Interview with Jim Stevenson (J)
Interviewer: Lucinda Faulkner Merritt (L)
Tallahassee, Florida
June 17, 2019
L: I’m here today with Jim Stevenson, who has had a long and distinguished career with the Florida Park Service and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Jim served as Chief Biologist for the Park Service for 20 years, during which he developed the educational and land management programs for the Florida state parks. He chaired the Florida Springs Task Force that developed a protection strategy for our freshwater springs. He directed Governor Jeb Bush’s Florida Springs Protection Initiative, and he coordinated the Ichetucknee Springs Basin Working Group until Governor Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature pulled funding from that effort in 2011.
Now retired, Jim carries a long-term institutional memory of the roles that our state agencies and elected representatives have played in the management of Florida’s freshwater springs. It’s an honor for me to interview him about his history with the Ichetucknee River System, in particular.
Good morning, Jim, and thanks for agreeing to this interview.
Take us back to the first time you saw the Ichetucknee. What was the occasion and what was your reaction?
J: Yes, not long after I was promoted to Chief Biologist for the Florida Park Service, the Ichetucknee was purchased by the State of Florida and the state park was established. Prior to that, there were only two springs state parks in the state park system. One was Manatee Springs near Chiefland and the other one was Wekiwa Springs down at Apopka. So this was a real treat, to have the State of Florida buy a spring. During my first visit, I was pretty much in awe of the diversity and variety of life and geological features there.
It has eight named springs that create the Ichetucknee River and each spring is unique in its own way. The Head Spring has always been a favorite and it’s been used heavily for recreation over the years, but its water is clear and blue and a good flow. The other springs are unique in their own way, as well.
L: You mentioned awe, and I think that’s a common reaction when people see springs for the first time. You’ve shared with me some stories about other people’s reactions to the Ichetucknee, and the one that stands out for me is the time when visitors from another country had trouble leaving.
Which of the interactions you’ve had with people at the Ichetucknee stand out for you and what are your favorite Ichetucknee stories about those things that you like to share?
J: Well, everybody that visits the Ichetucknee is pretty much in awe of it, but this story that you mentioned stands out to me. It was about a University of Florida professor who was hosting some people from out of state.
He was at the takeout at the south end of the state park waiting for them to arrive in their canoe. In the meantime, a canoe with three men from Australia arrived; they pulled the canoe up on the shore and left it there for the concessionaire to pick up. These folks were from Australia and although I’m not familiar with Australian waters, they probably don’t have water as clear as the Ichetucknee. So they started walking towards their vehicle and they stopped, turned around, and walked back to the river for another look. Then they proceeded back towards their vehicle; they stopped, walked back to the Ichetucknee and looked at it some more. And that kind of tells the story of the Ichetucknee right there. These folks were from another continent and were just flabbergasted by what they were seeing and enjoying.
L: That reminds me too that we do have people come from all over the world to visit our freshwater springs and especially to dive in the caves. I think there’s one at Ichetucknee, Blue Hole, where you can go diving. You’ve been diving there, is that correct?
J: Yes.
L: Yeah, I thought so. You have a wonderful book called My Journey in Florida’s State Parks: A Naturalist’s Memoir which details your own evolution as a naturalist and describes how techniques of interpreting the natural world evolved within the Florida Park Service.
From your naturalist’s perspective, what are the most significant features in and along the Ichetucknee? Why is the Ichetucknee unique and why should Floridians, even people who live in South Florida and have never seen it, care about the Ichetucknee?
J: Well, the Ichetucknee is unique in that there are eight named springs that feed the Ichetucknee River. And as I mentioned, each one is unique in its own way.
The history, as well, is quite important. The Indians occupied the river area for quite some time prior to the European discovery. DeSoto was there in 1539 for a period of time so he got to see the Ichetucknee, and after that a Spanish mission was established at one of the springs of the Ichetucknee; we call that Mission Springs today. In 1608, that’s when the Mission San Martin de Timucua was constructed.
Later, a Spanish road was put in; this was the first government road in Florida that they called the Camino Royale—that was how it was pronounced. That later became the Bellamy Road which was funded by Congress. So that road, which wraps around the Head Spring on its way between St. Augustine and Pensacola, passed within a few yards of the Ichetucknee Head Spring.
L: Wow, so it’s not just the springs, it’s the history, too—combined.
J: Yes.
L: And I’m reminded of a publication that I think you had something to do with, about the old-timers remember Ichetucknee. And someone back in the ’40s mentioned that from the area that’s now the parking lot at the north entrance now—which is where Bellamy Road ran—that they could hear the water coming out of the spring before they could see it. I always thought that was a remarkable memory and I was glad that it was captured, because conditions have changed.
