Report for St. John's River Basin and Intervening Coastal Areas, Florida

Excerpts from the report: The St. Johns River Basin and Intervening Coastal Areas is located along the eastern seaboard of Florida, extending from Ft. Pierce on the south, to immediately north of Jacksonville on the north. The 11,431 square mile area is bounded by the watersheds of the Nassau and St. Marys rivers on the north, the Suwannee on the northwest, and the Waccasassa, Withlacoochee and Kissimmee rivers on the west. State Highway 68 forms the south boundary of the Basin, excluding that portion of the North St, Lucie Drainage District located north of Highway 68, and the entire eastern boundary is the Atlantic Ocean. The area is made up of 10,346 square miles of land and 1,085 square miles of surface water - 432 square miles being fresh water lakes and streams, and 653 square miles being salt water estuaries and rivers. All, or parts of 19 counties are encompassed within the boundaries of the Basin. The four major sub-basins are Upper St. Johns River, Oklawaha River, Lower St. Johns River and the Intervening Coastal Areas. The agricultural and forestry enterprises of the Basin include approximately 357,000 acres of citrus, 69,000 acres of vegetables, 108,000 acres of other crops (general field crops, hay and seed crops, nuts, fruit crops other than citrus, ferns and ornamentals), 635,000 acres of improved pasture, 707,000 acres of range or unimproved pasture, 3,515,000 acres of forestland, and 516,000 acres of miscellaneous agricultural uses (including rural homesites, idle land and open wildlife areas). More than one-fourth of the Nation's citrus products are grown within the Basin. The primary objective of the survey Is to facilitate the coordinated and orderly conservation, development, utilization and management of the water and related land resources of the Basin. Due consideration is given to projected land and water resource needs and use by an expanding population, and to the physical and economic aspects of flood prevention and control, watershed protection, drainage. Irrigation, surface and subsurface water supply, water quality control, fish and wildlife, recreation and other related matters. Projections of needs and use of the land and water resources of the Basin are presented in two major settings, (1) Immediate Needs, a time frame for the next 10 to 15 years, and (2) Future Needs, a longer projection period to the year 2020.