Wakulla Springs is far from the coast but apparently not immune from sea level rise. That’s according to a report delivered Thursday to Florida’s Acquisition and Restoration Council.
The multi-agency council prioritizes the state’s Florida Forever properties, including a tract of nearly 400 acres near Upper Lake Lafayette. Zoe Kulakowski from the Buck Lake Alliance says the property should be merged with an existing project to preserve Wakulla Springs, but she has some bad news about how the council has been projecting sea level rise.
“What we might end up seeing in the future if sea level rise does indeed happen,” Kulakowski says, “is we will see a Wakulla Spring that alternates between periods of discharging sea water and periods of discharging fresh water.”
Kulakowski urged the Council to reconsider how it scored the threat for Wakulla Springs, and she says the saltwater incursion she warns about could happen with sea levels just one meter higher. This is because the aquifer’s connection from the coast to the spring is more direct than previously thought.
