Ichetucknee River In The Media
From The Tallahassee Democrat
www.tallahassee.com
Originally published June 19 2006
By Bruce Ritchie
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
FORT WHITE - Timothy Sheahan of Savannah, Ga., says swimming at Ichetucknee Springs makes him ponder what life was like before modern civilization.
"It's tranquility, " he said. "You get out of the city, away from the dang highways and industry. You come out here and think about pioneers and Indians - how pristine the country used to be before man destroyed it."
On average,163,000 people visit Ichetucknee Springs State Park each year. Most visitors float down the river on tubes or rafts or snorkel in the springs.
But scientists say all is not well on the Ichetucknee.
The wide-bladed grasses that wave gently in clear river currents are being replaced by stringy algae in some areas, says biologist Jim Stevenson, coordinator of the Ichetucknee Springs Basin Working Group.
In other areas, the eel grass is being smothered by a thin layer of algae called periphyton.
Musk turtles and the spring run crayfish were along the river but are disappearing.
Nitrogen at Ichetucknee Springs has more than doubled since 1975. Although it's still lower than at Wakulla Springs, Stevenson said he suspects it's altering vegetation and causing the musk turtles and crayfish to disappear.
Both Ichetucknee and Wakulla springs are at risk of pollution from wastewater. Lake City's spray field receives 3 million gallons of wastewater per day; Tallahassee sprays about 20 million gallons daily at its Tram Road facility.
Suburban development on septic tanks is sprawling south from Lake City toward Ichetucknee Springs. Urban stormwater flows into streams and Alligator Lake before it disappears into sinkholes.
But Stevenson sees reason for hope on the Ichetucknee.
More than 300 people, including several elected officials, recently attended an Ichetucknee Springs slide show by photographer John Moran. Across the region, farmers, planners and residents are taking action to help protect the springs - even as problems appear to be getting worse.
"You can see a lot of good things are happening," Stevenson said. "My point of view is, how much worse would it be if we weren't doing what we were doing?"
From: The High Springs Herald, 2006
A River in Danger -- Algae killing Ichetucknee Springs
By Christa Jenkins-Desrets
Herald Writer
FORT WHITE - The cool, clear water of the Ichetucknee River gently flows around tubers enjoying one of their final floats this season.
To those who visit the river as a retreat into nature's beauty, the water is pristine, one of the few bodies left untouched by the complications of civilization.
But to many experts, changes to the river are coming at an alarming rate.
Slow though the changes may be to the visitors' eyes, experts say, the changes in plant and animal life have intensified over the past several years.
That intensification may even affect visitors to the springs. Some people have had severe allergies from something in the river, causing reactions as minor as itchiness to as serious as cardiac arrest.
Many experts believe that the culprit may be the new algae that has formed as a result of the changes.
Experts attribute the changes to development - particularly spray fields, septic tanks and stormwater that carry nitrates - in and around the Ichetucknee Springs Basin.
12,000 Years of People Enjoying the River
The cluster of eight named springs along the Ichetucknee River has a long history of being enjoyed by people in the area.
The native Timucuan people used the river up to 12,000 years ago, long before Europeans arrived.
In 1539, Hernando DeSoto visited the springs, and in 1675, the San Martin de Timucua Mission was built by the Spanish at what became known as Mission Spring.
Many years later, as the area became populated, the springs were a favorite place for locals to spend time during hot summer days, taking an occasional dip, swimming and even bathing in the river.
"The locals - this was their place to go," said Jim Stevenson, coordinator of the Ichetucknee Springs Basin Working Group.
In 1970, when the springs became a state park, they became a place that more than just the locals could enjoy.
But a cleanup was necessary first, said Stevenson, who worked with the Department of Environmental Protection at the time.
The head spring of the river was plugged at that time with concrete, garbage, bricks, railroad tracks and just about anything else one could think of.
"Everything but the kitchen sink has come out of there," Stevenson said.
The work paid off, he said, and attendance at the park increased dramatically.
Now, up to 5,000 tubers per day float the river, adding up to 200,000 people per year who bring about $23 million to the area.
"Since this has become a state park, nearly 7 million people have gone down the river," Stevenson said.
But the river is changing, he said.
As the area surrounding the river is developed, water runoff from these areas that gets into the river can be very damaging.
Nitrates, or nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, come from fertilizer and human and animal wastes. These nitrates, although existing naturally in the spring in small amounts, can be very damaging to the river when in larger amounts.
The natural level of nitrates in the water is .02 milligrams per liter of water. The head spring's level is now .87 mg/l -- more than 43 times higher than normal.
In increased concentrations, the nitrates feed the growth of noxious algae, which can form a thick layer on the top of the river that shades the bottom layers of water, killing other plant life and the animals that eat those plants.
And recently, some visitors to the spring have had allergic reactions that some connect to the algae. More than 20 such incidents have been reported at Ichetucknee Springs over the past seven years.
