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Santa Fe River’s Turtles Threatened by Over-pumping and Pollution

adler turtle In: Santa Fe River's Turtles Threatened by Over-pumping and Pollution | Our Santa Fe River, Inc. (OSFR) | Protecting the Santa Fe River

Johnston and his team have found that as alga replaces grasses, river cooters are swimming farther to find food ā€” more than 100 adult females have left the river to find food 12 to 30 miles away. He predicts that the population of turtles in the lower Santa Fe River will eventually decrease by 70% if aquifer levels continue to drop.

Dr. Jennifer Adler is an internationally-known nature photographer, cave diver and environmental educator.Ā  Here she writes about the plight of the turtles in the Santa Fe River– they are stressed because of human activity which is destroying their habitat.

This research comes out just as Seven Springs Water Partnership is attempting to increase and renew their water permit to pull huge amounts of water from the Devil’s Eye Spring Complex, including Ginnie Springs, Gilchrist Blue and Rum Island Springs.

Adler Jennifer In: Santa Fe River's Turtles Threatened by Over-pumping and Pollution | Our Santa Fe River, Inc. (OSFR) | Protecting the Santa Fe River
Dr. Jennifer Adler

Every water manager should read this article.Ā  Water board members should go to the spring and see some turtles.Ā  They will have no clue as to how many turtles should be there. They are not scientists studying turtles, so what they should do is listen to what scientists are telling them about turtles, and about how the rivers are failing.

And then, informed and with this new knowledge, they have the responsibility to act, to carry out their mission, which is not solely to dole out pumping permitsĀ  but to protect the water, rivers, springs and yes, turtles that live in them.

The fact that the rivers are failing shows that the responsibility part of being a water manager has not been fulfilled in past decades.Ā  Our water use and our rivers are changing, and consequently our entire ecosystem.Ā  What was judged to be OK the past is now seen NOT to be OK if we want to continue to have healthy springs, rivers, and wildlife.

If we don’t make changes, we can be sure that Dr. Johnston’s prediction above will come true:Ā  aquifer levels WILL continue to drop.

And the turtles will leave.

Read the complete article here in the Huffpost.

Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
-A river is like a life: once taken, it cannot be brought back-


 

The Plight Of Floridaā€™s Turtles Tells A Troubling Story About Climate Destruction

The stateā€™s freshwater turtles are struggling as pollution, climate change and over-extraction of water threatens their fragile home.
By Jennifer Adler

A Suwannee cooter swims out of the vegetation and into the spring run at Blue Spring.
Jennifer Adler A Suwannee cooter swims out of the vegetation and into the spring run at Blue Spring.

HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. ā€• The sun is just rising above the cypress and pine forest as a dozen people step from sweatpants into wetsuits. Masks and fins emerge from trunks. The cicadas are already singing.

A gray pickup with a University of Miami vanity plate pulls in, black Rubbermaid bins piled high in the bed. Jerry Johnston steps out. He is a turtle biologist and the leader of this group, made up of community members and his students at Santa Fe College in nearby Gainesville.

The woods of north Florida are not the first place youā€™d expect to find people suiting up to do turtle research. Weā€™re six hours north of Miamiā€™s famous sandy beaches and sea turtles, but the Santa Fe River basin is within a globally significant turtle diversity hotspot, home to 14 native species of freshwater turtles. Thatā€™s almost as many as the entire Amazon River system, which is more than 2,000 times its size.

Part of what makes this region a great home for turtles is its karst geology ā€”limestone that was once the floor of a shallow sea underlies almost the entire state. Freshwater from this limestone aquifer flows to the surface at almost 50 freshwater springs along 23 miles of the lower Santa Fe River. These springs are direct links between the river and the underlying aquifer, which provides drinking water to more than 90% of Floridians. The springs have historically supported lush underwater meadows of native grasses on which many of the turtles subsist.

River cooters hover in the clear water at Ginnie Spring along the Santa Fe River. The grasses have disappeared at Ginnie, and
Jennifer Adler River cooters hover in the clear water at Ginnie Spring along the Santa Fe River. The grasses have disappeared at Ginnie, and now green algae carpet the edges of the spring.

