Tyndall Air Force Base Coastal Resilience Program Receives Presidential Federal Sustainability Award

At a ceremony at the White House on June 25, 2024, the U.S. Air Force received a Presidential Federal Sustainability Award for the Tyndall Air Force Base Coastal Resilience Program.

The award recognizes efforts to rebuild Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida following the devastation of Hurricane Michael in 2018 and the incorporation of nature-based solutions to combat future coastal flooding. With the support of a working group including The Nature Conservancy, Jacobs led the development of the Tyndall Air Force Base Coastal Resilience Implementation Plan, which provides actionable guidance to inform the coastal defense elements of the Tyndall AFB rebuild.

The Presidential Federal Sustainability Awards celebrate the leadership, innovation and achievement of Federal agencies and their employees that advance the administration’s Federal climate action and sustainability goals.

The Jacobs team joined the emergency response effort at Tyndall Air Force Base in 2019, supporting numerous initiatives including the focus on coastal resilience. The Coastal Resilience Implementation Plan quantified present and future base vulnerabilities and developed a holistic strategy to protect critical assets and operations along the 40 miles of coastline. This included flood protection structures; the elevation, hardening and relocation of facilities; and a comprehensive implementation of nature-based solutions to reduce coastal hazards and provide environmental enhancement. Jacobs also identified and helped to secure funding for four pilot projects that use nature-based techniques such as rebuilding sand dunes and constructing new oyster reefs and living shorelines to reduce coastal erosion. 

The "system of systems" approach at Tyndall integrates traditional engineered and natural infrastructure to improve resilience while creating local social, environmental and economic benefits. This approach has informed other coastal resilience projects that Jacobs is supporting, including a Nature-based Coastal Resilience Implementation Plan for The Nature Conservancy covering the entire coast of South Carolina. 

“The Tyndall Air Force Base Coastal Resilience Program has become a global model for deploying integrated nature-based and traditional flood management solutions to protect critical coastal infrastructure,” says Jacobs Global Director for Water Resources and Resilience Solutions Adam Hosking. “We celebrate the US Air Force for this recognition and continue to draw on their example as we support other coastal installations and communities with resilience strategies.”

“The combination of engineered and nature-based solutions applied as a layered defense will reduce risk to Tyndall Air Force base and its operations from the adverse effects of climate change, supporting long-term mission assurance,” says Jacobs Project Manager Jason Bird.

About coastal resilience at Jacobs

At Jacobs, we take great pride in our ability to deliver innovative and sustainable solutions in the marine and coastal environment. As a global leader in coastal planning and engineering, we balance the need to develop resilient coastlines with the creation of multi-functional solutions that incorporate natural processes and provide broad benefits to coastal communities and habitats.