Reef-building aboard Eglin AFB

EGLIN AFB, Fla. - The Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance (CBA) is setting up a reef-building competition on the Eglin Air Force Base recreational-area property as part its efforts to reduce shoreline erosion and create wildlife habitat along Choctawhatchee Bay. CBA’s project is the construction of a 1,400-foot reef at Post’l Point on Eglin at the edge of Boggy Bayou. CBA is attempting to get various military and civilian contractors working at Eglin to sign up to build part of the reef. Reef building has become an important part of CBA’s mission because the “reef breakwaters reduce shoreline erosion and create critical wildlife habitat, especially for young oysters,” Erika Zambello, CBA’s marketing director, told NW Florida Daily News on Aug. 11. CBA has been working with Eglin to create reef breakwaters in Alaqua Bayou and Bay Flats. The reefs, built with limestone rock and recycled oyster shells from seafood restaurants, “have already slowed or even reversed erosion,” Zambello said. In one recent project, local high school students, Northwest Florida State College’s baseball team, church groups, and members of AmeriCorps have assisted CBA, in partnership with Eglin, in building a 1,700-foot reef in Alaqua Bayou. (Source: NW Florida Daily News 08/11/18)