The Ocklawaha River
Overview and Current Status
Last updated: February 2026
The Rodman/Kirkpatrick Dam. Photo courtesy David Schrichte.
In the 1960s, the Rodman/Kirkpatrick Dam was constructed across the lower reaches of the Ocklawaha River as a part of the now-defunct Cross Florida Barge Canal Project, flooding forested wetlands beneath the Rodman Reservoir and restricting access to wildlife, including manatees. Manatees depend on sources of warm water to survive the colder winter months, and hidden beneath the high waters caused by the dam are twenty springs that could serve as natural sources of warm water for manatees, which is why restoring the natural flow of the river is a major priority for Save the Manatee Club. Breaching the dam would also allow manatees unimpeded access to the Silver River and Silver Springs, habitats they already depend upon but cannot access without passing through the lock system.
While the 2026 Florida legislative session is in full swing, Save the Manatee Club is actively engaged, advocating for beneficial policies and funding for manatees and their habitat. A major priority this session is supporting the bills to restore the Ocklawaha River, both entitled “Tributaries of St. Johns River” or the Northeast Florida Rivers, Springs, and Community Investment Act: Senate Bill 1066, introduced by Senator Brodeur, and House Bill 981, introduced by Representative Duggan. These bills consist of a three-part approach to securing a positive future for the Ocklawaha River and its watershed: river restoration, creation of a compatible outdoor recreation plan, and an economic development program for the communities surrounding the river. The bills propose an advisory committee structure to ensure local stakeholder input. Save the Manatee Club is extremely grateful to this bill’s champions for their tireless support of this important issue for manatees and Florida’s environment.
Some manatees are already using the Silver and Ocklawaha Rivers, but currently have to navigate through the Buckman Lock to access this habitat. Photo courtesy Alan Youngblood.
At the time of writing, the bills to restore the Ocklawaha have completed the committee process and are awaiting floor votes in the Florida Senate and Florida House of Representatives. Save the Manatee Club was thrilled to see the bills receive strong support at their first committee stops. Next, the bills will be voted on by all members of the Senate and House. Florida supporters, please ask your legislators to support Ocklawaha River restoration through the Northeast Florida Rivers, Springs, and Community Investment Act, Senate Bill 1066 / House Bill 981: click here to contact your House Representative, and click here to contact your Senator.
Restoring the type of natural, warm-water habitat offered by these bills is extremely important, especially with the inevitability of power plant technology transition. Presently, thousands of manatees, over 60% of the population, rely on warm water discharges from artificial sources, like power plants, to survive the cold winter months. Many power plants will soon change their technology to systems that do not discharge warm water. This may happen as soon as within the next few years, and restoring plentiful natural habitat—such as the Ocklawaha and its springs—will be essential to ensure a smooth transition for manatees
History of the Ocklawaha River
Map courtesy SJRWMD
A map from the 1920s showing a 135-mile Daylight Route cruise along the Silver River, Ocklawaha River, and St. Johns River. Map courtesy RareCharts.
The Ocklawaha River is a 74-mile-long river that starts in the Harris Chain of Lakes in Lake County, Florida, and flows north until it joins with the St. Johns River near Palatka. From the confluence of the two rivers, the water continues flowing northward in the St. Johns River for about 100 miles before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. The Ocklawaha River is a main tributary of the St. Johns River, and its waters are fed mainly by the Silver River, the headwaters of which are within Silver Springs State Park. Historically, manatees could access the Ocklawaha River unimpeded by swimming through the mouth of the river, and once in the main river, could then go on to use the twenty natural Florida springs that flow into the system.
A construction map of the Cross Florida Barge Canal. Photo courtesy State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory.
This all changed in the early 1900s, when the federal government funded a project to construct a barge canal across Florida, which would reduce shipping time dramatically by allowing ships to cross in the middle of the state instead of having to navigate around the Florida Keys. From a shipping perspective, the canal would have offered some benefits, but it would have been an environmental disaster for Florida. The project planned to dredge, excavate and clear huge portions of land to connect rivers across the state, redirecting the natural flow of water that Florida’s sensitive environments depend on.
