Reach out to State Legislators today and ask them to “Reconnect the Ocklawaha and St. Johns Rivers, Silver Springs, and the Atlantic Ocean by breaching the Rodman/Kirkpatrick Dam!”

Send your legislators a personal email with messages like these:

Reconnect the Ocklawaha and St. Johns Rivers, Silver Springs, and the Atlantic Ocean by breaching the Rodman/Kirkpatrick Dam. It creates a better economic future for central and northeast Florida and improves water and wildlife. This will reunite three rivers and twelve counties.

Ask your legislator to:

  • Create funding this year for partial restoration and recreational access.
  • Include an appropriation of $15 million in this year’s budget to reunite the rivers.

Reuniting the Rivers will:

  • Complete Florida’s most significant springs restoration project by recovering 20 Ocklawaha River springs and improving the 30 springs comprising Silver Springs
  • Deliver a 7.6% return on investment – greater than most public works and restoration projects
  • Provide restoration and recreation benefits to the Ocklawaha and St. Johns Rivers, Silver Springs, and the south Atlantic Ocean fishery
  • Restore 7,500 acres of natural area that is a critical Link in the Florida Wildlife Corridor

With your leadership, we can achieve the most important restoration project currently available for central and north Florida today. Restoration of the Ocklawaha River by breaching the Rodman/Kirkpatrick helps restore three rivers—the St. Johns, Ocklawaha, and Silver—plus 50 springs including Silver Springs. We call this The Great Florida Riverway.

Three Reasons Why Ocklawaha Restoration Can’t Wait

1.

Avoids a Potential Dam and Lock Failure: The dam and lock are past their 50-year life expectancy and present a danger to the town of Welaka and other downstream communities. It does not make sense to spend millions to repair a dam and lock that does not provide any major public benefit. Restoration is the only fiscally responsible answer.

2.

Provides Essential Manatee Habitat: More than 1,000 manatees have died in the last year. Providing warm-water habitat for wintering manatees that is safe, has available food sources, and the right temperature to avoid cold stress syndrome is key to manatee conservation. Breaching the Rodman/Kirkpatrick Dam would provide hundreds of manatees with unimpeded access to warm water habitat in the larger, uncovered Ocklawaha springs and Silver Springs.

3.

Restores the health of the Ocklawaha and St. Johns Rivers and Silver Springs: The Rodman/Kirkpatrick dam continues to degrade three rivers and 50 springs negatively impacting the economy and environment of northeast Florida. This is an issue of regional and statewide significance that can’t be ignored.

There are NO good reasons to delay this unprecedented project. The plan and permit application for partial restoration of the Ocklawaha are done, essential lands have been acquired, ample federal and state funds are available, and overwhelming public support has been demonstrated from a SJRWMD survey and the recent Barcelo Ocklawaha Restoration Poll. Support for a FREE Ocklawaha River polled at 77%. The project was recently recommended by Florida TaxWatch.

CONTACT legislators by clicking on these email addresses

SENATE EMAILS:

House EMAILS: