Ocklawaha River restoration
FACT SHEET
Florida Defenders of the Environment, Inc.
“Working to protect freshwater resources,
conserve public lands, and provide quality
environmental education since 1969.”
Physical address:
Postal address:
309 State Road 26
Melrose, Florida 32666
PO Box 357086
Gainesville, Florida 32635
(352) 475-1119
www.fladefenders.org
facebook.com/Floridadefenders
For further information contact:
Thomas Hawkins
Executive Director
(352) 377-3141
John Hankinson
Trustee
(904) 471-0855
Summary: The earthen Kirkpatrick Dam
holds water within the 9,200 acre Rodman
Pool.
Florida Defenders of the Environment seeks
restoration of the Ocklawaha River by removing
a portion of the dam and closing and sealing the
Buckman Lock, which lies on a canal connecting
the Rodman Pool to the St. Johns River.
The estimated cost for removing the portion of
the dam blocking the Ocklawaha is $5,000,000.
An additional $2,000,000 increment would
allow construction of a new bridge over the
river at the location of the dam.
the river in 1968. Creating the pool destroyed
9,200 acres of floodplain and forest, some of it
owned by the United States Forest Service.
In 1971, largely spurred by the advocacy and
scientific research of the Florida Defenders of
the Environment, the Environmental Defense
Fund and Audubon Florida, President Nixon
halted construction of the barge canal.
However, stopping the canal did not end its
status as a congressionally authorized project or
permit restoration of the now impounded
Ocklawaha River.
Background and history: The majestic
Ocklawaha River is unlike any other river in the
United States. It originates from the swamps
and lakes of central Florida, winds north
through the Ocala National Forest, joins the St.
Johns River and flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Ocklawaha drains 2,800 square miles of
wetlands and plant and animal habitat. Because
of its unique environmental significance, some
call the St. Johns and Ocklawaha River Basin
the Everglades of north Florida.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began
constructing the Cross Florida Barge Canal in
1964. Since its inception, Florida Defenders of
the Environment, Inc. opposed construction of
the canal because it would have destroyed much
of the Ocklawaha River and badly damaged
central Florida’s springs.
The canal project was to comprise a series of
canals and pools across central Florida. Several
of these pools would be flooded portions of the
Ocklawaha River. The Rodman Pool is the only
one of these artificial water bodies to have been
created on the Ocklwaha. It has existed since
the The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
constructed the Kirkpatrick Dam to impound
Now is the time to remove a portion of
the dam to reclaim thousands of acres
of forest lands and restore natural
river flows for fish, wildlife and people.
Deauthorization and greenway: When
serving in the U.S. House, Buddy MacKay
championed congressional deauthorization of
the canal project. In 1990, the Florida legislative
delegation unanimously supported a bill cosponsored in the Senate by Bob Graham and
Connie Mack that provided for a 300-yard wide
greenway along the land that had been
proposed for the canal route.
When President George Bush signed the
legislation into law, the purpose of the land
previously intended for the canal project
changed to recreation and conservation. In
1991, Governor Lawton Chiles and the Florida
Cabinet issued a resolution agreeing to the
terms of the federal deauthorization.
Today, the canal route is the Marjorie Harris
Carr Cross Florida Greenway, named for
Florida Defenders of the Environment founder
Marjorie Harris Carr.
The Kirkpatrick Dam impounds the Ocklawaha
River where Putnam and Marion Counties meet in
north central Florida.
Forest Service role: With the floodwaters
remaining in place after deauthorization,
maintaining the dam caused a trespass on the
Ocala National Forest, United States Forest
Service land.
To legally facilitate the State of Florida
determining how to best resolve this trespass,
the forest service issue a special use permit to
the state in 1997. This special use permit
temporarily permitted the pool’s occupation of
federal land. That permit expired in 2002. The
Rodman Pool now illegally occupies forest
service land.
