Lost Springs: An Artist's Journey into Florida's Abandoned Springs
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- Опубліковано 30 лип 2024
- Experiencing a landscape scarred and abandoned by government failure, an artist must come to grips with the impending loss of her subject matter: a collection of majestic freshwater springs exposed only for a short time before being smothered and forgotten beneath waters held back by an aging and purposeless dam.
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Audience Choice - Cinema Verde Environmental Arts & Film Festival, 2018
Official Selection - Fort Myers Film Festival, 2018
Official Selection - Orlando Film Festival, 2018
Lost Springs follows the inimitable artist Margaret Ross Tolbert as she experiences the magic and beauty of a series of freshwater Florida springs forgotten by the state and left to decay behind a nearly fifty-year-old failure of big government spending. Every three or more years, the water behind the Kirkpatrick Dam in north-central Florida is lowered, exposing an environment that is still raw with both tragedy and hope. This lowering of the water known as a 'drawdown' allows more than 20 springs to cough back to life for a short few months before the weight of the water comes back and smothers their flow again.
The film explores themes of loss, wonder and experience in nature as Tolbert joins local and regional experts on a boat trip up the long-fabled Ocklawaha River to witness this newly-revealed, transient landscape and to find the lost springs of the Ocklawaha. The film defends the uniqueness of a free-flowing river and its historical, cultural and recreational importance to the state of Florida. It celebrates the wonder of Florida springs through Tolbert's original paintings of springs seen only during this short period of time every several years and captivates the viewer with a first-ever filmed cave dive by cave-diving experts Mark Long and Tom Morris.
As more is revealed about the springs, Tolbert is forced to deal with the impacts of industry in her own work, where an emotionally-charged and haunting scene leaves audiences with a visceral connection to this place struggling to recover deep in the floodplain forests of Florida.
As a Florida native, the Springs to me, are the crown jewels of our gorgeous state. They must be preserved and protected. Thank you for this video.
Thank you for watching!
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Thanks for this video. Florida has to be preserved. My family goes back several generations so having lived here my entire life Florida surviving means a lot.
Thank you for sharing! I wholeheartedly agree
In 'Braiding Sweetgrass' by Robin Wall Kimmerer, she writes: "For all of us, becoming indigenous to a place means living as if your children's future mattered, to take care of the land as if our lives, both material and spiritual, depended on it." I thought this might ring close to home.
Great job explaining this area. I am in Daytona. Florida is a beautiful natural playground. I love it here and hope people protect it.
Thank you for watching!
I'm 60 something years old and I have lived here most of my life, I started going to the springs as soon as we could drive and I've seen what's happened to them over the last 50 years. This is our water were talking about, our drinking water. I hope the powers-that-be will listen
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Wow, born and raised in Florida, my first experience at a spring was Alexander springs. It was around 1987, I was about 7 years old, my family for generations always took the kids to the springs. I remember looking through my mask and couldn’t believe the amount of wildlife, fish, turtles and the water clarity, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Went back in 2017 to revisit.. Alexander is still the same today. Me and my wife are now Florida spring obsessed, kayaking every chance we get. I'm always documenting my travels because I know its possible I may never see them as good as they are now. Its a hard pill to swallow. I get depressed thinking about how beautiful these springs must have been before man decided to destroy these scared places. I can only imagine.
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Damn shame they built that dam. No pun intended.
My Grandma and my father from Florida the use too tell us about these springs and the river my grandmother used to shed some tears when she use too tell about these spring and the river
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You guys made a great video. It is a shame that there are only 25 comments. If people actually knew how destroyed this area is it would be a different story.
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Thank you I enjoyed this immensely. My dad was in world war two trained horses for the calvary in florida. Took them on missions of discovery in florida. The things he wrote about in his letters to my mother is unbelievable about florida. Thank you
Thank you for sharing your story and for watching!
excellent work! I grew up in Conner on the river. My family has lived there a long time.
Do you know the sw area near Silver dollar lake a friend of mine told me that is a nice place to retire.
