Ocklawaha bait-and-switch — who really lands the big one?

I’ve spent most of my life on the water — as a tournament angler, a professional guide and now a resident of Palatka. I have a business degree, and I studied engineering and journalism in college.

All that education teaches you to look at details, scrutinize what’s being said, and, of course, pay attention to how money is involved. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the Rodman Reservoir debate until I followed the money.

What I found in the fine print of the “Northeast Florida Rivers, Springs, and Community Investment Act” (SB 1066 / HB 981) wasn’t just an environmental project. On the surface, the sell is beautiful: manatees, “lost springs” and a restored Ocklawaha River. But when you look at the rigging of the legislation itself, you find a high-stakes trade designed to benefit private interests while sidelining the local community.

The Florida House passed this bill 107-3 on March 4, and the Senate is poised for a final vote. We are being asked to trade a world-class fishery for a $95 million gamble run by private contractors. This is being proposed even though a $4 million repair could address deferred maintenance and stabilize the existing dam for years to come.

Before the final votes are cast, we need to ask: Who is actually going to land the “treasure chest” at the end of this line? From where I’m sitting, it doesn’t look like the local guy in a bass boat.

A major red flag appears in Section 2. The bill doesn’t trust our own state experts at DEP to manage the project. Instead, it requires the state to hire a private “Project Lead” by Aug. 31, 2026. This contractor won’t just oversee the work — they will chair the Advisory Council deciding where the grant money goes.

Why is a private individual given the keys to the kingdom for a $95 million public project? This mandatory clause suggests the winner may have been identified before the starting gun even fired.

Furthermore, the bill creates a 16-member Board to oversee the project, with nine members appointed directly by the Governor’s Office. That gives Tallahassee a 3-to-1 majority over local voices in Putnam and Marion counties. If they decide “recreation” means corporate glamping instead of the boat ramps we actually use, locals won’t have the votes to stop them.

Even the tiebreaker is the commander of NAS Jacksonville — a voice far removed from daily life on our river.

While advocates talk about fish, the real trophy in this bill is Wetland Mitigation Credits. Breaching the dam “restores” 7,500 acres of wetlands. In Florida real estate, those acres are gold. For every acre restored here, a developer in St. Johns or Jacksonville could get the green light to pave wetlands elsewhere.

Is this really about freeing the river — or about using Putnam County as an environmental bank account to subsidize concrete sprawl in neighboring counties?

What you can do

Before the Session ends in March, contact Rep. Wyman Duggan and Sen. Jason Brodeur. Demand home rule for Putnam and Marion counties and the removal of the private-contractor mandate. Our river is public heritage, not a private contract.

___

Michael Haines is a resident of Palatka and a former professional fishing guide.