US Air Force to hold second public town hall on plan for Tate's Hell State Forest

The Air Force is planning to hold a second town hall meeting in Franklin County to discuss their plans to use portions of Tate’s Hall State Forest for training missions.

The town hall is scheduled for December the 12^th at the Apalachicola Community center.

The Air Force is in the process of creating an Environmental Impact Study on what they call the Gulf regional Airspace Strategic Initiative or GRASI for short.

The Air Force wants to expand non-hazardous training to areas further away from Eglin Air Force base into parts of the Blackwater River State Forest and Tate’s hell.

Under the current plans the impacts to the forest would include using various sites in Tate’s Hell for helicopter landing and drop zones, airstrips, and ground force exercises.

About a dozen threat emitters would also be installed around the area for training aircraft.

The County Commissioners has officially opposed the plans because of concerns about the impacts to hunters and fishermen who use the forest as well as potential economic and environmental impacts the training would have on the area.

Commissioners have also questioned whether military training is an allowable use in Tate’s Hell.

Much of that property was purchased with public dollars for public use, and commissioners believe military training would likely keep the public from using the forest.

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