news, events and public policy

Juniper Springs

Unfortunately, most of the news coming out of Juniper Creek concerns alligator and human interaction and it’s not good news. The last incident was in 2006 the time before that was 1997. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission policy for the offending alligator is usually to trap and kill the animal. Please don’t swim in the creek.

Policy for management of the federal lands is laid out in the National Forest Management Plan. One of the most beneficial management plan policies is to locate all the canoe and kayak put-in traffic away from the head spring. A long portage trail takes paddlers and their boats through the subtropical hammock to get from the parking area to the creek. The Forest Service wisely anticipated the future popularity of paddling the run would be a potential impact to the spring.