![]() I was interested to see the Lock as it was formerly a death trap for manatees, though one that has lessened considerably since the installation of manatee protection devices. We approached the Buckman Lock, another left-over component of the Cross Florida Barge Canal, which allows migrating boats, manatees, and fish to move the 14 to 16 feet elevation difference between the Rodman Reservoir and the St. Karen's photo of the kayaker on a spring during the 2016 drawdown. Karen shared with me this that involves significant spraying of herbicides, enough to disturb the fish in the reservoir, causing them to “gasp for air at the surface” when these plants die, settle to the bottom and decompose, robbing the water of oxygen. ![]() I was also struck by the proliferation of invasive aquatic vegetation, specifically water hyacinth and water lettuce the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) describes the area as having “ serious invasive exotic species problems.” According to FDEP, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) budgets approximately $30,000 per year for aquatic plant control in Rodman Reservoir. I found this lack of use to be surprising on a sunny Sunday afternoon in late June. The tree tops are many, yet often difficult to detect (many lingered just below the water) I was grateful to be with Captain Karen, who navigated the waters expertly, sharing with me stories of others’ stump-related boating mishaps.Ī submerged tree protrudes above the water.ĭespite the Rodman Reservoir being touted as a “ premier largemouth bass fishery,” we counted perhaps four other boats on the water - and one of them, according to its sole occupant, was engaged in “magnet fishing” for firearms and other metal goods. Despite the passing of decades since the Ocklawaha flowed freely, the memory of the forest persists, both through the tree top “stumps” peeking over the water and in dozens of dead tree trunks floating through much of the Reservoir but clustered primarily against the Kirkpatrick Dam itself. In person, it is very apparent that damming the Ocklawaha River drowned an ecosystem potential for a natural Atlantis lingering below the surface. I had read of the reservoir’s size – covering over 9,000 acres– several times however, its vastness did not sink in until I saw with my own eyes the expanse of murky water punctuated with the balding tops of submerged cypress trees. Marjorie’s granddaughter and Ocklawaha restoration advocate, Jennifer Carr, joined me on my visit to the area.Īs we lowered the boat into the reservoir and began our journey towards Buckman Lock, I was taken aback by the largeness of the Rodman Reservoir. It also inspired a local environmental movement led by Marjorie Harris-Carr with Florida Defenders of the Environment. ![]() The destruction in the sixties was enabled by machines called “Crusher-Crawlers,” which flattened thousands of cypress trees in the Ocklawaha River floodplain. Despite the Barge Canal project’s cancellation and the fact that it does not generate power nor any other resource, the Kirkpatrick Dam remains. In the mid-1990’s, the Department of Environmental Protection began managing the barge canal property as the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway. The Barge Canal, intended as a shipping canal to connect Yankeetown on the Gulf of Mexico to Jacksonville on the Atlantic Ocean, was halted by Executive Order in 1971 due to the immense environmental destruction associated with its construction. ![]() The Rodman Dam, renamed the “Kirkpatrick Dam” in the 1990’s (but largely referred to by both names), was a component of the ill-fated Cross Florida Barge Canal, a project authorized by Congress in 1942. Johns River, once flowed freely, fed by a multitude of freshwater springs however, the Ocklawaha has been dammed since 1968. The Ocklawaha River, the largest tributary of the St. Churning water from the Rodman Reservoir enters the Ocklawaha River, where families fish from shore.
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