Take Action to Protect Silver Springs!
Your Voice is Needed: July 14 Hearing on Sleepy Creek/Adena Springs Ranch Permit
Many of you have been closely following the Sleepy Creek Lands (formerly Adena Springs Ranch) project. The applicant, Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach, is seeking a consumptive use permit for cattle ranching operations that could harm Silver Springs by reducing spring flows and polluting the aquifer with waste.
Last year, Stronach applied to consolidate existing water withdrawal permits from two nearby sod farms, for a total withdrawal of 1.46 million gallons per day, and to transfer .96 mgd of those rights to the northern tract of the cattle ranching operations. The St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) staff recommended that the Board approve the request. Environmentalists and concerned citizens challenged the permit on the grounds that the water withdrawal and pollution would adversely affect the spring and aquifer. The massive cattle ranch operations, they argued, are not consistent with the public interest and do not constitute a reasonable beneficial use in light of spring flows that are already reduced by over a third from historical levels.
On April 29, the Court sided with Stronach and the District, and entered a recommended order to issue the Consumptive Use Permit and approve the request to reallocate nearly a million gallons a day in groundwater withdrawals to the Northern Tract for cattle ranching.
At its July 14 meeting in Palatka, the District’s Governing Board will make the final determination whether to issue or deny the consumptive use permit for Sleepy Creek Lands. We need your help in asking the Governing Board to deny this permit to protect Silver Springs.
What You Can Do:
- Attend the Governing Board meeting and ask the Board to deny the permit. The meeting will take place in the Governing Board Room at the District Headquarters, 4049 Reid St., Palatka, FL 32177-2529 on July 14, at 9:00 a.m.
If you cannot attend the hearing, please take just a couple of minutes
- to send a quick message to the SJRWMD Governing Board by choosing the “I oppose this application” option at their e-Permitting site. Click the following link to send your message.
- Thank you for your help to protect our aquifer and other water resources that are vital to manatees!
For more information and to stay up to date on this issue, consult the District’s website
