Really difficult to justify keeping this outdated, useless and harmful dam.
Neither the Gainesville Sun nor the Jacksonville Times Union provides a link to this article.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
This should be the year Florida finally restores the Ocklawaha River
Mark Woods
Florida Times-Union USA TODAY NETWORK, March 13, 2022
WELAKA — Erika Ritter guided her pontoon boat, the Anhinga Spirit, out of the St. Johns River and up the crossstate canal that never was completed, toward the dam that remains standing more than 50 years later.
She stopped at the locks so those on board could look at the Kirkpatrick Dam.
Some dams generate hydroelectric power. Some provide a water supply. Some offer flood protection.
This dam does none of that. In fact, now past its life expectancy, it creates a flood risk.
A dam failure here could unleash the water held in the Rodman Reservoir in a way that’s much different from one of the controlled drawdowns. It could flood hundreds of homes and businesses in Welaka, adding the name of this Old Florida town on the banks of the St. Johns to the list of the state’s man-made environmental disasters.
It has been more than 50 years since President Richard Nixon signed an executive order halting the Cross Florida Barge Canal project. And after decades of debate, it is time to stop kicking the can down the canal.
It’s time to either repair a dam that was mandated to be breached years ago — or to finally breach it and restore a river that, before the dam, was considered one of the most fascinating and beautiful waterways in America.
Between the dam safety, ample federal and state funding available for restoration, and signs of a shift in public opinion in Putnam and Marion counties, this could be the year — this should be the year — that the governor and state legislature finally commit to breach the dam and restore the Ocklawaha.
It’s time to reunite three rivers, uncover about 20 springs, revive some historic pieces of Florida’s past and create opportunities for the future.
Captain Erika and some of those on her boat on this day — including Margaret Spontak, chair of the Free the Ocklawaha River Coalition for Everyone — have been saying this for quite a while.
While they might be preaching to the choir on this particular trip, in recent years the choir seems to have grown.
It’s not just that more than 60 nonprofit organizations from across the state have joined forces to try to push for the restoration of what they’re calling “The Great Florida Riverway” — a 217-mile system flowing from Central Florida to the Atlantic Ocean, connecting Silver Springs, the Ocklawaha and the St. Johns.
It’s also that a recent poll of likely voters in Putnam and Marion counties showed strong bipartisan support, with 77% saying they were in favor of restoring the flow of the Ocklawaha.
In the past, this issue often has pitted Putnam versus outsiders, anglers versus conservationists. This time, those trying to push it across the goal line are emphasizing why it would be good for fishermen from Putnam to Duval, and how it would create a host of recreational, environmental and economic benefits.
When the dam was built, against the wishes of many locals who saw the canal as a giant boondoggle for Texas oilmen, it flooded 7,500 acres of forested wetlands, creating a reservoir that quickly became renowned for bass fishing.
Fifty years later, the Rodman Reservoir certainly remains known for its fishing, but it also isn’t what it used to be.
It has followed a familiar trajectory for dams and reservoirs. The overnight birth of a great fishing spot, followed by a gradual decline.
There is plenty of science to illustrate not only this decline with the Rodman, but also the ripple effects on both sides of the dam. But there’s another statistic that is damning for this dam. Use of the Rodman Reservoir has been on a downward trend since 2010 — a time when many Florida spots have seen an increase in usage.
There are so many benefits to restoration. And there are so many issues with the status quo.
Spontak quotes something that Ed Lowe, who served as the chief scientist at the St. Johns Water Management District for years, has said about the dam.
It’s like putting a tourniquet on one of the major arteries of the St. Johns. And if you leave a tourniquet on too long, it can have serious repercussions.
This tourniquet has been on the Ocklawaha for more than 50 years. It is creating serious repercussions all along a 217-mile riverway. It is time to remove it.
Mark Woods is a columnist for the Florida Times-Union.
