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 excessive turbidity,” and that wakes and sediment disturbance reduce sunlight to aquatic plants and disrupt the river’s food chain. She also emphasized impacts on basking turtles, saying the Suwannee cooter makes up “over 90% of the basking turtles” on the Ichetucknee and that disruption of basking can affect their growth and reproduction.

Hilda Gilchrist, who said she is an officer of the board of Three Rivers Estates, told the board that scientific descriptions of spring runs show they are “among the most productive aquatic habitats,” and argued that protections in a Springs Protection Zone would help restore submerged aquatic vegetation that has declined amid turbidity events. Rick Lanise, identifying himself as a Columbia County resident in District 2 and president of Our Santa Fe River (a 501(c)(3)), said the Ichetucknee is “one of God's great gifts to Florida” and urged board support for the SPZ petition to give the Lower Ichetucknee a chance to recover.

County staff and at least one board member said they had participated in multi-agency calls with state officials and noted that FWC has increased reliance on empirical evidence. A board member offered to help: “I can certainly prepare a short supportive letter. Give me your details about your application.” Petitioners and staff confirmed the petition is in the meeting packet and that Suwannee County’s endorsement would also be important because the river forms the boundary between the two counties.

Commissioners did not take a formal vote on the petition during the meeting. Instead, the recorded outcome was informal: county staff and a board member offered to pull the petition materials from the agenda packet and prepare a short letter of support to send to FWC if the board decides to proceed. Petitioners were advised that FWC’s Springs Protection Zone process focuses on environmental evidence rather than safety arguments, though several commissioners and speakers also cited safety concerns for tubers and swimmers where motorized craft and recreational tubing share the channel.

Petitioners gave several quantitative details during public comment: they said more than 500 tubers a day sometimes run the river in peak season; they described a recent PWC group of about 200 in which one speaker stopped counting at 119; they said the river is home to 11 turtle species and that submerged aquatic vegetation supports more than 16 named fish and invertebrate species cited in a state reference. Petitioners also noted that the state park section of the river is about three miles long and that the Ichetucknee is a spring run that historically has clearer water and distinct ecology compared with larger rivers such as the Santa Fe.

What happened next: commissioners signaled informal support for letting staff and a board member prepare a short supportive letter to FWC and to continue participation in multi-agency calls. No ordinance, resolution, or formal endorsement was passed at the meeting; any formal endorsement or written support by the county would require subsequent action by the board.

The petitioners said they plan to meet with Suwannee County officials next week and asked Columbia County to provide a supportive endorsement to strengthen the application to FWC. FWC will review any Springs Protection Zone petition under state rules that, petitioners were told, now emphasize empirical environmental evidence.