Blountstown Bridge over the Apalachicola River circa 1945

Apalachicola River, Part I: The US Supreme Court and a River in Crisis

The Supreme Court of the United States will soon decide the future of one of the Southeast’s most important river ecosystems.

In 2013 Apalachicola Bay slipped into a deep ecological coma following a harsh drought. As a result, Florida’s most productive oyster fishery collapsed. Florida blames Georgia for the collapse. It says Georgia uses too much of the water in the rivers that feed the bay, and that water would have allowed the fishery to survive. Florida also blames Georgia’s long-term overuse of water for causing the unravelling of the entire Apalachicola River Ecosystem, arguably the wildest region remaining in the eastern US.

Georgia denies wrongdoing. It blames the fishery’s collapse on droughts caused by climate change, the US Corps of Engineers for withholding too much water behind their river dams, and Florida’s fisheries managers for allowing the overharvest of oysters.

 

Because the legal dispute involves states arguing over shared waters, this case went straight to the top of the American judicial system. On Feb 22, 2021 the nine Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments. What the justices do next will change the lives of tens-of-thousands of people, and shape the economy and ecology of the watershed for decades to come. 

ecology of a water war

The root of the problem is that based on current water use choices, there’s not enough water in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river basin (hereafter, the ACF) for several million people living in Atlanta, for irrigating over 700,000 acres of Georgia cropland, and for sustaining the Apalachicola River Ecosystem and the seafood industry of Apalachicola Bay. A short biogeography lesson reveals why.

The Chattahoochee and Flint are sibling rivers. The former begins in northern Georgia then runs southward through Western Georgia and adjacent Alabama. The Flint River is to the east and is fully within Georgia. The two rivers converge near the Florida border to form the Apalachicola River which flows for 106 miles to the coast and then pours into Apalachicola Bay. 

Map of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river watershed
The ACF watershed (image credit: USGS)
Biologist measuring large cypress tree in swamp
Large Bald Cypress in Apalachicola River floodplain near Bountstown, FL. (credit: USGS)

The Apalachicola River Ecosystem consists of the river, floodplains, delta, and estuary (bay). The river is bounded by a vast floodplain forest up to 5 miles across. This ecosystem is renowned for its biodiversity, especially rare plants like the Florida Yew, and for harboring more reptiles and amphibians (120 species) than anywhere else in the United States.

Apalachicola Bay is famous for its populations of the Eastern Oyster. In recent decades the bay provided 90% of Florida’s oyster harvest and 10% of the national harvest.

For nearly 150 years oystering has employed hundreds of families living in or near the town of Apalachicola. Some harvest oysters out on the bay. Others work in processing and shipping. Still others work in businesses that support the industry. Families of crabbers, shrimpers, and fishers also live in the area and work the nearby waters. People in restaurants and dining rooms across the US have enjoyed the food produced by this community.

Most of this activity came to a screeching halt during the drought of 2011-2012 when the oyster fishery collapsed.

Woman shucking oysters in Apalachicola Florida 1956
Woman shucking oysters in Apalachicola Florida 1956 (courtesy of State Library and Archives of Florida)

The collapse was caused by severely reduced flows of freshwater into the bay from the Apalachicola River. Without the freshwater, salty tides from the Gulf intruded and decimated populations of oysters and other estuarine species that sustain the ecosystem and the fisheries.

Droughts are part of the normal climate pattern in the Southeast. During droughts, rivers carry less water and this strains river ecosystems, from swamp forests to oyster reefs.

Historically, the damage was minor because residual water in the landscape—especially stored groundwater from past rains—kept rivers flowing sufficiently until the rains returned. The populations of some wildlife and plant species dipped, but they quickly bounced back because their populations were healthy. This capacity to recover quickly after a period of stress is known as ecological resiliency.

The Apalachicola River Ecosystem began losing resiliency in the late 1980s as Metropolitan Atlanta entered a phase of rapid population growth. As the city grew, so did its demand for freshwater. Because the thick slab of bedrock below Atlanta doesn’t store groundwater, the city depends entirely on river water.

With Atlanta growing quickly, local, state, and federal agencies agreed to provide water to Metro Atlanta from impoundments built on nearby creeks and rivers, especially Lake Lanier on the Chattahoochee River. This helped Atlanta but reduced downstream water supply in Alabama and Florida. By 1990 the three states were engaged in a battle for water rights in the ACF that has never ended.