I’ve heard you say that without water, a spring is just a hole in the ground. I’m sure some of our listeners have heard the terms Ichetucknee Trace, Ichetucknee Springshed and Ichetucknee Basin. Can you explain those terms and why we need to understand them when we are talking about the water in the Ichetucknee?
J: Yes. In the past, there was more water available in that system than there is today. The Ichetucknee is fed by a 350-square-mile Basin or recharge area and the Trace that you hear people talk about is the former riverbed of the Ichetucknee north of the Head Spring. So in the past, the river was much longer and had more water in it. Today, the only time we see water in the Trace is after heavy rains from a hurricane and then you can make out the route of the Trace to the Head Spring.
There are other terms that can be used interchangeably, like Aquifer and Basin and Springshed.
L: OK, thanks. On page 28 of your book, you write about the constant tension between the Park Service employees who wanted to emphasize recreation and the employees who wanted to emphasize protection of natural systems. You write that, “This tug of war resulted in better development, use and management of parks,” and you mentioned tubing management at Ichetucknee as an example.
Can you walk us through some of those discussions as they occurred, and explain how management of tubing at the park evolved over time?
I remember tubing the Ichetucknee or floating in a canoe even before it became a state park, and I know there have been some changes.
J: Yes. The Ichetucknee was heavily used prior to state acquisition. Thousands of tubers, many from the University of Florida, would float the river. It was a very popular place for folks to spend a hot summer day. But over time, when we purchased it, we felt that it was being abused by too many feet walking on the bottom of the shallow portions of the river. So we had a University of Florida carrying capacity study done in 1978 through 1981, and they provided a report that guided us in setting the carrying capacity.
That carrying capacity implemented by the Park Service was not as restrictive as the researchers had recommended, but it was a great improvement over the way it had been before. So that set up a maximum carrying capacity per day for the upper river at 3000 people. And after 3000 people go down the river, it’s cut off at two-thirds of the way down. The lower third doesn’t have a capacity because it’s deep enough that people’s feet can’t touch the bottom.
So it’s a matter of balancing the number of people that the river can accommodate with the ecology that is damaged by heavy use.
L: You said the upper river is limited to 3000 people; I thought it was 750.
J: That’s true. At the Head Spring where you can put in your tube or your raft, from there to what is called Midpoint, 750 people can go down the river, and then that portion is blocked off. From there, 2250 are allowed down to Dampier’s Landing, so that’s a total of 3000 people permitted on the upper two-thirds of the river.
L: Great, thanks. Thanks for clarifying that.
If it were up to you, would you make any changes to tubing management of the Ichetucknee or would you make any other changes to recreational policies at the park, given that some of the recreation can damage the natural system?
J: By all means, we need to be more sensitive in the management of the river because the upper portion is still being damaged. What is happening there is that it’s very narrow and very shallow and easy to wade. And a lot of folks, especially the youthful users, like to get out of their tube and wade and pull up the grass and throw it on the girls to make them squeal and these kinds of pranks. So that is damaging the upper third. So I’m advocating that we discontinue tubing on that upper portion and shift those 750 people down to Midpoint—in other words, halfway down the river—others can still see the upper two-thirds, by canoe or kayak.
The whole idea is to get the feet off the bottom of the river, and it won’t be well managed until that’s done.
L: I know the Ichetucknee Alliance has supported that idea and the park management plan is kind of in limbo right now. Have you heard anything more about what’s happening with that park plan?
J: They were ready to go before the council that approves these plans and they pulled it at the last minute for a reason that I don’t understand. So they need to reschedule it and move forward, and I’m hoping they will do so.
L: Thanks, yeah, I haven’t heard anything more about that either.
In a related note, what do you think about some of the ideas that have recently been floated about allowing logging, hunting, or golf courses in some of our state parks?
J: Yes, that’s a very bad idea. We had a secretary in DEP for a short period of time who wanted to make money off of the natural resources of the parks through timbering, through hunting leases and permits, and also logging. I was strongly opposed to that and once we got the word out around the state, virtually every major newspaper in the state wrote editorials about this issue and how it should be prohibited.
There’s a term, “non-consumptive use,” which is the type of use and management in state parks and national parks and Nature Conservancy sanctuaries. In other words, you do not consume the resources, whereas state forests and wildlife management areas do consume the resources. So it’s fine for them to graze and hunt and timber, but not in the state parks.
Continued in Part 2. This interview was originally recorded for a podcast but audio problems led to this transcription, which has been lightly edited for grammar, punctuation and accuracy. Click here to read the whole interview in a downloadable pdf.