Rodman Reservoir, or Lake Ocklawaha, is an artificial

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

located on the

Ocklawaha River The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 21, 2011 Ocklawaha River flows north from central Florida until it joins the St. Johns River near Palatka. Its name is derived ...

in Putnam County and Marion County in north central

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. The reservoir, located about 15 miles southwest of Palatka, is approximately in length, covers and is located between State Road 19 on the east and State Road 315 on the west. It is also a premier largemouth bass fishery for Northeast Florida.http://myfwc.com/fishing/freshwater/sites-forecast/ne/rodman-reservoir/ Before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created the reservoir, they used a mammoth machine called th
crusher-crawler
to clear sections of the forest along the Ocklawaha's wooded riverbanks. Upon closing Rodman Dam and flooding the reservoir in 1968, the crushed trees floated up to the top of the reservoir. The earthen dam and reservoir were the first of a set of two dams and reservoirs that the Corps planned to build along the Ocklawaha River to facilitate navigation along the

Cross Florida Barge Canal The Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway is a protected green belt corridor, more than one and a half miles (1.6 km) wide in places, that was the former route of the proposed Cross Florida Barge Canal. It is named for the leader o ...

. However, in 1971, due to the successful efforts of environmentalist

Marjorie Harris Carr Marjorie Harris Carr (March 26, 1915 – October 10, 1997) was an American scientist and environmental activist, well known for her conservation work in Florida. She was born in Boston and grew up in southwest Florida, where her parents taught ...

and Florida Defenders of the Environment (FDE), President Richard Nixon halted construction of the canal. Carr worked until her death in 1997 to preserve and restore the Ocklawaha River. A four-gate spillway (Kirkpatrick Dam) controls the water levels of the reservoir. The reservoir from its headwaters at Eureka Dam to Paynes Landing consists of flooded woodlands. The transition section from Paynes Landing to Orange Springs consists of flooded standing timber and areas of floating vegetation. The pool section from Orange Springs to Kirkpatrick Dam, including the river channel and the extant Cross Florida Barge Canal, consists of floating and submersed vegetation, dead standing timber and submersed and partially submersed trees and stumps. The discontinued Barge Canal and the existing river channel have water depths up to deep. Submersed vegetation (hydrilla, coontail and eel grass) is common in the pool section of the reservoir. Drawdowns are conducted every three to four years on the reservoir for aquatic plant control and fish and wildlife habitat enhancement. Rodman Dam was later named the George Kirkpatrick Dam to honor the Florida state senator who was one of the dam's biggest proponents. As of 2014, FDE's campaign for a free-flowing Ocklawaha River is in its fifth decade.Peggy Macdonald, Marjorie Harris Carr: Defender of Florida's Environment, University Press of Florida, 2014.

External links

Lakes of Marion County, Florida Lakes of Putnam County, Florida Reservoirs in Florida Ocala National Forest Dams in Florida United States Army Corps of Engineers dams Dams completed in 1968 Protected areas of Putnam County, Florida 1968 establishments in Florida {{PutnamCountyFL-geo-stub