Following the orange blazes of the Florida Trail across the rolling sandhills of the Citrus Tract of Withlacoochee State Forest, the lack of surface water may not catch your attention. The dramatic sweep of longleaf pines and the undulating terrain might.
But what truly will is the spill of boulders and vines where the path descends into a karst depression and sweeps by the gaping mouth of a cave.
Trailside cave in Withlacoochee State ForestStep inside, walk into the passageway, and you can look straight up at the forest canopy through a natural chimney in its ceiling.
Exploring the trailside cave with Mike DeWittTwenty-five years ago, I tagged along on field trips with members of the Florida Speleological Society (FSS) from Gainesville to get to know Florida’s karst better.
What is karst?
The porous limestone bedrock beneath our forests, fields, and yes, cities and subdivisions, a natural sponge holding immense quantities of groundwater deep below our feet.
Surface karst, Withlacoochee State ForestWhen my parents had their well drilled when we moved to Ocala, the driller said he’d hit an underground stream 90 feet down and tapped into it. I marveled.
Two decades later, I was looking into exactly what that meant, working on a book published as Sinkholes (Pineapple Press, 2002).
What would happen if the water level rose, or dropped, or that stream stopped flowing altogether? Or worse, if something noxious like gasoline or fertilizer or sewage made it down there and ruined the water supply?
I learned exactly that tragedy had happened in the town of Horse Cave, KY, not far from famous Mammoth Cave. The town grew around the entrance to a showy cave, Hidden River Cave, that provided both water and hydroelectricity.
Between 1912 and 1943, cave tours were a draw for tourists. But horrific odors started rising from deep below the earth. The stream the town relied on for water lost its oxygen and turned noxious. Why?
The townspeople didn’t understand the connection between the karst features surrounding their town and the cave beneath it.
Hidden River Cave in 2007Decades of dumping trash into sinkholes and injecting their sewage underground had seeped into Hidden River Cave and the waters within it, poisoning it. Attempts to fix the problem only made it worse.
In the late 1980s, the American Cave Conservation Association moved in and came up with a plan for proper sewage treatment in a karst region and education for residents. It took another three decades for the cave to recover to the point the water became drinkable again.
One of the FSS field trips I took was to Withlacoochee State Forest, squeezing underground through tight, twisty toothpaste tube-shaped passages for the first time in my life. We saw no water, since the water table was well below the depth of the caves we explored.
Sandra squeezing out of a cave near Annutteliga Hammock
It was obvious water had played across these surfaces long ago. Flowstone decorated some chambers, along with stalactites, stalagmites, and columns. Ribbons of cave bacon and cave popcorn hid in niches.
Unfortunately, unlike the beautiful formations I’d seen at Florida Caverns, these were dead. Dried out. The water source that had once nourished them was long gone.
Florida Caverns has the Chipola River running past it, with springs rising nearby. The Withlacoochee River isn’t along the Citrus Tract of Withlacoochee State Forest, and I hadn’t seen a single stream. Where did the water go?
Underground. Like my parents’ water source. The Floridian Aquifer.
It lies within a limestone ridge extending down the Florida peninsula where karst features such as caves, sinkholes, and springs are found.
Burrow-like cave in Withlacoochee State ForestIn a 1916 U.S. Geological Survey paper titled “The Age of the Ocala Limestone,” author Charles Wythe Cooke noted this ridge was identified in 1881.
A year later, fossils in Hernando County confirmed the same rock extended even farther south. It holds the water we rely upon in this region for drinking water.
Exposed karst in Annutteliga Hammock (Chris Stevens)In 1958, Withlacoochee State Forest was established by the state in a “rent to own” agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversaw what it managed as timberlands up to that point.
One of the key missions of managing this land is to “Restore, maintain and protect hydrological functions related water resources and the health of associated wetland and aquatic communities,” according to the most recent 10 year management plan.
As rain falls on these high ridges in Withlacoochee State Forest, it seeps into and through the spongy bedrock to emerge in springs in places like Crystal River, Homosassa, Dunnellon, and Weeki Wachee. So does runoff from roads and lawns.
Bluff with karst features along the Citrus Hiking TrailA year after my cave tour, I hiked the Citrus Hiking Trail, a portion of which now serves as part of the Western Corridor section of the Florida Trail.
Established in the 1970s by the Suncoast chapter of the Florida Trail Association, the 43-mile loop has been a big draw for backpackers for decades. Finding water has always been an issue.
Doing the loop as a series of four day hikes to write up for 50 Hikes in Central Florida, I first saw the trailside cave described at the beginning of this article. I’ve returned to it several times since.
