Successes and Challenges in 2008-2009

Expanding the List of Springs Basin Stakeholders
The current list of stakeholders has 187 contacts. The list has steadily expanded with new contacts being added based on meeting attendance and correspondance with new people. Residents, staff, and elected officials associated with the City of Williston and Levy County represent a significant new group.

Joint Resolution on Springs Protection by Dunnellon and Williston
The joint resolution was signed by the Mayors of Dunnellon and Williston at the May 29 Working Group meeting in Williston.

First Meeting in Williston Successful
The 4th quarterly meeting was held in Williston. It was co-sponsored by the City of Williston and was held in the clubhouse of Williston Crossings RV resort. It was attended by 36 people, 14 of whom were new attendees.

Marion County Passes 3 Ordinances to Upgrade Their Regulations in Line With Their Comp Plan
Throughout the year, Marion County BoCC considered new regulations to implement the springs protection language in their comprehensive plan. On June 2, they passed the last of 3 ordinances. These were to implement springs overlay zones for both Rainbow and Silver springs with tighter development restrictions and to implement a landscape ordinance that adds restrictions on tree removal near springs. Earlier in the year, the BoCC had passed a fertilizer ordinance. Incorporated areas in Marion County were encouraged to pass their own similar ordinances. Ocala is considering one and Dunnellon passed one. It is not known how this effort fared in the other incorporated cities, although there are no Marion County cities within the Rainbow Basin. The county had a Task Force that considered and drafted the first effort at all 3 ordinances. Several members of that Task Force are regular attendees at RSBWG meetings.

First Basin Wide Field Trip Completed
The Working Group coordinator worked in tandem with staff at Southwest Florida water Management District to set up a Rainbow Springs Basin tour that was one of the scheduled events during “Springs Awareness Week” in March. The tour was attended by 20 people, including the store manager of Dunnellon Walmart and the department managers for Garden Supply from Walmart and a Lowes store in Ocala. Both stores are in Dunnellon. The tour was designed to show karst features and land uses and also to showcase a Florida-Friendly Landscape at On Top of the World, a community on the west side of Ocala.

Establishing Threats by Consensus
In January 2009, a core but diverse group of stakeholders joined a conference call to discuss threats to Rainbow Springs. The notes generated from this meeting were presented to the working group in March 2009, discussed, and the findings agreed to. A fact sheet was then generated and presented to the group at the May 29, 2009, meeting, and this was also accepted.

Beginning a Karst Study
A small subgroup of Working Group members is beginning work on a survey of karst features within the basin. There are 2 purposes: to improve the accuracy of existing information that might inform future land use decisions and to use the information as a tool to educate landowners about the karst nature of their lands. Through this, it is hoped to foster a higher level of stewardship.

Developing Informational Resources to Support the Working Group
Four new resources were either developed or are being developed this year.

1. The Fact Sheet on Threats, discussed above.
2. A Fact sheet on the resource of the spring and river that was created by the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
3. A flyer called Let’s Protect Rainbow Springs that was produced by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. This is distributed at every opportunity.
4. A subgroup of Working Group members is in the process of a designing a waiting room poster using the one produced for the Ichetucknee. This makes use of the basin map from the flyer Let’s Protect Rainbow Springs.