But over-extraction of water to serve Floridaā€™s growing population ā€” Florida is now the third most populous state in the U.S. ā€” as well as more extreme weather and pollution from farms and households are contributing to huge changes in the springs and the river ecosystem. Most of the freshwater springs are now carpeted with algae. The turtlesā€™ once -well-stocked underwater salad bar is disappearing, signaling trouble for the water that more than 17 million Floridians rely on every day.

Yet most are unaware of whatā€™s happening to the water beneath their feet and the threatened ecosystems in their backyards. These freshwater springs are eyes into the aquifer and into the health of Floridaā€™s drinking water, reflecting effects from changes in water quality and quantity.

It can be hard to communicate these changes and connect people to the natural source of their water, but the turtles are a fun and engaging way to get people involved.

Thatā€™s why part of Johnstonā€™s work is to connect the community with the turtles in the Santa Fe River basin. His hope is that by exposing residents to the beauty and plight of their reptilian neighbors, he can motivate them to take action to protect the water the turtles live in ā€” the very water on which the community itself relies.

Above:Ā Gilchrist Blue Spring on Jan. 21, 2017, and then on Jan. 21, 2018.

ā€œIf you Google the word ā€˜turtle,ā€™ what do most people think of? Sea turtles, right? So, one of the goals is to just get people to become aware that there are more than just sea turtles in Florida,ā€ Johnston says.

The most prominent turtle species in the springs, the river cooter, is also the most sensitive to the changes taking place. Johnston calls them ā€œthe ambassadors of the ecosystem,ā€ and it is these animals that he brings volunteers to study.

Johnston and his team have found that as alga replaces grasses, river cooters are swimming farther to find food ā€” more than 100 adult females have left the river to find food 12 to 30 miles away. He predicts that the population of turtles in the lower Santa Fe River will eventually decrease by 70% if aquifer levels continue to drop.

While the springs have slowly been degrading since the 1990s, a drought in May 2012, followed by extensive flooding from Tropical Storm Debby in late June, caused some of the springs to temporarily stop flowing and algae replaced dying native grasses in the river.

Biology professor Jerry Johnston holds a Florida red-bellied cooter and a loggerhead musk turtle at Gilchrist Blue Springs St
Jennifer Adler Biology professor Jerry Johnston holds a Florida red-bellied cooter and a loggerhead musk turtle at Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park during a turtle research day. The snorkelers capture turtles by hand, place them in a canoe and paddle them to land for a health assessment and tagging.

ā€œThe river completely changed its character,ā€ says Johnston, who started studying freshwater turtles in the springs in 2004 with the help of Travis Thomas, one of his zoology students at Santa Fe College. ā€œI didnā€™t know anything about biology, and [Johnston] didnā€™t know anything about the river,ā€ Thomas recalls. ā€œI grew up on the river and knew my way around, so we were the perfect team.ā€

In 2012, it became clear that their work could serve a bigger purpose. ā€œLittle did we know, we had been gathering baseline data that are now incredibly important,ā€ says Johnston. ā€œAfter the river changed, we realized we had an obligation to try to understand how the turtles are responding to this massive change in the ecosystem.ā€

The reasons why algae are growing are complicated and involve changes in both water quality and quantity. ā€œWeā€™re still investigating the causes,ā€ says Gregory Owen, who has worked in the springs for more than 10 years as a scientist at the Alachua County Environmental Protection Department.

Nitrate in the groundwater feeding the springs has dramatically increased due to agriculture, livestock, septic tanks and household fertilizer use. In addition, spring flows ā€” the amount of water flowing from the aquifer at the spring ā€” have decreased because of long-term trends in rainfall and pumping water from the aquifer, while recreational use and floods have increased.

And as more water is pumped from the aquifer, dissolved oxygen in the water has declined at many springs, which can affect the entire spring ecosystem, including grasses and algae.

Try communicating this complexity and you lose people immediately. So Johnston turned to his hard-shelled ambassadors to tell the story for him.

Once he and Thomas started showing people photos of the turtles and the work they were doing, more people wanted to come help. Today, the Santa Fe River Turtle Project has grown into a community-based project involving more than 200 people who study the turtles in northern Florida. Volunteers are recruited for research days out on the river and springs, where they can snorkel and hand-capture turtles or paddle a canoe following the snorkelers to collect the turtles they catch. They paddle the turtles to land, and volunteers help tag, weigh, measure and release the turtles.

