Courtesy of Walton Outdoors ——-
NOT ONLY OUR MOST VALUABLE WATER SOURCES, SPRING FED WATERWAYS PROVIDE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURE
Some of the most beautiful places to explore Northwest Florida are along our spring fed waterways. These creeks, streams and rivers provide incredible recreation and eco tourism along with the valuable drinking water our communities rely on.
Florida boasts more than 700 springs, with close to 40 in the Walton, Holmes, Washington and Bay counties. Blue Spring and Jackson spring in Holmes County feeds into the Choctawhatchee River and is Florida’s 12th largest spring with 122 million gallons per day discharge. Holmes Creek has more than a dozen springs and is the largest tributary into the Choctawhatchee River. The Gainer Springs Group on Econfina Creek (including springs locally known as McCormick and Emerald) is the most significant, measuring a first magnitude flow of 114 million gallons a day (mgd). Econfina creek feeds into Deer Point Lake which is the major source of water supply for Bay County.
What are springs?
Springs are portals where water in the earth’s aquifers, rises to the surface and escapes into our streams, lakes and coastal waters. There are two general types of springs in Florida, seeps (water-table springs) and karst springs (artesian springs). The springs in Northwest Florida are karst springs. Karst topography is a landscape created by groundwater dissolving into sedimentary rock such as limestone. This creates landforms such as shafts, tunnels, caves, and sinkholes. The Dougherty Karst Plain underlies our area.
What is a spring classification?
Springs are most often classified based upon the average discharge of water. Individual springs exhibit variable discharge depending upon rainfall, recharge and groundwater withdrawals within their recharge areas. One discharge measurement is enough to place a spring into one of the eight magnitude categories. However, springs have dynamic flows. A spring categorized as being a first-magnitude spring at one moment in time may not continue to remain in the same category. This can result in a spring being classified as a first magnitude spring at one point in time and a second magnitude at another.
What will I find exploring a spring and a spring fed waterway?
These beautiful waterways of Northwest Florida are abundant with fish and plant life.
Here is a list of the most common things you will find:
Fish:
Largemouth bass, spotted bass, bluegill, sunfish (shellcracker), redbreast sunfish, warmouth, black crappie, striped bass, catfish, alligator gar, bowfin.
Invertebrates:
Florida Apple snail, freshwater mussel, pond crayfish, six-spotted fishing spider, mayfly, diving beetle, giant waterbug, dragonfly, damselfly, mosquito, biting fly, butterfly.
Reptiles:
Florida green water snake, cottonmouth/water moccasin, Florida snapping turtle, American alligator, salamanders, newts, treefrogs.
Mammals:
Gray squirrel, river otter, beaver, raccoon
Birds:
Wood duck, mottled duck, great blue heron, great white heron, green heron, ibis, swallow-tailed kite, bald eagle, hawk, owls, osprey, kingfisher, warbler, scarlet tanager.
Trees/Plants/Grasses:
Bald cypress, live oak, red maple, pawpaw, black titi, red titi, Cherokee bean, sweetbay, blackgum, juniper, red cedar, southern magnolia, laurel oak, tupelo, hickory, willow, wax myrtle, cabbage palm, saw palmetto blueberry, hydrangea, St. John’s wort, mountain laurel, water lily, pickerelweed, pitcher plant, broad leaved arrowhead, fern, moss
Where can I find a spring fed waterways to explore?
There are almost endless possibilities of places to explore in a kayak or a canoe. Here are four of the best places to launch or rent a kayak or canoe, or enjoy swimming in the cool water of a spring fed wateray.
Here is a Lat. Lon listing of springs in Walton, Holmes , Washington and Bay counties: springlocationlist
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