PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 The Ocklawaha River is one step closer to rejoining the St. Johns.<\/p>\n
The Florida House overwhelmingly voted Wednesday morning to approve a plan to remove the dam that\u2019s separated the two waterways for nearly 60 years.<\/p>\n
That bill is nearing the finish line, despite staunch opposition from the local community.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n Michael Poag was born and raised in Putnam County, and he\u2019s been coming to the Kirkpatrick Dam ever since he was a child.<\/p>\n To him, it\u2019s more than just a piece of infrastructure.<\/p>\n \u201cI hold onto my childhood and memories with my mom and my dad and my sister, and this is the one place I can come, and it\u2019s not changed,\u201d said Poag.<\/p>\n The dam was built in 1968 as part of the later abandoned Cross Florida Barge Canal Project.<\/p>\n It reduced the flow of freshwater from the Ocklawaha River into the St. Johns and created a massive reservoir, which covered up 20 freshwater springs.<\/p>\n Ever since, there\u2019s been a push by conservation groups for its removal.<\/p>\n Following a 107-3 vote on the floor of the Florida House, the dam removal effort has made it further than ever before.<\/p>\n State Representative Wyman Duggan (R-Jacksonville) is sponsoring the bill that would require the dam removal and adjoining environmental restoration project to be completed by the end of 2032.<\/p>\n Duggan argued it\u2019s long overdue, as the dam has already stood for nearly a decade past its useful life.<\/p>\n \u201cThe dam doesn\u2019t generate electricity, it\u2019s not a source of drinking water, the reservoir created by the dam, and it does not operate to provide flood control. Those are the normal uses for dams,\u201d said Duggan. \u201dThis does nothing other than it\u2019s like a beaver dam. It just creates a big pond.\u201d<\/p>\n But State Representative Judson Sapp (R-Palatka), one of the three members to vote no on the bill, argued that \u201cbig pond\u201d has become a world-renowned bass fishery, generating significant economic benefits for the county.<\/p>\n \u201cThat matters. It matters for small business, local jobs, and for a rural community that cannot afford to lose another thing,\u201d said Sapp.<\/p>\n Susannah Randolph with the Sierra Club of Florida countered that there are new economic opportunities yet to be realized by exposing the lost springs.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether it\u2019s fishing, whether it\u2019s recreating on the waterways. All of that will be robust in the wake of finally taking this dam down and restoring this river to its natural flow,\u201d said Randolph.<\/p>\n Still, Putnam residents like Poag are holding out hope that Governor Ron DeSantis rejects the bill if it reaches his desk, just as he rejected funding to kickstart the removal in last year\u2019s state budget.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd if he doesn\u2019t, I\u2019m sure I won\u2019t be the only one out here handcuffed to a fence,\u201d said Poag.<\/p>\n The bill is ready for a floor vote in the Senate.<\/p>\n It was temporarily postponed earlier this month, but Duggan told Action News Jax he feels \u201cvery good\u201d about the bill clearing the finish line in these final days of the legislative session.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 The Ocklawaha River is one step closer to rejoining the St. Johns. 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