Citizens ask Columbia County to back Springs Protection Zone, no-wake restrictions on Lower Ichetucknee River

At a meeting of the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners, petition author Linda Wiesman urged the board to endorse a citizen-filed Springs Protection Zone petition for the Lower Ichetucknee River that seeks a no-wake zone and restrictions on personal watercraft.

Wiesman, who identified herself as the author of the citizen-generated petition, said the petition must be “science based” and described two central requests: the creation of a no-wake zone on the Lower Ichetucknee and restrictions on personal watercraft, such as jet skis. “The first thing that I'm asking for is the creation of a no wake zone on the Lower Ichetucknee,” Wiesman said. She said the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, known as FWC, administers Springs Protection Zone petitions and places a high evidentiary threshold on them.

The petitioners told commissioners that motorized craft, especially groups of personal watercraft (PWCs), are creating turbidity and shoreline erosion that harm submerged aquatic vegetation and the river’s wildlife. Wiesman said PWCs “bring water up from underneath…the design of the PWC creates excess…