The Florida Defenders of the Environment presented former U.S. Sen. and Fla. Gov. Bob Graham with the 2021 Marjorie Harris Carr Award for Environmental Advocacy on Jan. 15.
The award came on the 50th anniversary of the court order to stop building the Cross Florida Barge Canal, which the presenters said was made possible by Graham’s efforts.
In a video of the award presentation, Graham said he was “honored” to receive the award.
“Protecting the environment has always been important to the people of Florida,” Graham said. “It has been my privilege to serve the people of Florida in doing just that, protecting the environment whenever I could, wherever I could.”
The canal was a federal public works project dating from the 1930s to facilitate trade across the Florida peninsula between the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.
It would also allow ships to avoid dangerous coral reefs along the state’s coast.
But the canal was one of the man-made structures that threatened the wildlife habitat and supply of fresh water from the
Ocklawaha River, according to the Gainesville-based Florida Defenders of the Environment [FDE].
“There is no question that Sen. Bob Graham’s advocacy for the Ocklawaha [River] is deserving of the Marjorie Harris Carr Award,” said Steve Robitaille, Ph.D., past president of the FDE. “Bob Graham’s support of the FDE dates back to the 1980s” and support for protections for the Suwannee River flood plain.
The award Graham received is named for Marjorie Harris Carr, a scientist who founded the FDE and raised awareness about environmental threats from the canal.
In 2017, the FDE gave the first Carr Award to journalist Carl Hiaasen in recognition of his stories and editorials about
Florida’s environment and those who sought to exploit it.
While a U.S. senator, Graham gathered bipartisan support for legislation to deauthorize the canal, a law that was signed by then-President George H.W. Bush.
There is still a dam in place that blocks the Ocklawaha river, the Kirkpatrick Dam, “which has net negative value to the people of Florida,” said Jim Gross, executive director of the FDE.
That dam is a current focus for the environmental group; dismantling it would allow fresh spring water and wildlife, including manatees, from the
Ocklawaha River to travel to the St. Johns River and back again, Gross said.
“There is much more that we need to do,” Graham said in his speech.
For more information about the award presentation, the canal and the Florida Defenders of the Environment, go online.