Black Creek is a tributary of the
St. Johns River
The St. Johns River ( es, Río San Juan) is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At long, it flows north and winds through or borders twelve counties. The drop in eleva ...
in
Clay County, Florida
Clay County is located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2020, the population was 218,245. Its county seat is Green Cove Springs. It is included in the Jacksonville metropolitan statistical area. It is named in honor o ...
. It is formed by the confluence of North Fork Black Creek and South Fork Black Creek. North Fork Black Creek originates as an outflow from
Kingsley Lake
Kingsley Lake is an almost perfectly circular lake of about in North East Florida, is located inside Clay County about east of Starke, Florida. According to some sources, it is the oldest and highest lake in Florida, located on the edge of th ...
and flows north and then southeast, meeting South Fork Black Creek on the east side of
MIddleburg. North Fork Black Creek has Yellow Water Creek as its main tributary. South Fork Black Creek originates in a chain of lakes about four miles south of Kingsley Lake, with Ates Creek, Bull Creek, and Greens Creek as its main tributaries. Both forks are fed by areas of wetlands and numerous small streams.
Black Creek basin
The Black Creek basin covers , including about two-thirds of Clay County. The western edge of the basin is the Trail Ridge, a sand ridge extending from northeastern Florida into southeastern Georgia. The northern of the Black Creek watershed lies in
Duval County. North Fork Black Creek and South Fork Black Creek both originate from lakes in the southwestern portion of the basin, about four miles apart. The average flow of Back Creek into the St. Johns River is , of which about 44% is from South Fork, 39% is from North Fork, and the remaining 17% is from Peters Creek and other tributaries below the confluence of North Fork and South Fork.
The Black Creek Crayfish (''
Procambarus pictus
''Procambarus pictus'', sometimes called the Black Creek crayfish or spotted royal crayfish, is a species of crayfish in family Cambaridae. It is endemic to Florida, where it is found in the Black Creek river system, the St. Johns River, and t ...
'') was once thought to be found only in upland streams in the Black Creek basin. It has since been found in a few neighboring stream basins.
Black Creek
The main stem of Black Creek from the confluence of the forks to its mouth on the St. Johns River is long.
Peter's Creek joins Black Creek just before its mouth. Black Creek flows into the St. Johns River north of Green Cove Springs.
The
St. Johns River Water Management District
The St. Johns River Water Management District ("SJRWMD") is one of five Florida water management districts that is responsible for managing groundwater and surface water resources in Florida. SJRWMD covers an 18-county region in northeast and east ...
has established the Black Creek Ravines Conservation Area along of the south side of Black Creek from just above where North Fork Black Creek and South Fork Black Creek join.
North Fork Black Creek
North Fork Black Creek arises as the outflow from
Kingsley Lake
Kingsley Lake is an almost perfectly circular lake of about in North East Florida, is located inside Clay County about east of Starke, Florida. According to some sources, it is the oldest and highest lake in Florida, located on the edge of th ...
. It runs northward and then turns to the southeast flowing through
Jennings State Forest to its confluence with South Fork Black Creek near Middleburg. Its primary tributary is Yellow Water Creek, which arises in swamps in Duval County, flowing south to meet North Fork Black Creek in Jennings State Forest.
The North Fork passes the Main Street Boat Ramp, and the approximate location of Forts
Heileman and Sanderson.
South Fork Black Creek
South Fork Black Creek arises in three lakes in
Camp Blanding
Camp Blanding Joint Training Center is the primary military reservation and training base for the Florida National Guard, both the Florida Army National Guard and certain nonflying activities of the Florida Air National Guard. The installation is ...
, starting as the outflow from Stevens Lake and passing through Whitmore Lake and Varnes Lake. It flows generally northeastward, then west of north until turning northeastward again shortly before joining North Fork Black Creek near Middleburg. The stream has three primary tributaries; Ates Creek, Bull Creek, and Greens Creek.
Water color and quality
Black Creek is a
blackwater stream. The streams in the Black Creek basin carry 30 to as much as 336
parts-per-million
In science and engineering, the parts-per notation is a set of pseudo-units to describe small values of miscellaneous dimensionless quantities, e.g. mole fraction or mass fraction. Since these fractions are quantity-per-quantity measures, they ...
