Comments of Earl M. Starnes, Professor Emeritus, U of Florida 10 February 2000, Florida Springs Conference Sheraton Hotel, Gainesville, Florida Thank you Charles. Ladies and Gentlemen Back in the 1930s it is attributed to Will Rogers that he said, “Invest in land because they ain’t making any more of it.” If Will Rogers were here this morning, he might say, “Invest in Florida’s springs, because they ain’t making any more of them.” If my attribution is incorrect, and some other noble person said it please accept the message for what it is worth. I grew up in Imperial Polk County, birth place of two of Florida’s US senators and two of Florida’s Governors. There were others, but this is not a history discussion, only as history helps us learn from our successes and failures. I have a suspicion that both of these fellows, one from Lakeland and one from Bartow, as I did along with hundreds of kids and young adults, including my mother and father when they were young lovers, enjoyed Kissengen springs for swimming, dancing in the pavilion, and other activities enjoyed by young folks. These young folks, came to the springs located about 4 miles SE of Bartow, They came from the towns of Winter Haven, Bartow, Lake Alfred, Auburndale and Lakeland, often by railroad. As a kid, I can remember the slippery wet wooden floors in the dressing locker rooms and the old wood docks, the high dive, always a dare, and the wonderful times we had there, and the clear and forever cold water so refreshing in the summer and the experience of swimming down into the boil. Folks, Kissengen Springs is gone. In 1950 the springs dried up. I suppose we can lay the blame at many doorsteps, but the blame lies with us, all of us. We have not been the best of stewards of Florida waters or Florida land. It was my generation that finally realized state, regional and local land use practices of dredge, fill, channelize and canalize and sprawl urban development across this wonderful land was very destructive. We were destroying our natural systems, straining the fiscal capacity of our urban governments, straining state and urban service systems, all to the effect of traffic congestion, housing deterioration, water rationing, conversion of agricultural lands to non farm uses, and loss of joy in city life. It all seemed to be a constant partner in urban Florida. I simply say today that I hope our discovery was not too late. We have tried, but the message is not universally heard, nor understood. I could tell more war stories, but Jim has asked me to talk about the big picture in land use and the relationship to Florida’s springs. When I became state planning director in 1972 we had a population in Florida of 6.8 million. By 1980, we had nearly 10 million people. Our agency projected a population of 10 million for the beginning of the 80s in an interesting but limited edition document titled, Florida 107. To accommodate these new people we projected Florida must provide about 1 million dwelling units. During this 8 year period and on into the 80s and 90s the favored urban environment for new construction was in the suburbs of the established cities and towns of Florida. To provide land for this residential expansion, we consumed about 400,000 acres of previously undeveloped land for urban development when we reached 10 million. Today, we have consumed many more tens of thousands of acres. Water consumption, transportation, open space and recreation, economic development, potable water, aquifer recharge, solid waste and waste water management, ground and surface water quality, schools, crime, open space, urban design; all are among urban systems that are driven by land use. The use of the land is the one single development phenomenon and activity that has a direct impact upon the earth and its environmental and urban systems. The conversion of the use of land from a natural state, low intensive agriculture, and lands set aside for conservation to urban land uses has impacts on every facet of urban and rural life. We continue to convert such lands with seeming abandon. I only need to point you to the building of the Suncoast Freeway springing from Hillsborough County north through Pasco and Hernando counties. In Pasco County alone, this new highway passes through lands designated in the county’s comprehensive plan as conservation and agriculture uses. Ninety percent designation. Florida’s springs are not immune to such impacts. I am certain you have heard a great deal of scientific detail regarding the state of our springs. It is imperative that we raise our consciousness regarding the steady march of urban Florida across the land into to rural north Florida and accelerate our public land acquisition programs and local and state land regulatory programs to include all of Florida springs. I know that the Suwannee River Water Management District had long ago established the acquisition of springs second only to the acquisition of the Suwannee River and its tributaries. That continues to be a successful program, but acquisition of the spring head is not enough. Land use regulations established by local governments, particularly counties, in concert with the Department of Community Affairs, or conflict if that be the case, must address the sensitivity of springs to just what is happening on the ground that may be affecting the recharge to the aquifer from which the spring rises. We have already instituted land use regulations and acquisitions of development rights that protect public well fields. We are learning just how to do this for Florida’s springs. This is a subject of this conference and considerable progress is being made. We must involve many more local officials, land use planners and water managers. Twenty years ago we did not know how to protect well fields. Now we do, and we must very soon broadcast our lessons learned to protect the much more elusive nature of spring protection and establish the land uses that are compatible with spring health protection. Land use and the quality and quantity of spring water are inextricably related. Just remember Kissengen Springs along with me and those wonderful summers of long ago. We permit sprawling urban land uses and intense industrial uses in areas unsuitable for these kinds of development simply because there is a perceived market. As often as not, that perceived market is the result of skewed economic projections. I believe intensively in the need for sustainable economic development and we should no longer sacrifice our natural resources at the alter of more jobs, simply for the sake of more jobs. I also believe that we can sustain economic development by serious and thoughtful evaluation of the projected impacts of land use on spring management. The services our natural systems provide us are free, and measured to the extent possible, they are very great. Our task is to be stewards of the natural systems and take only those decisions that can be understood to be based on the best information we have at hand. It is not enough to conclude, “...well we don’t know the consequences”. If we don’t know the consequences, we must be pragmatic and proceed with great caution as we move forward. Thank you.