Lizzie Hart SinkMore impressive was the landscape along Loop D, at the southwest corner of the forest. The trail circles Lizzie Hart Sink, a deep depression in the earth in rugged, rocky karst terrain sliced with crevices and caves.
Another fascinating find south of CR 480 was a surface stream the trail crossed. It dropped through a series of broad pools in an ever-deepening ravine which spilled it into a sinkhole, where it simply disappeared.
The disappearing stream of Loop DAnd so we come to the Annutteliga Hammock Unit, a far more recent acquisition to expand the Citrus Tract farther west to “conserve the remaining fragments of the forests between the Withlacoochee State Forest and the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area.”
As I learned by stumbling across Annutteliga Hammock Conservation Area in 2018, it’s a multi-agency effort. The Florida Forever program document for it states the case for a corridor of public land in this region:
“Limerock mines, golf courses, and residential developments are now seriously fragmenting these natural areas, but excellent examples of the original vegetation and wildlife, including the Florida black bear, remain. The Suncoast Parkway was constructed and bisects this project.”
Yellow rat snake crossing the Annutteliga Hammock Trail (Chris Stevens)In the recent uproar over golf courses and lodges and pickleball being snuck into our state parks, a land swap deal came to light involving the Annutteliga Hammock Unit of Withlacoochee State Forest.
An adjoining landowner, a Canadian developer, requested 324 acres of this public land next to their renovated golf course and offered to swap 800 acres of timberland in Levy County for it. The Florida Cabinet – our governor and his executive officers – approved the swap in June.
USA Today covered the plan in great detail this past week.
Cabot, environmentalists at odds over proposed state land swap to expand Citrus Farms in Florida
Obviously, this isn’t a good idea, swapping planted rows of trees for a piece of existing public land that expands the footprint of the Annutteliga Hammock corridor. Nor was extending the Suncoast Parkway along Withlacoochee State Forest north of US 98.
More roads mean more development. More roads and developments mean more surfaces for runoff to pick up oils, fertilizers, and other nasty stuff to end up in the region’s aquifer.
If you’ve not been to Annutteliga Hammock yourself, take a look at Florida Trailblazer’s walk-through of the karst terrain.
Recently, Chris Stevens wrote up the details on this hike for us. We encourage you to get out there and see it – and Loop D at Citrus – for yourself.
Annutteliga Hammock Trail Explore fascinating karst topography with exposed limestone under a shady canopy in the Withlacoochee State Forest, passing a primitive camping area along this 4.8 mile loop.A meeting will be held September 11, 10 AM, at Cabot Citrus Farms, 15801 Hebron Church Road Brooksville which can be attended virtually. As a Community Development District (CDD), the meeting is open to the public and public comments are taken.
It’s an opportunity to put in your opinion about the land swap that the CDD has requested to have happen. Again, the Florida cabinet approved it in June without any public input or disclosure.
In addition to its impact on the wildlife corridor and karst recharge, it would set a dangerous precedent for other developers to request the same where they abut public lands. And they do.
As with the poorly conceived plans to develop in our state parks, this land swap has to be approved by the ten member Acquisition and Restoration Council (ARC).
They have their next meeting on September 12. This line item is not on their published agenda. However, it’s worth sharing your opinion of this project.
Acquisition and Restoration Council Members
Shawn Hamilton, DEP Secretary
Secretary-shawn.hamilton@floridadep.gov
Mara Gambineri, Deputy Secretary for Land and Recreation
mara.gambineri@floridadep.gov
Bill Palmer, President Tall Timbers Research Station
Bpalmer@talltimbers.org
George Warthen, Chief Conservation Officer, FWC
george.warthen@MYFWC.com
Rick Dolan, Director, Florida Forest Service
Richard.Dolan@FDACS.gov
Alissa Lotane, Director, Florida Division of Historical Resources
Alissa.Lotane@dos.myflorida.com
Lynette Griner, Officer, Usher Land and Timber Company
usherlt@bellsouth.net
Elva Peppers, President, Florida Environmental & Land Services Inc
elvapeppers@felsi.org
In addition, Governor DeSantis has the final say on this matter.
GovernorRon.DeSantis@eog.myflorida.com
References
Withlacoochee State Forest 10 Year Management Plan, 2015 (PDF)
Florida Forever 5-Year Plan Annutteliga Hammock, 2022 (PDF)
Annutteliga Hammock Unit Brochure (PDF)
Florida Speleological Society
Hidden River Cave, Horse Cave, KY
The Age of the Ocala Limestone
Florida Caverns
Citrus Hiking Trail
Suncoast Chapter FTA
50 Hikes in Central Florida
Sinkholes (Pineapple Press, 2002)
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