ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 A scheduled draw-down at the Rodman Reservoir, northwest of the Ocala National Forest and bordering Marion and Putnam Counties, revealed a secret landscape along the Ocklawaha River: hidden spring boils, drowned forests and remnants of a decades-old plan to cut across Florida. <\/p>\n
The temporary retreat of reservoir water is part of a waterway management program that happens every four or five years. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection<\/a>, which manages the Rodman Reservoir and the Kirkpatrick Dam, lowers the level 7-10 feet in order to control vegetation. The drop, usually in the winter, allows the submerged plants to dry and die off. <\/p>\n But the drawdown also lets visitors step into areas that are usually waist-deep under water and reignites debates about the environmental impacts of the flooding. <\/p>\n The north-flowing Ocklawaha is fed by the Silver River and flows into the St. John\u2019s River. <\/p>\n Erika Ritter guides her pontoon boat down the Ocklawaha River (WKMG-TV)<\/p>\n Erika Ritter grew up along the rivers banks. She remembers fishing in its clear waters. Today she runs A Cruising Down the River<\/a> tour and fishing guide company that operates on the river. <\/p>\n Ritter took me on a tour in her pontoon boat, guiding me along the exposed shoreline, where old pilings and rail-trestle supports poke from the mud. <\/p>\n Ritter said her business thrives during the drawdowns when both tourists and locals want to see the river as it once was. She says the scene tells a layered story – of drowned ecosystems, lost springs and contested plans that reshaped the river.<\/p>\n The area once eyed for the Cross Florida Barge Canal still bears scars from the 1960s, when heavy equipment leveled land to make way for locks and channels. The canal was intended to speed shipping, but it was never completed. Some structures, including lock gates, remain as mute testimony.<\/p>\n Ritter pointed to the shore and described long-gone businesses, homes, steamboat landings, and an old rail trestle support, a place she called Log Landing, saying it used to be part of everyday life along the river.<\/p>\n Erika Ritter explores a giant cypress tree in the Ocklawaha River basin (WKMG-TV)<\/p>\n Ritter recalled seeing heavy equipment arrive when she was about 8 years old. By the time it all left, the land was irrevocably changed.<\/p>\n \u201cI have pictures showing way off in the distance a crane,\u201d Ritter recalled. \u201cAnd then coming back a week later, and it\u2019s all gone. It\u2019s just leveled.\u201d<\/p>\n Environmentalists have pushed for restoring river flows, arguing the reservoir drowned springs and native habitat. Fishermen and some local businesses, however, say the wider waters created by the reservoir brought recreation and economic value.<\/p>\n The Rodman Reservoir is renowned for large bass and is host to a number of fishing tournaments. <\/p>\n Spring water flows from the banks of the Ocklawaha River (WKMG-TV)<\/p>\n Ritter guides her pontoon boat down the river stopping at a trickle of clear water flowing from the shore and a stand of bald cypress trees that survived decades underwater. Visitors who stepped out of boats found soft ground and small springs bubbling up where the reservoir normally covers them.<\/p>\n Cannon Springs (WKMG-TV)Fish swim in Cannon Springs (WKMG-TV)Cannon Springs (WKMG-TV)<\/p>\n At least 20 hidden springs are said to have been recorded along the banks. Most are little more than a trickle from the earth but one, Cannon Springs, is big enough to swim in. Ritter described it as a \u201cbeautiful little jewel\u201d that would be submerged under normal conditions.<\/p>\n The river eventually opens up, revealing a vast expanse of water. It looks like a lake with endless tree trunks sticking up three or four feet above the water\u2019s surface. When the lake level is raised, boats float above this drowned forest preserved underwater. <\/p>\n Tree trunks sticking out of the water in the Rodman Reservoir following a draw-down (WKMG-TV)<\/p>\n The debate over what to do with the reservoir has continued for years. Advocates for restoration say reopening the river would revive springs and native habitats. <\/p>\n When the Rodman Reservoir is drawn down, approximately 7,500 acres of land, previously flooded forested wetlands, stumps, and river channel, are exposed<\/p>\n Ocklawaha River near the Eureka Boat Ramps (WKMG-TV)<\/p>\n Supporters of keeping the reservoir emphasize recreation and wildlife refuge created by the 32 square miles of impounded water.<\/p>\n