Realignment and Closure Commission recommended the conversion of the base to a 
military/civilian joint use airfield. The Commission recommended that the host unit, the 31st 
Fighter Wing, be activated and that the 482nd Fighter Wing, the 301st Rescue Squadron, and the 
125th Fighter Interceptor Group be returned to the base. The US Customs unit is scheduled to 
return. Other units have been transferred elsewhere. Approximately one third of the base will 
remain a military installation, the Homestead Air Reserve Station, and the rest will eventually 
be transferred to Dade County. 
7.6. Everglades Jetport 
[Information in this section is from the Wilderness Society (1969), Derr (1989), and National 
Academy of Science (1970).] 
During the late 1960s, Dade County purchased 30 square miles of land in the Everglades for 
construction a small airport at the site. This airport, originally called the Dade-Collier Training 
and Transition Airport (later known as the Everglades Jetport), was to serve for training 
operations to relieve the overburdened Miami International Airport. The Jetport site is 6 mi 
north of the Everglades National Park's 40-Mile Bend Ranger Station and the Miccosukee 
Reservation, and its eastern boundary is nearly common with the west boundary of 
Conservation Area 3A. The site is approximately midway between the two coasts. Construction 
of the 39-square mile facility started in 1968 and runways and maintenance buildings were 
constructed. Each training landing strip destroyed approximately 400 acres of habitat. An 
access corridor to the airport was planned, including one which would have passed through 
Water Conservation Area 3. A coalition of environmentalists, Native Americans, water 
managers and politicians led the nationwide examination of environmental impacts and potential 
adverse effects to the Everglades and adjacent areas. Noise, water flow disruption, pollution 
from airport operations, and many other factors were considered. "The Everglades Jetport 
Pact", executed in 1970, resulted in the transfer of the Jetport property to the US Department 
of the Interior in exchange for acquisition of a site with a reasonable possibility for ultimate 
potential development and the immediate construction of comparable training facilities. As 
potential alternative to the Jetport site, locations in Florida Bay, Key Largo, Biscayne Bay and 
Soldier Key were considered. All these sites required major construction in shallow water. The 
Jetport site became part of the Big Cypress National Reserve. No further construction 
activities have taken place but the site has not been restored. 
7.7. Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant 
The Florida Power and Light Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant is located in Homestead and 
covers 22,295 acres (Florida Power and Light, 1994). The facility is a combination of two 
fossil fuel and two nuclear units, and it is linked to the statewide electrical power transmission 
system. The fossil fuel units began operation in 1967 and 1968, and the nuclear units in 1972 
and 1973. The fossil fuel storage units hold 554,000 barrels of low sulfur oil. The fossil fuel 
units consume 20,000 barrels of oil and 4,000 barrels of natural gas daily. Approximately 300 
tons of uranium are required to produce a year's supply of fuel for both nuclear units. 
7.8. Agricultural activities 
Agricultural activities in and around the Everglades, south of Lake Okeechobee, began after the 
drainage projects of 1906 - 1927, and intensified after the water control projects of the early 
1950s, which created the Everglades Agricultural Area (Snyder and Davidson, 1994). 
Currently, more than $750 million is earned annually from production of sugarcane, 
vegetables, sod, and rice and over 20,000 full-time equivalent jobs are provided by the 
agricultural industry of South Florida. The future of this industry is uncertain since the loss of 
organic soils, concerns over nutrients and pesticides drainage, and possible flooding of lands as 
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