Appalachicola River
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The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately 160 mi (180 km) long in the state of
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 river's large watershed, known as the
ACF River Basin The ACF River Basin is the drainage basin, or watershed, of the Apalachicola River, Chattahoochee River, and Flint River, in the Southeastern United States. This area is alternatively known as simply the Apalachicola Basin and is listed by t ...
, drains an area of approximately into the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
. The distance to its farthest head waters in northeast
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 ...
is approximately 500 miles (800 km). Its name comes from the
Apalachicola people Apalachicola (sometimes Palachacola) was the name of a Native American town and chiefdom, and of the people living in it, and of a group of towns associated with it, located along the lower part of the Chattahoochee River in present-day Alabama ...
, who used to live along the river.


Description

The river is formed on the state line between Florida and Georgia, near the town of
Chattahoochee, Florida Chattahoochee is a city in Gadsden County, Florida, United States. Its history dates to the Spanish era. The population was 3,652 as of the 2010 census, up from 3,287 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Tallahassee, Florida Metropolitan Statist ...
, approximately northeast of
Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...
, by the confluence of the
Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...
and
Chattahoochee The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the con ...
rivers. The actual confluence is contained within the
Lake Seminole Lake Seminole is a reservoir located in the southwest corner of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia along its border with Florida, maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Chattahoochee River, Chattahoochee and Flint River (Georgia), Flint ri ...
reservoir formed by the
Jim Woodruff Dam Jim Woodruff Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Apalachicola River, about south of that river's origin at the confluence of the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers. The dam impounds Lake Seminole on the common border of Florida and Georgia. The da ...
. It flows generally south through the forests of the
Florida Panhandle The Florida Panhandle (also West Florida and Northwest Florida) is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida; it is a Salient (geography), salient roughly long and wide, lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia (U. ...
, past
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
. In northern Gulf County, it receives the
Chipola River The Chipola River is a tributary of the Apalachicola River in western Florida. It is part of the ACF River Basin watershed. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 15 ...
from the west. It flows into
Apalachicola Bay Apalachicola may refer to: * Apalachicola people, a group of Native Americans who lived along the Apalachicola River in present-day Florida Places *Apalachicola, Florida *Apalachicola River *Apalachicola Bay *Apalachicola National Forest *Apalachi ...
, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, at
Apalachicola, Florida Apalachicola ( ) is a city and the county seat of Franklin County, Florida, United States, on the shore of Apalachicola Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico. The population was 2,231 at the 2010 census. History The Apalachicola people, after ...
. The lower of the river is surrounded by extensive
swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...
s and
wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
, except at the coast. The watershed contains nationally significant forests, with some of the highest biological diversity east of the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
and rivaling that of the
Great Smoky Mountains The Great Smoky Mountains (, ''Equa Dutsusdu Dodalv'') are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge ...
. It has significant areas of
temperate deciduous forest Temperate deciduous or temperate broad-leaf forests are a variety of temperate forest 'dominated' by trees that lose their leaves each year. They are found in areas with warm moist summers and cool winters. The six major areas of this forest type ...
as well as
longleaf pine The longleaf pine (''Pinus palustris'') is a pine species native to the Southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from East Texas to southern Virginia, extending into northern and central Florida. In this area it is also known as ...
landscapes and
flatwoods Flatwoods, pineywoods, pine savannas and longleaf pine-wiregrass ecosystem are terms that refer to an ecological community in the southeastern coastal plain of North America. Flatwoods are an ecosystem maintained by wildfire or prescribed fire an ...
. Flooded areas have significant tracts of floodplain forest. All of these southeastern forest types were devastated by logging between 1880 and 1920, and the Apalachicola contains some of the finest remaining examples of old growth forest in the southeast. The endangered tree species
Florida torreya ''Torreya taxifolia'', commonly known as Florida torreya or stinking-cedar, but also sometimes as Florida nutmeg or gopher wood, is an endangered subcanopy tree of the yew family, Taxaceae. It is native to only a small glacial refugium in the s ...
is
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the region; it clings to forested slopes and bluffs in
Torreya State Park Torreya State Park is a 13,735 acre (56 km²) Florida State Park, United States National Natural Landmark and historic site thirteen miles (19 km) north of Bristol. It is located north of S.R 12 on the Apalachicola River, in northwest ...
along the east bank of the river. The highest point within the watershed is
Blood Mountain Blood Mountain is the highest peak on the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail and the sixth-tallest mountain in Georgia, with an elevation of .Brown (1996), p.93 It is located on the border of Lumpkin County with Union County and is withi ...
at , near the headwaters of the Chattahoochee River. Where the river enters the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
, it creates a rich array of wetlands varying in salinity. These include
tidal marsh A tidal marsh (also known as a type of "tidal wetland") is a marsh found along rivers, coasts and estuaries which floods and drains by the tidal movement of the adjacent estuary, sea or ocean. Tidal marshes are commonly zoned into lower marshes ( ...
es and
seagrass meadow A seagrass meadow or seagrass bed is an underwater ecosystem formed by seagrasses. Seagrasses are marine (saltwater) plants found in shallow coastal waters and in the brackish waters of estuaries. Seagrasses are flowering plants with stems and ...
s. Over of this diverse delta complex are included within the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve. There are also dunes with coastal grasslands and interdunal swales. The basin of the Apalachicola River is also noted for its
Tupelo honey ''Tupelo Honey'' is the fifth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released in October 1971 by Warner Bros. Records. Morrison had written all of the songs on the album in Woodstock, New York, before his move to ...
, a high-quality
monofloral honey Monofloral honey is a type of honey which has a distinctive flavor or other attribute due to its being predominantly from the nectar of a single plant species. It is stored and labeled separately so as to command a premium price. While there may ...
, which is produced wherever the
tupelo Tupelo , genus ''Nyssa'' , is a small genus of deciduous trees with alternate, simple leaves. It is sometimes included in the subfamily Nyssoideae of the dogwood family, Cornaceae, but is placed by other authorities in the family Nyssaceae. In ...
trees bloom in the
southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...
. In a good harvest year, the value of the tupelo honey crop produced by a group of specialized Florida beekeepers approaches $900,000 each spring. During Florida's British colonial period, the river formed the boundary between
East Florida East Florida ( es, Florida Oriental) was a colony of Great Britain from 1763 to 1783 and a province of Spanish Florida from 1783 to 1821. Great Britain gained control of the long-established Spanish colony of ''La Florida'' in 1763 as part of ...
and
West Florida West Florida ( es, Florida Occidental) was a region on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico that underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. As its name suggests, it was formed out of the western part of former S ...
. Geologically, the river links the coastal plain and
Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississ ...
with the
Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...
. Some of the remaining important areas of natural habitat along the river include
Apalachicola National Forest The Apalachicola National Forest is the largest U.S. National Forest in the state of Florida. It encompasses and is the only national forest located in the Florida Panhandle. The National Forest provides water and land-based outdoors activities ...
, Torreya State Park,
The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Natu ...
Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve,
Tates Hell State Forest Tate's Hell State Forest is 202,000 acres (819 km²) of land in Franklin County, Florida, Franklin and Liberty County, Florida, Liberty counties in Florida. The forest is located near Carrabelle, Florida, Carrabelle off U.S. Route 98 in Florid ...
, and Apalachicola River Wildlife and Environmental Area, as well as the Apalachicola River Water Management Area. It has been suggested that this watershed should be nationally ranked and appreciated as being as significant as the
Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...
or Great Smoky Mountains. To raise awareness about the importance of preserving the natural state of the river and its inhabitants, Florida film producer
Elam Stoltzfus Elam S. Stoltzfus (born 1957) is an American environmental documentary filmmaker. Early life Stoltzfus was born into an Amish family of nine in Pennsylvania in 1957. During his later teens Elam left the Amish community, purchased a car and a ca ...
highlighted this system in a 2006 documentary broadcast on PBS. The river forms the boundary between the Eastern and Central time zones in Florida, until it reaches the Jackson River. Thereafter, the Jackson River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico, is the time zone boundary.49 C.F.R. § 71.5(f).


