toewood root wads, log vanes).
About William Pizzolato
Mr. Pizzolato is a graduate of the University of Louisiana-Monroe (formerly Northeast Louisiana University) with his bachelor’s degree in geology and master’s degree in geosciences. His career has spanned over 40 years in the fields of meteorology, climatology, hydrology, soils, and landscape restoration. He has worked for U.S. Geological Survey-Water Resources Division in Louisiana and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Waterways Experiment Station at Vicksburg, Mississippi before joining the Civil Service at the Department of Defense.
Currently, he is the Soil Conservation Project Manager for the Forestry Element of the Eglin Air Force Base Natural Resources in Niceville, Florida. Mr. Pizzolato is the manager of one of the largest land restoration programs within the Department of Defense. Since 1994, more than 800 sites totaling over 430 hectares have been restored leading to the 2023 delisting of the federally endangered Okaloosa darter, the first ever Department of Defense recovery of an aquatic vertebrate under the Endangered Species Act.