(ppm) of dissolved substances. The color of North Fork Black Creek water ranges as high as 240 (on a scale of 0–500) units on the
Platinum-Cobalt scale.
Hardness
In materials science, hardness (antonym: softness) is a measure of the resistance to localized plastic deformation induced by either mechanical indentation or abrasion. In general, different materials differ in their hardness; for example hard ...
,
pH, and particularly, color and iron content make the water from Black Creek objectionable to most users.
Historical river port
The Alachua Trail was an ancient Indian trail that ran from the
Altamaha River
The Altamaha River is a major river in the U.S. state of Georgia. It flows generally eastward for 137 miles (220 km) from its origin at the confluence of the Oconee River and Ocmulgee River towards the Atlantic Ocean, where it empties ...
in
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
to south of the
Alachua Prairie, a primary route from the Southeastern United States into north central Florida during the
Second Spanish and
Florida territorial periods. Another ancient trail branched from the Alachua Trail southwest of Kingsley Lake, passing south of the lake to Middleburg and Black Creek. The Black Creek route offered the settlers around the Alachua Prairie a shorter alternative to access water-borne commerce than the original route to the
St. Mary's River. Steamboats plying the St. Johns River made regular stops at Black Creek in the 1830s and 1840s.
Black Creek Water Resource Development Project
The Black Creek Water Resource Development Project is planned to pump water from a point on the South Fork Black Creek out of the Black Creek Basin to feed into Alligator Creek in southwestern Clay County. Alligator Creek flows into Lake Brooklyn, adjacent to
Keystone Heights
Keystone Heights is a city located in southwestern Clay County, Florida, United States. The population of the city was 1,446 at the 2020 census. The city's name is derived from the state of Pennsylvania's nickname, the "Keystone State".
History
...
. The project is intended to raise the water level in Lake Brooklyn and replenish the
Upper Floridian aquifer. The State of Florida appropriated almost $43.4 million for the project in 2017. The St. Johns River Water Management District is providing another $5 million for the project. Up to a day will be captured at an intake station where
Florida State Road 16
State Road 16 (SR 16) runs from northwest to southeast between Raiford and St. Augustine. It passes through the towns of Starke and Green Cove Springs in addition to providing access to Camp Blanding. Major roads and/or highways that SR ...
crosses the South Fork west of
Penney Farms. Water will be diverted from South Fork only when the stream flow is at or above average. The diverted water will be pumped through a pipeline running along State Road 16 west to the junction with
Florida State Road 21
State Road 21 (SR 21) runs mostly in a southwest-to-northeast direction in the US state of Florida from McMeekin to Jacksonville. It is also known as Blanding Boulevard for much of its length.
SR 21 is one of three routes, along with ...
, and then south along State Road 21 until it reaches Alligator Creek.
The project was delayed when the
US Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...
raised questions about the effects of adding dark water from the Black Creek basin to the clear water of Lake Brooklyn. The District implemented a pilot project in March, 2021 to test filtering the Black Creek water through a man-made wetland. A consultant estimated that a full-scale wetland filter might cost $15 million to construct.
Bridges
Two major
highway
A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...
s cross Black Creek:
State Road 21 crosses North Fork Black Creek at Middleburg and
U.S. Route 17
U.S. Route 17 or U.S. Highway 17 (US 17), also known as the Coastal Highway, is a north–south United States Highway that spans in the southeastern United States. It runs close to the Atlantic Coast for much of its length, wit ...
near the mouth of Black Creek at the St. Johns River.
State Road 16 crosses North Fork Black Creek just below its outflow from Kingsley Lake, and crosses South Fork Black Creek east of Penney Farms.
County Road 218 also crosses South Fork Black Creek at Middleburg just east of State Road 21 or as it is more commonly known Blanding Blvd. and again crosses North Fork Black Creek 8.2 miles west of Blanding Blvd., northwest of the south entrance to Jennings State Forest.
Restrictions
Portions of North Fork Black Creek, South Fork Black Creek, Peters Creek, and areas around boat ramps on the lower Black Creek, are designated "slow speed/minimum wake" zones. Portions of North Fork Black Creek and South Fork Black Creek are also closed to water skiing.
Notes
References
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Tributaries of the St. Johns River
Rivers of Florida
North Florida
Bodies of water of Clay County, Florida