A History of bipartisan support: The
deauthorization of the canal and the greenway
designation had bipartisan support from former
Congressman Buddy MacKay, Senators Connie
Mack, and Bob Graham, President George
Bush, and Governor Lawton Chiles.
All unbiased scientific assessments of the
Rodman Pool—including two environmental
impact statements—have supported restoring
the river. No serious disagreement as to the
ecological and water supply benefits of
removing the Rodman Pool exists.
Nonetheless, members of the Florida
Legislature representing areas around the pool
have successfully blocked funding for removing
the dam. The pool is used for recreational bass
fishing and has some staunch supporters.
The Rodman Pool sits on the northern border of
the Ocala National Forest, a boundary which the
free flowing Ocklawaha River formerly delineated.
Therefore, the Florida legislature has never
allocated funds for removing the dam.
Proposal: Today, the earthen Kirkpatrick Dam
is 7,200 feet long, is partially located on United
States Forest Service land, and holds water
within the Rodman Pool. The pool inundates
twenty springs, drowns 9,200 acres of forest
and covers twenty-four miles of the Ocklawaha
River. Annual pool, dam and lock operating
costs exceed one million dollars. The lock and
dam structures are forty-seven years old and
future maintenance will require additional
funding. Removing the dam is cost-effective
over the long-term.
Florida Defenders of the Environment seeks
restoration of the Ocklawaha River by removing
a portion of the dam and closing and sealing the
Buckman Lock, which lies on a canal connecting
the Rodman Pool to the St. Johns River.
The estimated cost for removing the portion of
the dam blocking the Ocklawaha is $5,000,000.
An additional $2,000,000 increment would
allow construction of a new bridge over the
river at the location of the dam.
The relatively low cost of this restoration
project is possible because little to no earth
moving or other construction is required. The
bed of the Ocklawaha River remains intact
beneath the pool.
The Kirkpatrick Dam.
In fact, during periodic drawdowns of water in
the Rodman Pool, seedlings quickly take root in
the exposed floodplain. A large swath of land
cleared adjacent to the river for equipment
access had grown a forty foot high tree canopy
within twenty years of clearing.
Now is the time to remove a portion of the dam
to reclaim thousands of acres of forest lands
and restore natural river flows for fish, wildlife
and people.
Benefits of restoration: Restoring the
Ocklawaha River has environmental, economic,
recreational and water supply benefits.
• Eliminating the pool would add an
estimated 185 million gallons of water a day
to the Ocklawaha and St. Johns Rivers.
Currently, the pool suppresses spring flow
from twenty inundated springs, preventing
about 150 million gallons of water a day
from entering the Ocklawaha River.
Additionally, the 9,200 acre surface area of
the pool leads to a loss of about 35 million
gallons of water a day through evaporation.
• The waterway is the largest tributary to the
St. Johns River and has a rich history of
steamboat tourism and commerce.
Removing the dam would once again make
the spectacular first magnitude Silver
Springs—now a state park—accessible as it
was to William Bartram and others.
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Removing the dam would restore habitat
and migration routes for fish and mammals
including: restoration of the migration route
of fish including American eels, American
shad, channel catfish, white catfish, Atlantic
sturgeon and endangered shortnose
sturgeon; restoration of access by the
Florida-strain striped bass to their primary
spawning habitat—the Ocklawaha River and
Silver River (now the only stripers in the
entire St. Johns system are nonreproducing, northern-strain hatchery fish);
and removing the threat to manatee who are
currently blocked, injured and occasionally
killed in the lock so that they may safely
access the Ocklawaha River, Silver River
and Silver Springs which are warm water
winter habitats.
Removing the dam would add to the
Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida
Greenway—a popular recreational and
environmental amenity—and would restore
thousands of acres of forested ecosystem.
The one-time cost of dam removal would
eliminate the at least one million dollar
annual operating costs of the pool, dam and
lock and would obviate the need for
structural upgrades to the dam, now nearly
fifty years old.