The Drowned Forest of Florida’s Ocklawaha River
In September 1968, the waters ceased to flow on the Ocklawaha River. Over 9000 acres of cypress floodplain forest were drowned when a 16 mile reservoir became part of the ill-fated Cross Florida Barge Canal. Nixon halted construction in 1971, but the dam persisted, becoming a symbol of the longest protracted environmental conflict in Florida’s history.
Every 4 years, the level of the reservoir is lowered for 4 months to clear surface vegetation. The drawdown is a limited opportunity to observe the original river channel, fresh water springs, and a haunting landscape of dead tree stumps – hundreds of thousands of them.
Revealed is a scene from Lord of the Rings, something of the earth but not of this time and place – otherworldly, imagined, infinite, and disturbing. One feels death among the syncopation of trunks, like graveyard tombstones. When my river guide first brought me through the river channel I was speechless. I motioned to stop the boat, then grabbed my camera, shaking. Six hours later the day ended. I returned four times, with kayak, and a desire to see, understand, and capture for myself and others what would soon be hidden again for 4 years.
This project prompted stories of an ancient cypress forest and majestic river, with old growth trees clear-cut and second growth forests crushed, burned, and drowned, all for the interest of “industry.” Stories of injustice wrought on the Seminole Indians deeded this land and the escaped slaves who lived among them. Stories of steamboat tours bringing wealthy tourists into the wilds of Florida and finally, the hubris of digging a 100 mile ditch decimating an ecosystem, and now failing to restore an environmental disaster because of a bass fishing tournament. Are we fools living in a fool’s dream?
Photography evokes the question “why?” Answers provide the truth of who we are.
#freetheocklawaha.
