Help Free the Ocklawaha River

We are at a critical juncture for the future of the Ocklawaha River and the Great Florida Riverway.

The St. Johns River Water Management District is conducting a survey about breaching the Rodman/Kirkpatrick Dam to reunite the Ocklawaha, St. Johns and Silver Rivers and Silver Springs — the Great Florida Riverway.

Sierra Club Florida is asking everyone to take the survey and urge the water management district to restore the Ocklawaha River by breaching the Rodman/Kirkpatrick Dam.

The Ocklawaha River was severed in 1968 during the construction of a dam for the ill-fated Cross Florida Barge Canal, which was never completed. The dam destroyed 7,500 acres of forested wetlands, 20 springs and 16 miles of the river. Half a century later, the dam still blocks the river route for fish, manatees and boaters, from Silver Springs to the Atlantic Ocean.

Restoration is vital to improving the environmental and economic health on this important riverway.

Learn more from the Free the Ocklawaha Coalition, which includes Sierra Club Florida and 50 partner organizations and has created a survey guide. The deadline to complete the survey is Oct. 22.

Thank you for helping reunite our rivers!