The full length feature article of a bombing range and wildfires in Florida. The much shortened version appeared in The European magazine - BBC Wildlife - in May 2001.

The Ocala National Forest, Florida
(DON'T TELL THE TOURISTS!)

The Ocala National Forest, situated just 65 miles north-west of Orlando, is one of Florida's last remaining forests covering over 450,000 acres. It is the world's largest continuous forest of sand pine scrub and scrub oak, along with giant palm trees. For wildlife enthusiasts, it's home to many endangered species, such as the majestic bald-headed eagle, which is the very symbol of America, and the elusive Florida Panther, along with Florida's dwindling bear population. During winter months, Canadian Geese grace the forest skies, while below, historical granddad oaks draped in Suthern moss, offer refuge to brightly coloured blue-jays darting amongst velvet red feathered cardinals. The sights and sounds of this rare forest beauty portrays 'a little bit of heaven' right here on earth.

The town of Ocala borders the National Forest and is home to Silver Springs, one of the largest producing fresh-water springs in the country. Decorated around the outer edges of the forest are numerous rambling citrus groves, predominantly oranges, which are enjoyed around the world. As if that isn't enough, the forest region is home to many of the finest dairy farms and horse ranches in the United States.

My fascination, as a Brit then? This comes about as a result of having been a resident of this region for several years now, having married a former wildlife and ecology film and TV documentarian.

On the surface of it, it would appear an idyllic place to live and, from an aesthetic point of view, who would not enjoy being surrounded by rivers and lakes, in this rural tropical scenery? Certainly, the millions of tourists who fleetingly visit this region, having realised there is much more to Florida than the superficial glitz of Disney World, would probably not be aware of anything even remotely amiss, whereby it can be argued that the forest has increasingly become an 'accident waiting to happen'. I, and many others, are becoming more than just a little nervous when a number of ingredients are considered, one of which is man-made.

Now those who have studied the environment and ecology of Florida, know only too well that wildfires are and have been an intrinsic ingredient of the ecological system, even beneficial and part and parcel of the cycle, rejuvenating the landscape and 'balancing' the make-up of flora and fauna. Some would even argue that those who have chosen to live here have to accept that wildfires are part of life, or to use a quaint American colloquialism, "Get over it!" As far as wildfires go though, part of the balancing equation was also the abundance of wetlands and water.

The truth is, several hundred years of history cannot be turned back prior to human settlement, development and hence the changes and impact we have had on Florida. The best we can do is try to preserve what remains of the 'natural beauty' of this land and, at the same time, reduce any risks that threaten us and threaten to damage what remains.
The ingredients for the 'accident waiting to happen', have changed dramatically in recent years. Two of those marked changes occurred specifically 50 years ago, and then in the past few years. These two particular ingredients, rather like gunpowder and a fuse, now merely wait to be ignited!

In 1939, a U.S. Naval Air Station was founded in Jacksonville, quite a few miles north-east of the Ocala National Forest, and over the years has expanded to become the Navy's third largest complex. When I first moved to the southern region of the Ocala National Forest, I never associated loud explosions with a naval base some 100 miles away. Naively, I incorrectly attributed them to the supersonic booms as the Space Shuttles re-entered and landed at the Kennedy Space Center, on the east coast.

As I became acquainted with some of the local forest folks, stories of bombs dropped in the National Forest started to emerge - one resident even telling me of an unexploded bomb landing in her backyard! Surely such events would make headline news, particularly because of the many unique aspects of the Ocala National Forest?

The truth is, I dismissed such stories and, besides, the events of 1998 that were happening all around me (and repeating themselves this year), took up far more of my attention and eventually made world news:

Florida's commissioner, Bob Crawford announced (in 1998), "This is the worst wild-fires (situation) we've had in modern history - There is no precedence for this. The State of Florida is in an emergency situation... (it) is a 'tinderbox', one end to the other."

