This program, a joint presentation by the University of North Florida and Florida Community College at Jacksonville made possible by a grant from the Florida Department of Education, offers a close look at the history and ecology of the Suwanee River. It discusses the characteristics of the three major sections of the river: the upper river (from the Okefenokee to White Spring), the middle river (from White Springs to where the Santa Fe River joins the Suwanee), and the lower river (from the Santa Fe to the Gulf of Mexico).
In the first part, it looks at function of the only water control structure on the river, the Suwanee River Sill; the plants and animals found at the Suwanee’s source in the Okefenokee; and the three aquifers present in the upper Suwanee River basin. In the second part, it looks at the Florida Folk Festival at White Springs; the joining of the Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers with the Suwanee; and the battle of Olustee, an 1864 Civil War skirmish that took place adjacent to the river. In the third part, it looks at water birds of the lower Suwanee, Manatee Springs State Park, and the islands at the mouth of the river on the Gulf. The program closes with a reflection on the risk posed to the river by uncontrolled development.
This video was created under the auspices of the Northeast Florida Institute for Science, Mathematics and Computer Education.
Producer and Director: Dr. Ray Bowman
Videographer and Editor: Lantz Baum
Script: Dr. Ray Bowman, Dr. Joan Bray, Dr. Carole Demort, Dr. Felicia West
Narrator: Bill Massie
Sound Editing and Remixing: Lantz Baum
Original Music: Landon Walker
Folk Festival Musicians: Eugenia Fitchen, L.J. Slavin, The Makley Family
Computer Graphics: John Repper, Angela Whitson
Copyright 1989 Florida Community College at Jacksonville and UNF