Grew up in Lakeland we had lakes and pit's but the springs are magical. Thanks
Thanks for watching!
Being from East Tenn and moving to Florida, I will never forget the first time I discovered Florida Springs, they draw me back year after year and I am so blessed to have several within 5-10 miles from me.
Thank you for watching!
Thank you for making this. One of my favorite documentaries is Damnation, which has a very similar feel to what you’ve made and evokes a lot of the same emotions about how we squander so much of our natural resources.
I always respond to naysayers who worry about the impacts of removing something just because it’s been there for so long with an allusion to righting an old wrong with someone from your past. It reopens an old wound and things may hurt for a time, but it starts a path to recovery. It’s never to late to make something right.
The previous generation severely damaged this resource. I hope our generation has the sense of responsibility and selflessness to right their wrong and accept that it may not be what it once was during our lifetime, but it would ensure that the next generation would get to enjoy it for us after we’re gone.
Thank you for watching!
Thank you for the journey and the education. Also a Florida Native and I am In Love with All our state has to offer ! I found my self teary eyed more than once watching this informative video. Much appreciated...
Same here
I have chills watching this video and the hair on my arms is standing we need to get rid of kilpatrick dam and drain rodman reservoir and restore the ocklawaha River immediately.
Your state of Florida certainly does have a lot to offer! I'm in Punta Gorda and this city alone has a boat load to offer 10× more than were I'm originally from
I recently retired to Florida in 2010 coming from a Great Lake state & have been a life long fisherman & advocate for the environment. I have visited some of the larger springs in the state & was unaware of this particular system. The springs are a true treasure, I'm on board, let's fix it!
Thank you for watching!
Born and raised in South Florida during a time when we could and did swim in the Canals. This was a time when you could see the bottom and when we would go swimming, the Schools of Fish would simply swim with you, you could almost reach out and touch the Fish. Thank you for this amazing documentary.
Really? where was this? I couldn't imagine jumping in there!
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Always a pleasure to hear Dr Noll’s insight on the CFBC. Great stuff!
Thanks for watching! I agree, Dr. Noll is a wealth of knowledge
I love the freshwater Springs here in Florida
Thanks for watching!
As a boy of 6 or 7 I fished on the river with my grandfather who was born in 1900 and grew up in the scrub. We would rent a wooden flat bottom skiff and fish. We often pulled the boat over logs to get into some of the springs. I could see the fish swim over and take my bait!
Thank you very much for sharing, those are quite special memories to own. Thanks for watching!
Outstanding.
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As always they are improving upon a perfect creation 😢
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Awesome piece!
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Beautiful I have never seen such beauty this has to be preserved but tell that to a politician and it goes on deaf ears.
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Such a well made video! I love diving the springs around central florida, so beautiful. It’s sad to see these springs getting harmed like they are.
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Thank you for this
Thank you for watching!
It makes me sick what mankind is doing to Florida destroying It wish the land would just be left alone
Same here. I am a Florida Native and this just makes me sick. My family has been in Florida for generations. This and a few other ‘projects’ are just killing my home state. They just need to leave her alone!!!
Thanks for watching
Thanks for watching and sharing
Thank you for this documentary
Thank you for watching!
These springs are still there. You just need a boat to get to them most of the time.
Thanks for watching, I've firsthand visited all the springs in this film during drawdown conditions and when the impoundment is at full pool and can assure you that having a boat will not entice the springs to flow when you visit while the water is up at its maintained level.
40 years ago we would go to DeLeon Springs and I remember fishing in clear water where the water would drop into the river. Last time I went to visit that area looks so bad comparatively. Water is dark and brown. You used to be able to see the fish and now it looked so polluted.
Thanks for sharing and watching!
Just to clarify you can go through from the St. John’s into Rodman and the ockalawaha through Buckman lock. Manatees also use this lock to go to the springs
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I've been the Hidden Springs before the only way to it was to make your own path Into the Woods
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I,too, grew up in a Florida landscape that was distorted by the needless "work" ,by the US Corp Of Engineers. I grew up on Lake Gwynn, which is no more as it used to be. They killed the lake, and are now attempting to resuscitate it.