Thirty years passed between the project being officially proposed and the construction beginning in 1963. Environmental groups were actively fighting the construction of the canal when the first structures were being built. Before the project was halted by a lawsuit, and then by executive order in 1971, large parts of the infrastructure for the canal had already been built, the most notable being the long stretch of the Barge Canal, the Buckman Lock, the Rodman/Kirkpatrick Dam and Rodman Reservoir, and Inglis Lock.
The Rodman Reservoir was created in 1968, when the 7,200-foot Rodman/Kirkpatrick Dam was built across the lower Ocklawaha River. The reservoir is almost 10,000 acres, 15 miles long, and up to 2 miles wide nearest to the dam. Between Orange Springs, FL, and the dam, woodlands that used to be above water are drowned by the high waters of the reservoir for several years at a time. This flooding has left behind a flooded river channel of floating and submerged vegetation, standing-dead trees, and partially submerged trees and stumps. In some areas, the river and channel are up to 30 feet deep, and trees that were previously above water are completely submerged. This is why this area of the river is often called the 'drowned forest.'
The Drowned Forest and the Drawdown
Manatees and the Rodman/Kirkpatrick Dam
Manatees rest in the Ocklawaha River. Photo courtesy Paul Nosca.
The Rodman Dam cut off the connection between the middle and lower portions of the Ocklawaha River and created a new canal connecting the Ocklawaha to the St. Johns River. In this canal is the Buckman Lock, a left-over structure of the Cross Florida Barge Canal. The lock opens periodically to allow boats and traveling manatees through, and this is the only way manatees can access the middle and upper Ocklawaha River, and critically, Silver Springs. Historically, the Buckman Lock created a hazardous situation for manatees, with many manatees being trapped and crushed between the gates or drowned. To prevent this, the gates have been fitted with manatee protection devices, which prompt the gates to open when a manatee touches a pressure plate. While this has significantly reduced deaths, the number is still not zero, as it should be.
The lock tenders work with manatee researchers and managers to collect data on the number of manatees passing through. That said, it is unknown how many manatees are actively using the Ocklawaha at any given time, though we think it is much higher than was originally thought.
In contrast, on the other side of the state, the Inglis Lock—another part of the defunct Barge Canal construction project—entirely blocks manatee access to portions of the Withlacoochee River and the entire Rainbow River. The Inglis lock isn’t operational, so manatees cannot access this habitat at all.
The Twenty Lost Springs
The locations of the twenty lost springs of the Ocklawaha River. Photo courtesy Jeff Davis, SJRWMD.
Prior to the flooding of the Ocklawaha, twenty springs flowed and boiled at the surface of the Ocklawaha River, creating pools of crystal-clear water that many locals used for swimming and fishing. Once the dam was built, however, these springs, along with much of the Ocklawaha, were drowned beneath the high waters caused by the dam and reservoir. During the first drawdown after the construction of the dam, scientist Elizabeth Abbott from the University of Florida went out on the Ocklawaha and documented the locations of twenty springs that had become ‘lost’ during the high-water period. If the dam were to come down permanently and the water level returned to its natural level, these springs would once again be accessible, not just to the locals, but to manatees searching for sources of warm water in the wintertime. Today, the main warm water refuge for manatees in this area of the state is Silver Springs, a first magnitude spring and the primary tributary of the Ocklawaha River. It is only accessible by traveling through the Buckman Lock, which would no longer be the case if the dam were to be breached and reconnect the historic flow of the Ocklawaha.
The Rodman Dam has already exceeded its designed lifespan. Many environmental groups have been actively advocating for the dam’s breach since it was constructed, and now more than ever it is critical that the Ocklawaha’s natural flow be restored.