| What's On This Page: - Florida Springs Rally, by John Moran - Florida Springs - How to protect Florida Springs - Suggested letters to be sent to Tallahassee requesting Spring Legislation |
Three Rivers'
ICHETUCKNEE VIEWS
About the Ichetucknee
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| Florida Springs · Florida’s 700 springs are a world class resource that provide natural, recreational and economic values for the people of Florida. · The largest springs are first magnitude which means their flow is 65 million gallons or more per day. Florida has 33 first magnitude springs; more than any other state or country. · Springs are owned by 2 federal and 3 state agencies, 3 water management districts, 12 counties, 5 cities and many corporations and private citizens. · There are 48 springs in Florida’s state parks; more than are managed by any other entity. The annual attendance of the 16 state parks named for springs is 2.5 million generating a direct economic impact of $121 million. · The 600 manatees that live the farthest north in Florida are dependent on springs as warm water refuges for their survival during the winter. · Several of Florida’s rivers are created by springs including the Wekiva, Wakulla, Wacissa, Rainbow, Homosassa and Silver Rivers. · Springs occur in 40 counties from Tampa, Orlando and Deland, north and west to DeFuniak Springs. · Springs have been magnets for people since the earliest times. They have been the locations of Indian villages, Spanish missions, a trading post, forts, steamboat landings, grist mills, post offices, hotels and towns. · The crystal clear waters of our springs were popular movie sets for decades. Thirty four movies have been filmed at Silver, Weeki Wachee and Wakulla Springs. · Florida’s multimillion dollar bottled spring water industry is dependent on 9 springs for their water supply. · The values of a spring: scenic beauty, fish and wildlife, and recreation are dependent upon water; however protection of the water must occur in the springshed before it reaches the spring. · We use to believe that a spring could be protected by buying it and making it a state park. Manatee Spring was purchased by the state in 1949 and 16 other springs -- the best of the best --have been purchased since then. But now we know that although state acquisition protects the hole where the water flows from the aquifer, it does not protect the water and without the water, all we have is a hole in the ground. · The source of spring water is the rain that falls on the springshed. If more water is withdrawn from the spring’s aquifer then is recharged by rain, the spring will cease to flow. Kissengen Spring, Hampton Spring, Fenholloway Spring, White Spring, and Worthington Spring --- no longer flow. · Springs are the vents of the aquifer. What ever we apply to the landscape in the springshed, in time, will flow from these natural drains. These contaminants include nitrates from livestock wastes, septic tanks, and wastewater sprayfields, and fertilizer from lawns, pastures and golf courses. Over 800 tons of nitrate flow from Silver Springs each year. Chinese Proverb: In order to protect the water we must protect the land. · Nitrate is a nutrient that is degrading the ecology of our springs. The natural level of nitrate in spring water was .02 milligrams per liter (mg/l). Ecological degradation is occurring in springs before nitrate levels reach 1.0 mg/l. The diversity and abundance of birds and other wildlife are declining and algae is smothering the native aquatic plants. · Antihistamines, anticonvulsants, the repellent DEET, and an herbicide have been found in the waters of Ichetucknee Springs. Bacteria have permanently closed springs to swimming including Sulphur Spring, Gemini Springs, Health Spring, Hornsby Spring and occasionally Rock Spring and Volusia Blue Spring. Who would want to swim in algae choked Royal Spring? · We must take action in the springshed before the water reaches the spring and without further delay. · The Department of Environmental Protection’s Springs Initiative has provided funding for springs protection strategies including education, research, monitoring, and best management practices annually since 2001. Stronger regulations are needed to require enhanced land use planning policies, septic tank and wastewater treatment plant up-grades, and other needs. · In conclusion: writer Al Burt said “All of Florida’s common folk need to stand a little taller if Florida’s springs are to survive. Good citizens and good government must act. The good will of the people will become political action. |