List of crossings


See also

*
List of Florida rivers This is a list of streams and rivers in the U.S. state of Florida. With one exception, the streams and rivers of Florida all originate on the Coastal plain. That exception is the Apalachicola River, which is formed by the merger of the Chattahooch ...
*
South Atlantic-Gulf Water Resource Region South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...
*
Voices of the Apalachicola ''Voices of the Apalachicola'' is a book by Faith Eidse chronicling the history of the Apalachicola River in Northern Florida, United States via oral histories. Its release of publication in 2006 coincided with increased awareness of the Florid ...
*
Water wars in Florida According to the Natural Resources Defense Council's recent study, Florida is one of 14 states predicted to face "high risk" water shortages by the year 2050. The state's water is primarily drawn from the Floridan Aquifer as well as from the St. ...


References


Further reading

*Boyce, S.G., and W.M. Martin. 1993. The future of the terrestrial communities of the southeastern United States. Pp. 339–366, In W.H. Martin, S.G. Boyce, and A.C. Echternacht (Eds.). Biodiversity of the Southeastern United States, Lowland Terrestrial Communities. Wiley, New York, NY. *Light, H.M., M.R. Darst, and J.W. Grubbs. (1998). ''Aquatic habitats in relation to river flow in the Apalachicola River floodplain, Florida'' .S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1594 Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.


External links


National Estuarine Research Reserve
, US Army Corps of Engineers
Apalachicola River Ecological Management Plan
(archived), Florida State University
Apalachicola River Watershed
(archived), protectingourwater.org
Apalachicola River Wildlife and Environmental Area
at myfwc.com
Apalachicola Riverkeeper
an organization focused on the protection of the Apalachicola
Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve
at nature.org

(archived) * {{authority control * Drainage basins of the Gulf of Mexico Outstanding Florida Waters Rivers of Florida Apalachicola National Forest Bodies of water of Gulf County, Florida Bodies of water of Gadsden County, Florida Bodies of water of Jackson County, Florida Bodies of water of Liberty County, Florida Rivers of Franklin County, Florida