Cynthia Barnett authors National Geographic article on the effects and discoveries from Florida’s Rodman Reservoir drawdown
Cynthia Barnett, Director of Climate and Environment Reporting Initiatives, is the author of “See a ghost ‘fairyland’ forest reemerge in Florida” published in National Geographic on Jan. 13.
Barnett writes about the lost springs rising in the old Ocklawaha riverbed during a drawdown of Florida’s Rodman Reservoir. Approximately every five years, Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection draws down the 9,500-acre Rodman Reservoir that flooded the Ocklawaha. The drawdown breaks up matted aquatic plants that impede navigation and reveals a ghost forest of Cypress stumps.
“Along the historic river channel, two of the estimated 20 freshwater springs lost to the reservoir began to bubble to the surface from the ancient aquifer below. Tobacco Patch Springs came to life as a turquoise shaft of light in a brown patch of mud. Cannon Springs emerged on its forested bank like a blue-crystalline lens, offering a view of what a restored Ocklawaha might one day look like,” writes Barnett.
According to Barnett, “Florida Senator Jason Brodeur thinks this year’s legislative session could finally bring the river back. Brodeur and fellow Republican Rep. Wyman Duggan, who chair the Senate and House environmental appropriations committees, have filed bills to create the Northeast Florida Rivers, Springs, and Community Investment Act. The act would restore the Ocklawaha as part of a larger economic and recreation plan for communities like Ritter’s that surround the flooded river—but never saw the prosperity promised by the barge canal.”
She adds, “The restoration would rejuvenate three rivers over 12 counties from Central Florida to the Atlantic Ocean beyond Jacksonville. It would remove a significant barrier to animal migration pathways in the Florida Wildlife Corridor, along with giving manatees access to a habitat they sorely need.”
Category: Alumni News, College News
Tagged: Climate and Environment Reporting Initiatives Cynthia Barnett Journalism National Geographic Ocklawaha River Rodman Dam
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