| How to Protect Florida Springs Goal: To protect springs by protecting the quality and quantity of the water flowing to the springs. Land Use Planning · Establish spring basin protection zones within one year. (Water Management District and County) · Amend Local Comprehensive Plans to protect spring water quantity and quality within one year. Require coordination of land use and water supply. (City, County, Regional Planning Council, Department of Community Affairs and Water Management District) · Amend the Regional Planning Council Plan to protect springs within one year. (Regional Planning Council) Regulations · Establish nutrient criteria for springs within one year. (Department of Environmental Protection) · Establish a TMDL and implement a BMAP for water quality protection of impaired springs within three years. (Department of Environmental Protection) · Require nitrogen reducing septic systems for new houses and commercial buildings in the protection zone on parcels less than 5 acres. Systems shall reduce nitrogen to at least 10 mg/l. Local governments shall institute a management program to maintain these systems. Conventional septic tanks in the spring basin shall be inspected every 5 years and when the property is sold. Failing systems shall be upgraded. (County and Department of Health) · Develop a wastewater facilities plan for the spring basin within two years. (City, County and Department of Environmental Protection) · Upgrade existing wastewater facilities in the spring basin to advanced wastewater treatment to reduce nitrates to at least 3 mg/l within 5 years. Extend central sewer where feasible to eliminate septic tanks and require hook-ups. (City, County and Department of Environmental Protection) · Develop a master stormwater management plan for the spring basin and approve a karst protection rule within two years. (City, County and Water Management District) · Protect historic spring flow using best available data within two years. (Water Management District) · Require incentives and enforce all applicable water conservation methods and technology within one year. (City, County and Water Management District) Land Uses of Special Concern Unless it is demonstrated that there will be no net increase in nitrogen loads to the aquifer, the following land uses shall not be located in the spring protection zone. · New municipal and industrial wastewater disposal systems. · Land application of wastewater treatment plant and septic tank residuals. · New conventional septic tanks. · New rapid infiltration basins. · New facilities for the transfer, storage or disposal of hazardous waste. · New landfills. · New limerock mines. · Dairy waste disposal. Best Management Practices · Agricultural operations are required to implement applicable best management practices in the spring protection zone within one year. (Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services) Land Acquisition · Acquire vulnerable areas in the protection zone within three years. (Water Management District and Department of Environmental Protection) · Fund Florida Forever within one year. (Legislature) Monitoring · Monitor spring water quality, discharge, ecology, and human use and produce a report card every three years describing the health of the spring. (Department of Environmental Protection and Water Management District) Funding · Provide funding for wastewater facilities, septic systems, stormwater management upgrades and monitoring. (Legislature, City, County, and Water Management District) · Establish the “Florida Springs Protection Trust Fund” to be funded by a tax on bottled water. (Legislature) |
| FLORIDA SPRINGS RALLY The Capitol, Tallahassee, Feb. 16, 2010 by John Moran The story of my love affair with the springs of Florida is a familiar and unremarkable tale. When I moved from south Florida to attend the University of Florida in 1973, I knew what a freshwater spring looked like. I’d never been to a spring before, but every school kid in Florida grows up seeing pictures of the glass-bottom boat rides at Silver Springs or the mermaid show at Weeki Wachee. Soon I was venturing out from Gainesville to see for myself, and I found my way to Ginnie and Poe and Blue Springs, and I went spring hopping on the Suwannee, and then on to the big springs of the Ocala National Forest. I tell you that nothing had prepared me for the experience of standing there in real time, to behold these incredible gems of the Florida landscape. And so began my personal odyssey of discovery and exploration. In time, Ichetucknee Springs emerged as my favorite and I began a tradition of going there every year on my birthday. For 24 years now and counting, May 17th has been a constant on my calendar, a holy day when I invariably find my way to the Sacred River, as I call the Ichetucknee. Alone or with family and friends, I’d head out on my birthday for this crown jewel among Florida’s state parks, giddy at the prospects of a day in glorious nature at a place I had every reason to believe was insulated from the problems of the world. Walking from the parking lot, I’d catch a glimpse of the headspring through the trees and that gorgeous sliver of shocking blue would take my breath away, each and every time. And I would take the plunge and swim down through an emerald carpet of dancing eelgrass, down into the vent of the spring, into the source, into the womb of the Sacred River. I would be filled with wonder at this gift of beauty beyond measure, this endless bounty of life-giving water flowing onward to the sea. And I would be filled with gratitude that people I would never know, many of them here in Tallahassee, had the wisdom and foresight to set aside this special place, protected forever. God; those are great memories. But it all seems like a dream now. The dream ended about ten years ago. First came the drought, the worst in living memory, and the flow of the mighty Ichetucknee turned weak and anemic. Then