I want you to know how very proud I am of the Keystone Heights Stakeholders Group and the progress and efforts they have managed to accomplish over the years. We have all worked hard and diligently together to accomplish our goals. It has taken teamwork from all, brainstorming to come up with ideas to improve the conditions of Brooklyn Lake and other lakes in our community. “It takes teamwork to make the dream work”. While we often did not agree on certain issues we kept an open mind and agreed to keep the focus on the main issue concerning the low lake levels. We have agreed to stay the course and continue to research alternative water solutions.

I would like to give thanks to all of those who were involved by mentioning their names and if I forget some ones name please forgive me as it was not intentional.

Before I begin with the names of those who have been instrumental in the improvements to enhance the water flow into Alligator Creek along with recent alternative water resources for our lake area besides Mother Nature, I would like to offer a little background history as to how this all came about.
On January 31, 2001 the Lake Region Council Association members, Bobby Ludwig ( whom I would like to mention that Bobby spent many long hours with me, burning the midnight oil, to put a presentation together), Karen Lake and myself met with Florida State Representative Joe Pickens , St. Johns River Water Management District staff Executive Director Henry Dean and Hal Wilkening the Assistant Director of Water Resources, along with former Mayor Archie Green, Benji Brumberg the Ombudsman for the Department of Environmental Protection, and Charles Cook a geologist with the bureau of mines of DEP. We gave them a lengthy one and half hour presentation of the research we had conducted into the low lake water levels and what we felt needed to be done to resolve the problem. After the presentation it was decided by all that we needed to bring in some professional hydrologists to do an in-depth study and to look at alternative solutions as to how we could improve the natural drainage that flows down from Trail Ridge via Alligator Creek.

Realizing that we would have to be very creative with our ideas and some ideas would require a lot of minds working together, LRCA called upon the Keystone Heights Lake Advisory Council, which was a commissioned advisory council sanctioned by the Clay County Commissioners (which was chaired by Commissioner Glenn Lassiter), along with the former Mayor of Keystone Heights, Archie Green, and Representative Joe Pickens to put our heads together and see what we could come up with.

Florida Representative Pickens chaired our first meetings we held. Mr. Pickens and Mr. Lassiter decided we needed to form a new group, preferably one that was not carrying any “past luggage” to work on the issue of the low lake levels of our lakes. It wasn’t until after we chose the geohydrologic firm (Peter Schrueder Inc.) who was going to perform the study, that the name for the group became the “Stakeholders”, and from then on the group was referred to as the Keystone Heights Stakeholders Group. The members of that group both past and present are, starting with the Lake Region Council Association, Bobby Ludwig, Karen Lake and myself, Florida State Representative Joe Pickens and Jack Hall the aide to Representative Joe Pickens, Florida Senator Evelyn Lynn and her aide Jeanne McIntosh, Clay County Commissioner Glenn Lassiter (who was also the Chairman of the Keystone Heights Lake Advisory Council), former Mayor Archie Green, James Hayhurst President of the Lake Brooklyn Civic Association, Paul Catlett supervisor of the Camp Blanding forestry, General Jeffery Hetherington, Major Richard Gallant, Colonel Petty, Major Robert Roach of the Florida Army Reserve National Guard, Jon Samborski and David Wright representing E.I Dupont, Charles Cook from the bureau of mines department of D.E.P., Hal Wilkening and Al Canepa from the SJRWMD, the current Mayor of Keystone Heights Lyndel Hale, and most recently included into the group are Olen Campbell President of the Lake Brooklyn Civic Association and Bruce Strube representing the Lake Region Business Association. A round of applause to all of you!

We are asking that the lake watch “Observers” please send their data in they have been collecting for the months of January through July 2005. A few have already done so. If you would please mail your data to me or you can mail it to LRCA P.O. Box 185 Keystone Heights. This is invaluable information to our research on the Etonia lakes in our area.

Our current goal now is to establish a steering committee to research the feasibility of creating a “special district” for our lake area. This is an idea spurred by Mayor Hale and deserves some careful research. LRCA has volunteered to take on this endeavor. We really need the support and help from everyone. This could prove to be a very difficult task to accomplish as there are many aspects, which will require a lot of in depth research. Therefore we need many volunteers to offer their assistance. We are asking the public as well as members to offer their help and wisdom to work with LRCA on this new endeavor.

In a study that was prepared by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the Florida Geological Survey, Report of Investigations No. 35, “Water Resources of Alachua, Bradford, Clay, and Union Counties Florida”, written by geologists William Clark, Rufus Musgrove, Clarence Menke and Joseph Cagle, the geologists made mention of the “chain of lakes” that were associated with the flow from Alligator Creek (south). The headwaters to the flow of Alligator Creek originates from a Surficial Spring on top of Trail Ridge.

Actually there are several surficial springs that are a natural drainage off of the ridge. One of which you may be familiar with is the ravine in the Goldhead State Park. There are three other springs, which create a fork and flow into Lowry Lake. Also there is a spring that flows off the east side of the ridge into Stevens Lake, which eventually becomes the South Fork Black Creek.

Trail Ridge is considered as being one of the highest elevations in the state of Florida with elevations ranging from 250 feet above sea level. The ridge runs some 200 miles to the north up into southern Georgia. The ridge was also thought to be an ancient shoreline for the ocean. From atop of the ridge the elevation gently slopes down to Keystone Heights where the elevations range from 115 ft. to 90 ft. a.s.l.

“The chain of Lakes” are connected by a common system of creeks referred to as Alligator Creek (south). Alligator Creek from there flows down to the first body of water known as Blue Pond and from there it goes down to Lowry Lake, Magnolia Lake, Brooklyn Lake, Keystone Lake, Lake Geneva, Old Field Pond and Halfmoon Lake.

Now just for curiosity sake if you look at the 1939 topographical map you will notice that there is a creek or a marshy area (depending on what you are looking at, maps or topo), that comes off the south end of Lake Geneva crosses under Baker Road and overflows into Lake Hutchinson. (the culvert going under the road is now almost covered up to the point that it is unnoticed and certainly would not allow any flow of water through it) Bobby Ludwig and I discovered this overflow creek and culvert while doing research on Alligator Creek system.

I have often wondered why Lake Hutchinson was not included in the “chain of lakes” as it apparently received water flow from Lake Geneva, which ultimately came from the inflow of Alligator Creek. But I understand that small creek is not a part of the Alligator Creek system, but at one time Lake Hutchinson did receive water from Lake Geneva once it rose to an overflow stage. (Just a thought I have wondered about????)

This was brought to my attention recently by one of the old time residents who has lived in the area for nearly sixty years.

During the past few months we have been telling you about a proposal to create a special district for our lake area. I have been working on a name for the special district and came up with the idea of calling it the “Etonia Lakes Water Management District”. Now whether or not the steering committee chooses to adopt that name is entirely up to the committee. Remember this special district with the funds it will receive will be designed to solely address issues that concern our lakes confined within the Etonia Creek Watershed Basin, which includes the lakes in the Keystone Heights area. We have already begun the process of forming a steering committee, but we still need other volunteers to step forward and offer their assistance. The steering committee currently has members who have volunteered, Bill Canova, Leslye Stevenson, Gary Doolittle and Tom Jones. We urge our members to actively take a role and help to make this committee a success. It is not our intention to “stack” the committee with people who are in favor of creating another taxing district as some of the committee are already opposed to imposing more taxes, so please give this some serious thought. We need experienced people with open minds and who have a desire and willingness to make our dreams come true to “save our lakes” for our future generations.