Thanks for sharing and watching! It's unfortunately a common story for many who have spent more than a few years in the state
It's a disgrace what has been done to the Ocklawaha River. I remember reading about this about 30 years ago. There was talk of the Rodman dam being removed, but it was a favored fishing spot of some well connected campaign donors and they won out. The dam stays.
I've been here since 1970 and there is a good old boy network in place that always wins. Florida is, in my opinion, still a confederate state, just like the rest of them. The south will rise again mentality is all over this place. That big blood red X on our state flag, that was put there after the Civil War, is a disturbing feature that has a meaning.
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pouring the brown liquid on the painting hit hard
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What will it take to restore the river? Who is responsible for this travesty ?
There are restoration plans in place that have been advocated for. I'd visit freetheocklawaha.com for the most up to date information on restoration efforts. You can also watch my other short film River be dammed for more on the history!
28:06 I think the bipartisan movement is still for the citizens. I am a very conservative person and I want this river to flow free.
Thanks for watching!
Does anyone have any suggestions or maps that will show me where ancient or pre existing canals, and natural canal systems before the U.S. started re-arranging everything. I am looking to explore the canals that existed before but am having a hard time finding reliable mappings of them. And they can be dried up, that's actually preferable for me. They can also be under water. If anyone has any direction to point me or any advice, please let me know. I am figuring I may have to go into each county records and see when the first canals were being made, then try to figure out what was there and what existing systems they were using. Thank you to anyone whom helps in advance! :)
what was the purpose of building the dam?
Thanks for watching! The dam was built to create a pool of water that cargo ships could maneuver and be staged as they progressed through the canals and locks. Check out my other short film on UA-cam for more about the dam being built: River be dammed: Florida's forgotten river
The biggest problem with enjoying Florida water is the Solid Nitrogen Fertilizer. The Water Purifying Hyacinth turn the Solid Nitrogen Fertilizer into Nitrogen Gas. And the Waters clear. The fish are in abundance. And we can see the sandy bottom again.
Thanks for watching, fertilizer use is a great concern for our aquifers and rivers, I agree
The website link no longer works what happened?
Sorry for the technical difficulties, the website is back up at: lostsprings.org/ but more current information on the river can be found at: reunitetherivers.com/
Ice Age what the land grow back to its natural stat
Florida was probably Atlantis.
Thanks for watching!
Why not put it on the ballot and let the people of Florida vote on whether or not to dynamite the dams and locks. Who is served by the dams and locks? Put it to a vote and if the people want the dams and locks then y’all just need to get over it. It is what it is and will be what it is.
thats not how eco maniacs work brah
bass fisherman are the only thing keeping it up
@@squarecracker Bass fishermen from all over come here and spend money. I would think Disney World isn’t so good for the environment but it too brings in tourist dollars which keeps us from paying state payroll taxes.
@@beboboymann3823 I think maybe more people go to Disney World than the Rodman Reservoir. How bout the fisherman just takes their boats over to Crescent Lake?
They are blowing up damns out west. It can be done in Florida!
It’s so beautiful down there but ohh how the native peoples must have loved it and it’s bounty before us whiteys started messin with it
Thanks for watching!
Been in Florida over three decades and have been to and enjoyed many of our beautiful springs. However, I must say that the guilt tripping, hyperbolic doom forcasting and ecofascism in this video it's just so off-putting. Not the way to convert hearts and minds.
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Everyone who lives in Florida and cares about the environment and cares about too much building and over development should have to watch this video. Paradise lost for greed and the almighty dollar!
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I am going to write Governor DeSantis and personally ask him to get rid of Lyndon b Johnson's destructive kilpatrick dam. People need to stand up for nature because if we don't take care of mother nature she will not take care of us. I just want to thank you so much for making this video it gave me a lot of inspiration. You did a wonderful job may God bless you and may God bring back the ocklawaha River.
Thank you for watching!