came the algae, and many of the lovely aquatic grasses either died back or became coated with noxious sludge, and the once-crystalline waters turned cloudy and dull. In spite of the changes, I have continued to go to the river, of course. I have a personal history here and there are still moments of connection and vistas of beauty to appreciate and to photograph. But I have stood on the banks of the Ichetucknee and I have grieved for my loss--our loss--as I consider with each passing year that my collection of springs photographs seems less a reflection of the real Florida than a catalog of what once was. We are poisoning our beautiful springs and they are dying a slow death of a thousand straws. How can this be? How can a state blessed with the finest springs on the planet allow this to happen? I believe the sad state of our springs is emblematic of a deeper disconnect we have from the natural world. Throughout our history as a species on the planet, we have celebrated our connection to nature through song and prayer and ritual; aware of our utter dependence on the gifts of a living planet. But in recent centuries, as our technology has grown, so too has the gulf between being clever and being wise, and we now live in a time when we alone are a superspecies, capable of altering the biological, physical and chemical features of the planet on a global scale. We have created a society in which a me-first mindset allows individuals to think nothing of depleting a shared limited resource even when it’s clear that doing so is injurious to everyone’s long-term interests. We have created an economy that worships at the altar of the bottom line and fails to acknowledge that the earth is at the very center of our existence and makes an economy possible. We have created a political culture that focuses on the short-term, forsaking the needs of the future while ignoring the lessons of the past. We have, in short, created a mess. These factors didn’t just spring forth, of course; they have long been part of the human condition. It’s just that they’re exacerbated here in Florida, where it seems everyone has come from someplace else. What we have here is a certain poverty of spirit, borne of a disconnect from a sense of place. Place matters, and our bond with our place on the planet is one of the most deeply felt needs of the human soul. We know that there is a loss of perception of change that occurs when each generation redefines what is “natural.” Biologists call this the baseline shift; and the result is a kind of collective amnesia that can only leave us to wonder what a place was really like before we were here. That loss of perception and connection is skewed even more when you factor in all those transplants. As the great Florida writer Al Burt once put it, “Florida increasingly is populated by people whose bodies are here, but whose hearts continue to reside elsewhere.” And so when young people and new residents go to the springs for the first time, they may have a lovely day in nature, and that is good. The springs look fine to them and they may wonder what the fuss is all about and why do we need a Springs Rally, and that is not good. When children and new residents go to the springs for the first time and it looks OK to them, that is understandable. But when our political leaders shrug and say they don’t see what the problem is, that is willful indifference, and should not be confused with responsible oversight. We deserve better. None of us should be impressed that we’ve overpumped the aquifer so we could have all those pretty lawns, and none of us should be proud that we saved a few dollars by delaying the upgrades on our wastewater treatment plants. For the past 20 years, a small army of scientists and cave divers and journalists and caring Floridians have sounded the call that our springs are imperiled and in danger of collapse. I’m one of those regular people. We may not all be experts, but we do know that our springs and rivers and lakes and coasts are the spiritual lifeblood of Florida. And for the past five years, our Florida legislature has hemmed and hawed and delayed and denied and done precious little to promote meaningful springs protection. No matter how I look at this issue, I cannot escape the realization that our abuse and neglect of the springs of Florida is nothing less than a crime against nature, and it’s our children who will suffer the collateral damage. I believe it’s time for a transformational shift in our attitudes and actions, and especially from those we have elected to provide stewardship of our natural legacy. Our message is clear: We are all a part of the earth, and not apart from it. And we need political leaders who get it, who understand that our unique and irreplaceable springs deserve a level of stewardship and devotion that as parents we reflexively bestow on our children. I love it that there are so many young people here today. I want you to hear and feel and absorb this message. I am very saddened by what we have done to your springs. You have every right to be profoundly disappointed by the legacy we are leaving you. But I must tell you that you have no right to give up hope, for without hope this truly is a lost cause. Hope is not just the oxygen of the soul, it’s