Steve Robitaille: Removing dam would revitalize economy – Gainesville Sun

By Steve Robitaille Special to The Sun

As president of Florida Defenders of the Environment, whose history includes stopping the completion of the Cross Florida Barge Canal and advocating for restoration of a free-flowing Ocklawaha River, I am no doubt identified as someone inherently hostile to bass-fishing interests and tournaments at the Rodman Dam pool.

As someone who likes to fish and who recently took his sons for a fishing adventure in the Everglades, I would like to clear up some misconceptions as to why I wish to set the Ocklawaha free again.

First, I want to see a return to the greater numbers and diversity of fish species that were once available in the river. There is a great photo of the late Lester Teuton, who was baptized on the Ocklawaha. Hes holding a string of fish the likes and size of which had virtually disappeared by the time he died in 2014 at age 95.

I know there is considerable satisfaction in pulling a prize-winning largemouth bass out of the Rodman pool. But I know trophy bass are being caught in the St. Johns River. It just seems wrong to deny folks up and down the Ocklawaha the opportunity for a good catch in return for the impoundment of a single species of trophy fish.

I know the annual Rodman fishing tournament has long been associated with a boost in the local economy, but a drive through Palatka and Putnam County reveals that the economic vitality of the region still suffers. It is in need of a more diversified ecotourism industry.

Paddle-boats once took tourists up the river to Silver Springs. Visitors fell under the spell of manatee, teaming pools of large fish and a crystal-clear Silver Springs. Now only the rare manatee gets past the dam, unable to find the warm springs they counted on for survival and that are now submerged except when draw-downs occur. And Silver Springs, the jewel of Floridas natural wonders, now suffers from reduced flow. Where once black clouds of fish were seen suspended in the crystal-clear depths below, their diminished numbers now swim in a cloudy, water-starved spring.

A survey that the University of Florida food and resource economics department is conducting suggests the promise that a restored river would significantly increase the numbers of canoe and kayak paddlers. Pontoon-boat tours would replace the tourist steamboats of years gone by, and hikers, bikers, birders and myriad others outdoor recreationalists would be attracted to the region and support an ever-expanding number of businesses who would cater to their needs.

Millennials hold the promise to a revitalized recreationally based economy in Putnam County and along the Ocklawaha watershed. They like to fish too, but are more likely to be found in a kayak than in a bass boat. Their increased numbers are also likely to spend more money at local businesses.

Finally, if youve been watching the news, dams have a way of wreaking havoc on the watersheds they are intended to manage. For example, the Orville Dam near Sacramento, California, is experiencing serious engineering problems with age. Dams are expensive to maintain and upset the natural ecology everywhere they have been constructed. The days of dams are numbered. Between 1915 and 1975, 46 dams in the U.S. came down. Between 1976 and 2014, that number jumped to 1,040. Not a single dam was built after 2014.

A dam was removed on the Suwannee River near the Florida border after upsetting the pattern of natural fires and the hydrologic health of the Okefenokee Swamp. The use of structural water control has nearly destroyed the Florida Everglades and will cost taxpayers billions of dollars in wetlands restoration.

The clock on the Rodman dam is ticking, and the inevitable cost of needed upkeep and repairs will not be covered by proceeds from bass-fishing tournaments. Also lost to the people of Florida is a large amount of freshwater that evaporates every day the Rodman pool remains in place. With freshwater supplies ever more strained in North Florida, a net loss of 5 to 10 million gallons per day for the sole purpose of fishing is an extravagance we can no longer afford. Its simply not in the public interest of the people in our region.

So lets find a better location for a bass-fishing tournament in Putnam County. There are potential locations along the St. Johns and Ocklawaha where some of the largest bass have been caught, and not at the expense of damming the states most unique river.

Florida Defenders of the Environment is committed to working with area residents, businesses and community organizations to tell our elected representatives that money misspent on barge canals and dams would now be better invested in the flow of green ecotourism dollars that a free-flowing Ocklawaha would help release.

Steve Robitaille lives in Gainesville and is president of Florida Defenders of the Environment.

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Steve Robitaille: Removing dam would revitalize economy - Gainesville Sun