Future of Florida Springs: A Discussion on Springs Health Remarks prepared and delivered by Dr. Robert Knight, Director Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute – at a panel discussion held at the University of Florida on April 1, 2023, and hosted by the Samuel Proctor Oral History Project. Over the past 70 years of focused research, Florida springs science has progressed from infancy to maturity. Starting with the seminal work of Howard Odum in the 1950s and…
By Robert Knight. Published in the Gainesville Sun on October 25th, 2022. Florida is the Land of a Thousand Springs. Beautiful and healthy springs are among Florida’s most important natural attractions. Crystal clear, sky blue and teaming with fish; cooling in summer, warm enough for manatees in winter; North Florida’s springs are now more endangered than South Florida’s Everglades. Increasingly dominated by tannic waters, suffering from declining flows, polluted by nutrients, choked with noxious filamentous algae and often overwhelmed…
By: Robert Knight As of November 1st, 2022, the Florida Springs Institute has moved to a new location. Our new home is at 18645 Main Street in downtown High Springs and will be the public’s full service stop for springs information, gifts, and gear. After seven years at our old location across from the High Springs City Hall, we have moved a short distance east to Main Street, into the old “Estate Solutions” building. While we are…
By Robert Knight. Published in the Gainesville Sun on September 22, 2022. Working in unison, Florida’s counties and cities have more power than our governor and legislature. Florida's League of Cities and Association of Counties comprise a robust network of local officials that thrives off the collective power and best interests of the public they represent. To use that power to dismantle the political/corporate machine that is methodically destroying Florida’s natural environment, there must be a true leader, a crusader, a…
By Hailey Hall, Environmental Scientist, Florida Springs Institute In 2016, the Florida Legislature passed the Florida Springs and Aquifer Protection Act, and the state developed a list of 30 significant springs (designated as Outstanding Florida Springs) to receive special legal protection. If water quality is found impaired, these springs require a Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) to achieve water quality standards within a 20-year time frame. FSI recently completed our ecological health assessment of four Outstanding Florida…