Agricultural irrigation also contributes to less water reaching the Apalachicola River Ecosystem. In the 1970s farmers in southwestern Georgia, especially in the Flint watershed, began irrigating their crops to increase yields. Some pulled water from the Flint or its tributaries, while others pumped it from the aquifer below.

Irrigation provided stability in crop yields for farmers in a region prone to droughts. Georgia requires agriculturalists to obtain a permit to use this water. However, the state doesn’t limit how much water permit holders can use. The number of farmers irrigating their crops has risen steadily over the years.  Though Georgia stopped issuing new permits in the Flint Watershed in 2012, flows in the Flint River can drop 40% during the summer when irrigation peaks. During this time, some of the Flint’s tributaries become little more than muddy trickles.

Devotion to a river

I had studied the problems of the ACF for my forthcoming book, Creeks to Coast. But there was much I still didn’t understand about the bay’s ecological collapse. So, I reached out to Dan Tonsmeire.

Dan began working on water issues in the Apalachicola River Ecosystem in 1987. For the first 15 years he worked for the state’s Surface Water Improvement and Management program writing preservation and restoration plans for water bodies across the Florida Panhandle. The Apalachicola River and its bay were his top priorities. Dan consulted with fishers, loggers, business owners, and civic leaders to find ways to help the river and the people who depend on it.

Seeking ways to be even more effective, Dan began work in 2004 as the first Apalachicola Riverkeeper. Waterkeepers are part of a worldwide alliance seeking to ensure that people have access to drinkable, fishable, and swimmable water. Apalachicola Riverkeeper’s staff of four monitors the health of the Apalachicola River Ecosystem and promotes river education, recreation, and volunteer efforts to clean and restore the river. Dan retired as Riverkeeper in 2018, marking the end of three decades working for the Apalachicola River and its people.  Given the breadth of his experience, Dan Tonsmeire has acquired a holistic understanding of the Apalachicola River rivaled by few others.  

resiliency lost

I asked Dan to tell me about the changes he has seen in the Apalachicola River Ecosystem during his time.  

Dan began by citing long-term studies showing that the length of low flow periods (when river volume is at its minimum) during the warm season has more than doubled over the past century. A healthy floodplain forest can tolerate such an extreme every few years.  But long periods of sustained low flow are now common, and this is changing the ecosystem.  

A century of change in low flow duration in the Apalachicola River. From presentation by Helen Light.
A century of change in low flow duration in the Apalachicola River. Screenshot from presentation by Helen Light, USGS retired.

Of the many impacts, one of the most stunning is that floodplain forests are now trapped in a form of ecological purgatory. A study by the US Geological Survey concluded that the canopy of swamp trees like cypress and tupelo declined by 37% over three decades since 1976. And based on the numbers of young trees in the floodplain, scientists predict an ultimate decline of at least 74% of swamp trees. 

Also alarming is that swamp trees are not being replaced by other trees. The floodplains are too dry for swamp trees, but are too wet for bottomland forest tree species. This is jeopardizing the floodplains’ ecological health.

Change in floodplain forest tree canopy cover in the Apalachicola River, Florida.
Change in floodplain forest tree canopy cover in the Apalachicola River, Florida. Screenshot from presentation by Helen M. Light, USGS retired.
Oyster cluster from Apalachicola Bay, 1917
Oyster cluster from Apalachicola Bay, 1917 (credit: Ernest Danglade, courtesy of University of Washington)

Dan explained how years of declining freshwater inputs to the bay have stressed oyster populations. Oysters, like most estuary species, thrive in a Goldilocks range of salinities caused by the mixing of river and ocean water. Oysters can tolerate short periods of extremely low or high salinities caused by floods and droughts, respectively.  But oysters will die if subjected for too long to either extreme. Saturation by salty marine waters during droughts has caused oyster reefs to crumble.

 

Dan spoke of similar declines he and fishers in the bay have seen for seagrass meadows and salt marshes, two other estuary habitats that sustain the bay’s ecosystem and seafood industry.

Several decades of declining freshwater flows to the Apalachicola River Ecosystem reduced the resiliency of river habitats, its floodplain, and the bay. Now, when hurricanes or droughts strike the region, habitats in the ecosystem disappear and species struggle to recover. These are the chronic underlying conditions that allowed the estuary to slip into an ecological coma in 2013.

In Part II of this series, we’ll learn about the aftermath of the 2013 drought, the implications of the pending Supreme Court decision, and solutions for saving the Apalachicola River Ecosystem while still ensuring everyone gets enough water. 

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