To set that into context for those who know little about Florida, we are talking about a land mass 2/3rds the size of England, Scotland and Wales. When the world heard about the situation, and saw 'walls of fires several miles long' and flames reaching 70+ feet high on television, it can be forgiven if this gave the impression that this was isolated to just one or two small areas, and that it was a disaster that had unexpectedly occurred. In fact the statements above were made in late May, and what the world saw and heard in July, had been an ongoing disaster whereby 65 of the 67 counties of Florida had had, or were experiencing fires since (officially) May 26th. That year saw a total of some 500,000 acres destroyed by fire, whereby all of the fire-fighting resources for the whole of the United States could not contain the problem. In fact, resources were even brought in from outside the country! Smoke from many of the fires stretched over 60 miles, where even city dwellers in Orlando were phoning the fires services thinking fires had broken out in their immediate neighbourhood. Cases of asthmatic and similar related medical problems soared, resulting in advisories being issued for people who were prone to such illnesses to stay indoors.

Two of the main ingredients that led to that disaster were the onset of drought (which has continued relentlessly to) and lightning strikes. Florida is regarded the 'lightning capital of the U.S.'!

It was during 1999 and again 2000 that I started doing research on the wildfire situation in Florida, and in context with the rest of the U.S. Amongst many facts and figures I discovered that, for the year 2,000, of the fifty states, Florida was in the top 12 states for both the largest number of fires and largest amount of acreage destroyed.

The beginning of 2001 brought the announcement that Florida is now in the worst drought over the past 200 years, some regions having a deficit of over 2 feet of rain. Not surprisingly, the continued population increase of 23.5% from last years census, nearing 16 million in Florida, has put such excessive demands on water that unprecedented water restrictions are enforced. Wildfires have already exceeded the 1998 count for the same period of time, and even at the time of writing this, one wildfire alone just north east of Orlando has leapt to over 3,500 acres in just a few days. Again, not surprisingly, outdoor burn bans are being implemented, as just a single stray spark, from something like a camp-fire, can ignite a wildfire and spread out of control encompassing hundreds of acres in just a few hours.

And the relevance of all of this to the Ocala National Forest and the Jacksonville Navy base? It is the operations from the base that constitutes the current and potent 'second ingredient', added to the 'first ingredient' of the ongoing drought conditions.

Just recently a letter arrived in my mail box from an organisation called the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice. The plea from this organisation leapt off the page, stunning me when I read: HELP CLOSE THE PINECASTLE BOMBING RANGE IN THE NATIONAL OCALA FOREST! Reading further it asked, "Did you know in January 2000, hunters found a live bomb in the Ocala National Forest and carted it back to their campsite, causing residents to be evacuated from their homes?" Immediately the various accounts by the locals started to flood back in my mind.

Surely, nobody in their right mind would permit bombs of 500 to 2000 pounds (my research has confirmed) to be dropped in an area such as the Ocala National Forest!? I contacted the organiser, Carol Mosley, for more information and she explained that the Navy has a 20 year contract with the National Forest Service that is due to expire. However, the contract is up for renewal in June of this year! The full details could be reviewed on the Naval base's own website at http://www.nasjax.navy.mil/ including the location, and history of what is called The Pinecastle Range. This being on my proverbial doorstep and I didn't even have a clue!

She referred me to one area on their website titled, "Pinecastle Range, Draft EIS." This basically is a consultant drafted document, paid for by the Navy, to present their case to renew the contract, in order to allow the bombing to continue in the Ocala National Forest. It is a typical 'high-brow gobbledygook' document, amounting to nothing more than a PR exercise under the guise of 'exploring the alternatives', but fashioned in such a way it offers no alternatives and is outrageously slanted to that end.
The introduction reads: Draft Environmental Impact Statement Released The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for renewal to use the Pinecastle Range

