HERNANDO COUNTY, Fla. — As a bright sun beamed down on the sparkling water, the cool water of Weeki Wachee River looked more than inviting to the tourists and locals who enjoyed it Friday afternoon.
Some enjoyed it by plunging in from the seawall at Rogers Park. Others kayaked through the crystal clear water while a manatee grazed on the grass beneath the water’s surface.
John Prout took it in from the seat of his bicycle perched atop the seawall.
“It’s amazing,” Prout said, “It’s a lot of fun.”
Prout, who lives along the spring-fed river, gets to enjoy it every day.
Right now, though, there is a problem: river advocates, including Prout, believe the river is being loved to death.
As kayakers, paddleboarders, and boaters anchor, beach, or tie off along the river’s edge, they’re causing an unintentional but detrimental environmental impact. Aquatic plants are being trampled. As the vegetation dies, riverbanks are eroding. Some of the mature trees along the riverbank are being uprooted as the erosion worsens.
Shannon Turbeville, a river advocate, believes the situation is dire.
“Over time, I’ve seen it degrade to the point something needed to be done about it,” he said. “It’s not your swimming pool. It’s not a reinforced swimming pool, and what happens is that the shorelines are fragile. They’re natural systems. They can’t take it.”
That’s why he is in full support of what Hernando County — with the support of its Board of County Commissioners — is requesting along a 2.3-mile span of the river.
The county wants a “spring protection zone,” which would ban the beaching, anchoring, and mooring of boats and kayaks from Rogers Park upstream to Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.
In a Thursday meeting about the rule change, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC, proposed a more limited zone. The FWC proposal would apply to just 20 popular pull-off spots — called point bars — along the river.
But river advocates pushed back, including George Foster, who owns property along the river.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that if you ban this activity on the point bars, you’re just going to move the party upstream or downstream and continue the damage,” he said.
Foster, instead, urged the commission to support the county’s request to ban beaching, mooring, and anchoring along the full 2.3-mile span. According to the FWC, both the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Southwest Florida Water Management District have also endorsed the county’s request.
“Seems like everybody supports the county’s request,” FWC Commissioner Rodney Barreto concluded. “I mean, why wouldn’t we support the county’s request?”
Barreto and other commissioners ultimately instructed FWC staffers to return to the commission’s July meeting with a proposal that is stronger and more in line with what the county’s requesting, as long as it’s legally defensible.
Prout hopes the commission will ultimately sign off on protecting the natural jewel that he believes is too beautiful, too special, and too important to lose.
“We all want our kids to be able to enjoy it and their kids too,” he said.
