Governor Ron DeSantis took his veto pen to the Rodman (Kirkpatrick) Dam line item in the state’s budget, dashing advocates’ hopes that “this could be the year.”
The dam was originally built as part of the never-completed Cross Florida Barge Canal. Debate about the structure’s economic and environmental impacts began before plans were drafted and remains fiery today, 56 years after its construction.
DeSantis slashed $500,000 to study the potential environmental and economic effects of removing the dam last year.
Florida legislators brought the item back this session, allocating $6.25 million to the dam in their proposed budget last month. The money would’ve gone to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to develop a removal plan by July 1, 2026 and complete it by December 31, 2035.
The Governor’s veto indefinitely postpones those plans.
Dam supporters celebrate the preservation of Rodman Reservoir, a popular fishing destination. Opponents worry how long the dam, classified as “high hazard” by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, has left. Here’s what they had to say after the veto.
Kevin Graham, Palatka resident and angler at the dam: There’s not a whole lot of places you can bring your grandkids and young kids and people with disabilities. They’re able to get down to the water to enjoy what we have here in Florida. This place has been a landmark my entire life here. I’m 50 years old. I can remember being here when I was three or four years old. I mean, of course it’s changed a lot, but look at the beauty of this place.
Erika Ritter, boat charter captain on the Ocklawaha: As a longtime business here with one of the first pontoon boats ever to do family tours and fishing trips on Ocklawaha, it was just a letdown. I grew up here. I was a small child, so I have some vague pictures of what it was like before the dam. But through my tour business, I just have watched all the fish disappear that were able to migrate up here. I was just so excited to be able to go out here in Eureka [Marion County] from my property and see these fish returning and also the regrowth of the forest that was drowned.
Lisa Rinaman, St. Johns Riverkeeper: Unfortunately, our river is struggling with loss of fish habitat and salt water intrusion, and other water quality issues that could be remedied by reuniting these rivers and this important ecosystem. By reuniting the natural connection of Silver Springs, the Ocklawaha and the St. Johns, that restores more than 150 million gallons of fresh water every single day to the lower St. Johns River. That infusion of fresh water that once historically was connected will offset saltwater intrusion and give our fish habitat and the submerged grasses a fighting chance to revive.
Miranda Busick and Skyler Vaughn, anglers at the dam: If I Google search ‘best place to catfish’ it immediately comes up with Rodman Dam. I mean, we have a dam two minutes from us, but it doesn’t have moving water like this. That’s what the dam is helpful for. It’s for the flow of the fishing. I don’t think all these people would be fishing or even over here in this park if it weren’t for this dam being here.
Margaret Spontak, president of Great Florida Riverway Trust: We have more work to do. We’ve got to bring the communities together on this and come up with a plan that will work for all the communities along the riverway. We knew this appropriation was a starting point anyway. We knew we were going to need to come back. It has always been in our plan to try to get funding for paired recreation with the restoration as well as the potential for an economic development package for Putnam County.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