The Pinecastle Range was established by the Army Air Corps in 1943 and has been in continuous operation by the United States Navy (Navy) since the early 1950s to train air for crews and support personnel in the delivery of ordnance [bombs]. The Range is located within the 5 boundaries of the Ocala National Forest, which is controlled by the United States Forest. The USFS, as the controlling agency of National Forest land, is responsible for issuing authorization for use of the land. The Navy is currently authorized to operate and utilize the Range under an extension of an Interagency Agreement between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, Ocala National Forest and the Department of the Navy, effective September 20, 1994, which renewed previous agreements regarding the Navy’s Range operations since 1951. The agreement specifies USFS and Navy responsibilities, defines terms of mutual agreement, and contains exhibits depicting Range boundaries and defining live ordnance [bombs] restrictions. The Interagency Agreement expired on 15 December 31, 1999, but was extended through July 30, 2001. The Navy is seeking to renew the authorization to continue using the Range to provide air and support crew training in the storage, handling and delivery of air-to-ground ordnance [bombs]. Squadrons stationed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville, Naval Station (NAVSTA) Mayport, and visiting units to these two bases routinely use the Range to meet training requirements because of its “backyard” location. The Navy has notified the Forest Service of its need for continued use of the Range to support military training.

The document is more than alarming, admitting to dropping "over 8,000 bombs" and making "between 10,000 and 50,000 sorties per year," with unexploded bombs falling outside of the immediate target area, AND that, they "currently do not have the technology" to clean up the area (part of their argument as to why the contract should be renewed to continue using the facility).

Of course, along with this document, procedures are in place to 'go through the motions' of giving the general public opportunities to object. However, the document amounts to a 'fait a complete' for the 'preferred alternative'. The real clincher being that a single sentence in the first sections of the document, titled "Purpose and Need, 1.1 Introduction," makes clear that all and any input, involvement or influence over the final outcome, from anyone other than the USFS (United States Forestry Services) and the US Navy, is irrelevant. That sentence reads: "The USFS proposes to issue a Special Use Permit (SUP), which would authorize the Navy to continue using the Range for a 20-year period, pending satisfactory preparation of an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) by the Navy, with the USFS as a cooperating agency."

And why does the Navy have to produce it's own 'justifying document' to the USFS? A few sentences later it states: "It has been prepared at the request of the USFS in support of their Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Land and Resource Management Plan for the National Forests in Florida…"

It is a no-brainer as to what the 'preferred alternative' is, proposed in (and preferred by) the Navy's self-contracted EIS document. Nor is it difficult 'rocket (or should that be bomb?) science', in understanding why a 'no alternative' alternative, is also proposed in (and preferred by) the Navy's self-contracted EIS document. No alternative, that is, other than dropping bombs until… the inevitable happens?

Under section "1.3 Air Training at Pinecastle Range" the United States Navy claims, "The population is relatively low, which allows for safe practice maneuvers with reduced risk to nearby residential populations." Obviously the Navy does not acknowledge that directly adjacent to this so-called "safe" bombing range, separated by nothing else other than a flimsy three-foot high bob-wire fence, are several huge poverty stricken communities, where hundreds-and-hundreds of families reside. One area in particular, known as 'The Big Scrub' off of Route 42, only has a small dirt road entrance, which also serves as the exit. It is such an extensive, yet at the same time well concealed, maze of winding dirt paths branching off the entrance that strangers have been known to remain 'lost' back there for days at a time. Should this forest region catch fire, residents of 'The Big Scrub' would inevitably find themselves trapped by the raging inferno. Sadly enough, this same inevitable dilemma holds true for the majority of forest folks who reside here.

Unfortunately, those who drop the bombs never experience the blast.

Copyright, k. t. Frankovich & David Taub, April, 2001

A very brief 'synopsis version' of this article appears in the May issue, 2001 BBC Wildlife Magazine - Britain's largest circulating magazine of its type:

For more information about the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice, contact:

FCPJ
PO Box 336
Graham, Florida, 32042

Phone: (352) 468-3295

Email: fcpj.juno.com (Carol Mosley)

Website: http://www.fcpj.org

David Taub is a member of
The British organisation 'National Union of Journalists' (NUJ);
Columnist for the UK magazine 'Poetry Now';
Freelance writer for various UK and USA magazines;
Co-author of Language of Souls (listed on amazon.com)
Website: www.ukpoet.cjb.net