Let Us Rejoice in Rivers that Flow Through Us All

Rivers are sacred things, all the more important and sublime in a watery land like Florida. Rivers connect our present to our past, connect our swamps and wetlands to our oceans, and create boundless opportunities to connect us to the Gulf experience and wild Florida.

I would encourage everyone to have a river they consider their own. We all need a river that we connect to, dream of and spend time on. The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and their work to protect wildlife, waterways, and wetlands puts them front and center in regional efforts across the Gulf to protect and conserve rivers. Rivers are essential to the culture, traditions, and history of the Gulf Coast.

If I were to choose my river, the river of my life, it would have to be Florida’s Withlacoochee River, and the journey it takes from the Green Swamp to the Gulf.

I spent my childhood on and near it, and returned to live near it for the last 20 years. My family and I have paddled it, fished it, swam in it, camped along it and hiked alongside it. Its dark, tannic-stained waters call me home whenever I can join them.

In my 20s and 30s, I had a brief dalliance with the Hillsborough River, another magnificent Florida river. Both the Hillsborough and the Withlacoochee are born in Florida’s liquid heart, the Green Swamp. The Green Swamp covers more than 500,000 acres and gathers regional rainfall to create several of Florida’s most magnificent rivers.

Rain falls in the Green Swamp, water gathers in small streams, and two rivers are born from the same birthplace. One flows north, over 150 miles, seeking the Gulf. The other flows south for roughly 60 miles, seeking Tampa Bay. Both hold the secrets and magic of wild Florida.

I fell in love with my wife, Becky, on the Hillsborough River. We took a late-night paddle in the Narrows, just upstream of Lettuce Lake and as a cacophony of frogs and gators called around us, I realized that when you meet someone who will paddle into the darkened night with you, you hold on tightly to them. Almost 30 years later, we are still together.

If all of us had a river we called our own, perhaps we could reverse decades of questionable environmental policy that guides how we manage rivers in Florida. Perhaps we could treasure rivers for the true, transcendent, invaluable natural resources they are.

I do sympathize with those who manage rivers in Florida. It is a hard job. I often ponder if a simple change in paradigms might make their work easier.

Water management districts manage rivers in Florida with a concept called “minimum flows and levels.” This means that requests made with a permit can lead to increasing water withdrawals from rivers until significant harm occurs to those waterways—or other natural systems of the area.But a true lover of those rivers, someone with a sense of connection to them, might argue we need to rethink this and seek maximum flows and levels. How can we manage withdrawals and water levels to ensure that maximum ecological function and robust long-term health is the goal for our sacred rivers? Water for rivers first, water for withdrawal applicants second.

This weekend, my family and I are camping along the Suwannee River. The Suwannee is one of the longest flowing rivers in Florida, and one of the last truly great free-flowing rivers left in the Gulf South. Gulf Sturgeon travel this river. It connects the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Georgia, 246 miles to the Gulf just north of Cedar Key. This is a true river of great value to the people and wildlife who depend on it.

Spend some time to ponder which river truly speaks to your soul. Which river flows through you and leads you to a deeper connection to all things wild along the Gulf? When you find that river, explore it and conserve it. Support NWF’s efforts to conserve rivers and wildlife across the Gulf. Fight for them. You will never regret it.

An edited and abridged version of this blog post appeared in Florida Atlantic University’s “The Invading Sea” Journal. Joe Murphy is a lifelong and native Floridian from Florida’s Nature Coast along the Gulf, and a former Wildlife Policy Specialist for NWF’s Gulf Program. Joe contributes these blog posts to NWF as an alumnus and supporter. You can follow Joe on Instagram @naturecoastjoe.