Nitrates that feed this algae growth can be transferred to the river by stormwater that flows over lawns, pastures, gardens, golf courses, highways and agricultural fields.
Plant and Animal Life
Stevenson said one of the main problems with algae is a severe decrease in the diversity of plant life in the river.
While the river had an abundance of aquatic plants just 10 years ago, he said, the recent increase in nitrates has fueled the growth of particular species of plants while killing others.
Quick-growing algae and plants like water lettuce and eelgrass now coat the bottom of the river that was once home to more delicate species of plant life.
"The algae can actually shade out the eelgrass by not allowing it to get sunlight," Stevenson said. "It's feeding off the nitrates. That's why it's expanding so fast."
Nitrates are heaviest at the springs, he said, because that's where they flow out from the ground. As the concentration lessens further down the river, the signs of plant life changes aren't as drastic.
"I've never seen the algae this thick before," Stevenson said while guiding a recent trip down the river. "During the past year, it's just gotten worse and worse... These changes are so subtle that the majority of people don't realize they're going on."
As the group came to historic Mission Spring, once home to about 600 Native Americans, he notes that the site is now historical for a new reason.
"This is where we first saw the algae cover the eelgrass," he said, adding that the algae is now becoming thick below water as well as above. "The eelgrass down here is just coated solid with algae."
Underwater patches of sand show where the plants have died from lack of sunlight because of algae shading the bottom of the river.
Dan Pennington, a community planner with 1,000 Friends of Florida, said that a spring outside of Tallahassee called Wakulla Spring suffered a similar fate.
"At Wakulla, algae growth took over in a decade," he said. "Ichetucknee is on the same path. You can visually see it."
Eventually at Wakulla Spring, he said, the algae and intrusive plant growth became so widespread that they were dangerous to swimmers, and the spring management had to resort to hiring plant harvesters and using chemical pesticides in the spring.
"Every blade of aquatic vegetation is covered with algae, and pretty soon the plant is so covered that it's not getting any sunlight," Pennington said. "It's not just Ichetucknee or Wakulla - it's happening anywhere we're adding lots of nutrients to the system."
Stevenson said that the drastic changes to the number of aquatic plants leads to changes in the number of animals that feed on those plants that can survive in the river.
The number of loggerhead musk turtles, crawfish, water snakes and snails has decreased drastically, he said.
"The crawfish used to be just thick in here," he said, referring to a recent survey that he did at night to count the number of crawfish and loggerhead musk turtles. "Now you hardly see one."
How To Help
With the community's help, Stevenson said, people who care about preserving the river can work together to make positive changes.
"If you live in a spring basin and you fertilize your lawn and you flush your toilet, you're part of the problem," Stevenson said. "We just need to do everything we possibly can do to reduce nitrates."
Anyone can help do this through a combination of many things, he said.
People who fertilize their lawns can reduce the amount of fertilizer they use or stop fertilizing altogether. Centipede grass can be used as an alternative lawn that does not require fertilizer. Native shrubs and trees that also do not need fertilizer should be planted in place of other plants.
Anyone who has a septic tank should have it inspected and should have regular maintenance every five years. They should also make sure not to use pesticides, toxic chemicals or ammonia that will be flushed into the septic tank.
Also, concerned residents can write letters to Columbia County and Lake City commissioners, asking them to protect Ichetucknee Springs, he said, since they are in charge of many of the regulations that could be stricter to prevent further degradation of the springs.
"We need stronger regulations on septic tanks and wastewater treatment," he said, referencing one Florida county that only allows nitrogen-removing septic tanks.
Regulations that could enhance stormwater management should be established, he said.
Because of the constant growth in the area, Pennington said, the amount of nitrate runoff per household has to be decreased even to just maintain the river's current state.
To improve the river's condition, those changes have to be even more drastic.
But with a whole set of solutions to choose from, he said, he is hopeful that the amount of nitrates that get filtered to the spring can be decreased.
"We can basically solve some of these problems," he said. "We have the technology. We just have to use it."
Stevenson said that certain environmental groups have been vital in trying to fix the damage that already has been done.
Some organizations have groups of people who will go to the river to pull out the water lettuce that feeds off nitrates and spreads like wildfire across the surface of the river.
"If it wasn't for the volunteers picking up the water lettuce, our only alternative would be to spray herbicide," Stevenson said.
Like algae, the water lettuce can also kill aquatic plants by blocking sunlight from reaching them.
While the Ichetucknee Springs Basin Working Group has made many accomplishments for protecting the springs since the group was formed in 1995, Stevenson said, there is still much more that needs to be done.
"I'd say we're doing more to protect this spring system than any other spring system in Florida, and probably the world," he said. "Hopefully, through all this education, we'll make a difference. It's public opinion that makes these things happen."
