Santa Fe River Clean-Up March 7, 2009

For more information contact:
Pam Shamel, 352-392-5551, ext. 1134

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Clean-up Project of North Central Florida Water Resources

(Gainesville, FL – February 2009) WUFT-TV and Current Problems are partnering to conduct a cleanup on the Santa Fe River on Saturday, March 7. Meet at the River Ramp in High Springs at 9 am. and work will continue until 2 p.m. Volunteers will work on land in McCall Park, in the river floodplain, and upstream and downstream on the river in canoes. Lunch will be served to all who participate.

To register for the event call Fritzi Olson at 352-264-6827 or email at aar@currentproblems.org. Registration deadline Thursday, March 5 at noon. Also, check out our web site for map location: http://www.wuft.tv/liquidassets/

The work site is a fantastic example of how water systems in this community work and represents the direct relationship between land activities, surface water, the ground water – which ultimately is the springs water – especially since a few siphons are located on this part of the river.

In order to sponsor this cleanup, WUFT was awarded a grant from the documentary, “Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure," produced by WPSU at Pennsylvania State University. It tells the story of America’s distressed essential infrastructure systems: drinking water, wastewater, and storm water. These complex and aging systems—some in the ground for more than 150 years—are critical components for basic sanitation, health, public safety, economic development, and a host of other necessities of life.

Other partners involved in this cleanup are Adventure Outpost, Alachua County, CCDA Waters, Karst Environmental, Karst Productions, & Santa Fe Canoe Outpost

Additional Resources on Springs Legislation

The Florida Senate

Issue Brief 2009-317

SPRINGS PROTECTION: AN OVERVIEW OF RECENT ACTIVITIES

http://www.flsenate.gov/data/Publications/2009/Senate/reports/interim_reports/pdf/2009-317ep.pdf

UF Levin College of Law’s Conservation Clinic’s proposed Springs Legislation at: http://www.law.ufl.edu/conservation/index050512.shtml

Our Santa Fe River hosts meeting on Springs Legislation, February 27

Our Santa Fe River, Inc.
will host a public meeting
for those interested in developing language
for Springs Protection Legislation

The meeting will be held at the High Springs Library
Friday, February 27 @ 2 pm

We will have WiFi access with Skype capabilities for those who would like to be online for this meeting. Please let me know in advance if you would like to included via Skype.

Please review the following Springs Bills in advance:

The Constantine Springs Bill
SB 0274
http://flsenate.gov/data/session/2009/Senate/bills/billtext/pdf/s0274.pdf

The Boyd Water Resources Bill
HB 593
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/sponsoredbills.aspx?MemberId=4371&SessionId=61

The Argenziano Springs Bill:
SB 2636
http://www.flsenate.gov/data/session/2006/Senate/bills/billtext/pdf/s2538.pdf

and.....
USGS Fact Sheet 080-96
You can DOWNLOAD THIS REPORT (130 KB) in Portable Document Format (PDF) The Adobe PDF Reader program is available for free from Adobe.

Katz, B.G., and DeHan, R.S., 1996, The Suwannee River basin pilot study: Issues for watershed management in Florida: Fact Sheet FS-080-96, 4 p.

Harvesting freshwater turtles is seen on Santa Fe River, across state

By Rachael Anne Ryals
February 26, 2009
High Springs Herald
http://www.highspringsherald.com/articles/2009/02/06/news/news11.txt

Poe Springs park to go under new management

By Cindy Swirko
November 26, 2008
Gainesville Sun
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20081126/NEWS/811261007/0/news