Greg Lang braves the rising waters at the Lower Suwannee Refuge
Lower Suwannee Refuge’s
Nature Drive Closed by Flooding
August 3, 2018
The dry season never came this spring. As a result, the normal rain events of summer have flooded much of the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge. Rainfall patterns kept the entire Suwannee watershed wet all spring and now into the typically wet summer. Since the Refuge is located at the very end of the watershed it is the recipient of all that accumulated flow.
The groundwater table is full, the soils are saturated off the sand ridges, and there is a steady sheet flow moving to the Suwannee River tributaries through the entire forest, flatwood pinelands and all. The water is not in streams but just flowing over the ground in many places, which is expected given the amount of rain including almost 8 inches during the third week in July.
Flooding is most noticeable on the Levy County side of the river. Most of the secondary roads, which are open to the public for hiking and biking only, have water flowing over them, or are fully underwater. The Refuge has had to close the 9-mile long Nature Drive because water is flowing over the road in many places (See the map.) The road has already lost a portion of the limerock surfacing due to the scouring flow. The Refuge will need to add limerock and regrade it once the waters recede.
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