the only practical alternative we have. Hope only makes sense when it makes no sense to hope. I’m not talking about passive, wishful thinking kind of hope; waiting for someone else to pick up the torch. I’m talking hope that inspires action. As it reads in the Talmud, “If not us, who? And if not now, when?” Here is my challenge to you. At the conclusion of this Rally, I want every young person here to walk into this Capitol building and to find your senators and representatives. Tell them you’re a lobbyist; that’ll get their attention. Tell them that you love the springs and that you represent the future. Remind them that the needs of the future are more important than the desires of the present. And explain to them that the measure of a civilization is not merely what it creates, but what it refuses to destroy. We need a spark in Tallahassee and across Florida. We need a renaissance of spirit and connection and wonder. Knowing what’s right is not the issue here. The issue is doing what’s right. It’s time for the Florida legislature to heed our call: Our beloved springs are world-class treasures that deserve world-class protection, not more procrastination. Let’s make this Florida’s Best Idea. Thank you for coming to the Florida Springs Rally, and thank you for all that you do to make tomorrow a better day in Florida. |
| February 16th - the Florida Springs Rally It was a cold blustery Tuesday, and three of the Busy Bees made our way to Tallahassee to show our support for comprehensive Springs Legislation. There were about 200 other supporters there. Mr. Jim Stevenson, Chairman of the Ichetucknee Springs Basin Working Group was the moderator, with Senators Constantine, Crist, Dockery, Jones and Sobel and Representatives Williams, Rehwinkel Vasilinda, and Bembry as guest speakers. Besides the politicals, Mr. Wes Skiles and Mr. John Moran gave impassioned pleas to the politicals to produce a Springs package that would preserve our Springs for posterity. Did you know there are over 700 springs in Florida -- no other State can make that claim. Please read below Mr. Moran's speech -- there wasn't a dry eye in the audience. The Busy Bees attending were Evelyn Johnson, Laura Dailey and Karen Faunce. |
| And below is Evelyn Johnson posing with The Creature From the Black Lagoon filmed at Wakulla Springs. |
| Senator Steve Oelrich, District 14 324 Senate Office Bldg. 400 S. Monroe Street Tallahassee, FL 32399-1100 Dear Senator Oelrich: Reference: Florida Springs Protection Act I am a constituent in your district and have great interest in protecting the Florida Springs for posterity and myself. For five long years we have waited for significant legislation to protect our crystal clear springs and so far nothing has been written. This is the year I urge you to help format the Florida Springs Protection Act and vote it into existence. We have something special in Florida, something no other State can boast – clear, healthful, free flowing springs. I know you will do a good job in protecting our springs for us and for Florida’s future. Please urge your fellow Senators to join you in protecting Florida’s liquid gold. The Springs and I thank you. Sincerely, Signature ______________________________________________ Date ___________ Signature ______________________________________________ Date ___________ ______________________________________________________________________ Print Name(s) Address _______________________________________________________________ |
| Representative Debbie Boyd, District 11 1003 The Capitol 402 S. Monroe Street Tallahassee, FL 32399-9835 Dear Representative Boyd: Reference: Florida Springs Protection Act I am a constituent in your district and have great interest in protecting the Florida Springs for posterity and myself. For five long years we have waited for significant legislation to protect our crystal clear springs and so far nothing has been written. This is the year I urge you to help format the Florida Springs Protection Act and vote it into existence. We have something special in Florida, something no other State can boast – clear, healthful, free flowing springs. I know you will do a good job in protecting our springs for us and for Florida’s future. Please urge your fellow Representatives to join you in protecting Florida’s liquid gold. The Springs and I thank you. Sincerely, Signature ______________________________________________ Date ___________ Signature ______________________________________________ Date ___________ ______________________________________________________________________ Print Name(s) Address _______________________________________________________________ |
| PLEASE COPY, SIGN AND MAIL THE LETTERS BELOW Below are two letters intended to be sent to our State Senator Steve Oelrich and our State Representative Debbie Boyd. Please urge these politicians to help write and pass State Legislation for protection of our Florida Springs. It's been five long years of promises and no action. The Ichetucknee grows greener each year. It can't wait much longer. If you are not in the immediate Ichetucknee area, fill in your Senator or Representative's name and mail this letter or one of your own composition. Don't delay another day, the Ichetucknee is calling! See letters below ... |