Turtle Project volunteer Dylan Vega catches a yellow-bellied slider during a turtle research day in the Ichetucknee River, a
Jennifer Adler Turtle Project volunteer Dylan Vega catches a yellow-bellied slider during a turtle research day in the Ichetucknee River, a spring-fed tributary of the Santa Fe River.

Johnston wants to change the misconception that science is only for scientists. ā€œWe have to break down some of these perceptions when we think of barriers to science, so I want people to be involved in all of the steps. Then they understand the process.ā€

He welcomes everyone ā€” even if they are just out to enjoy the river, people like Scott Ferguson, a vacationer turned volunteer on the Ichetucknee River. ā€œThe turtles in canoes caught our attention, so I was talking to [Johnston] about why they were catching the turtles. I asked if I could help, and we had so much fun that we came back the next day,ā€ Ferguson says. He and his girlfriend are already planning another trip to help.

One of the core members of the Santa Fe River Turtle Project is Patricia Eaton, a former canine handler in the Air Force who lives locally. Sporting a long, brown braid and a neon green T-shirt with a cartoon turtle on the front, she comes to every turtle research day with armfuls of homemade sweets.

Eaton met Johnston, whom students affectionately call ā€œDr. J,ā€ during a study abroad trip to South Africa in 2016 and decided to try a day on the river with the team when they returned to Gainesville. ā€œI have a really good time,ā€ Eaton says. ā€œDr. J is so dedicated to it, and he gets so excited about finding new things. Heā€™s very protective of not just the turtles but their environment, and it becomes infectious. You just want to be part of it.ā€

Over the past three years, Eaton says she has learned a lot about the turtles and their link to the springs. ā€œI never realized how dependent they are on the springs here specifically, how only a handful of locations in the world have this diversity of turtles.ā€

Itā€™s exactly that recognition and understanding that Johnston hopes to engender by bringing the community to the river and springs. Floridians spend their lives with the aquifer beneath their feet, but it too often remains out of sight, out of mind.

Patricia Eaton is one of the core members of the Santa Fe River Turtle Project.
Jennifer Adler Patricia Eaton is one of the core members of the Santa Fe River Turtle Project.

While Johnston is introducing people to turtles, Owen is focusing on snails, which graze on the algae that are overwhelming the springs.

Just like humans, snails depend on oxygen to live. As we pump more water from the aquifer, we are left with older, less-oxygen-rich water flowing from the springs. The underlying idea behind Owenā€™s work is that if we can restore higher levels of oxygen in the water, perhaps the snails will be able to survive to eat more algae ā€• and allow the grasses, and therefore turtles, to flourish.

The project has been going on for only a little over a month, but very preliminary results ā€” along with recent work from scientists at the University of Florida ā€” suggest dissolved oxygen is important for healthy springs.

Alachua County scientist Gregory Owen closes the lid on his cages at Hornsby Spring. He planted native grasses in some of the
Jennifer Adler Alachua County scientist Gregory Owen closes the lid on his cages at Hornsby Spring. He planted native grasses in some of the plots and is testing the effect of increased dissolved oxygen on plant growth and alga cover.

 

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HuffPostā€™s ā€œThis New Worldā€ series is funded by Partners for a New Economy and the Kendeda Fund. All content is editorially independent, with no influence or input from the foundations. If you have an idea or tip for the editorial series, send an email to thisnewworld@huffpost.com.

————–”
Our thanks to Cindy Noel for sending this article.

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3 Comments

  1. This article cannot be taken seriously when it ignores and doesnā€™t mention the boat traffic or wake destruction of shorelines, shoreline vegetation, increased turbidity and boat prop impacts. I have lived on the Santa Fe for over 60 years and have witnessed the destruction of the river banks for decades. This is not a reputable or even factual account of conditions. Itā€™s not science, itā€™s science fiction.

    1. You’re right about the river bank destruction, Davis. The banks of the upper Santa Fe are being washed into the river by motor boat traffic, every time there is a high water event. Islands are being formed in the middle of the river by the washed out sand. There is no reason to even have a motorboat on that section of the river, for the few miles you’re able to navigate. I don’t dispute the rest of the information in the article, but this kind of a separate issue.

    2. Davis, you are correct about the erosion, but you miss Dr. Adler’s point. She is writing about turtles and does a great job.

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