Gilchrist Blue Springs: A Landscape Vision for the Floridan Aquifer

Gilchrist Blue Springs is a second-magnitude spring located 8 miles Northwest of the town of High Springs in Gilchrist County, Florida. The spring, along with five other smaller springs, sits on 400 acres of land and in the Summer of 2018 become a Florida state park.

The design for Gilchrist Blue Headspring sets the stage for human activity amongst its ecological context. The existing retaining wall is removed and replaced with a reforested edge to stabilize slopes and restore floodplain swamp and alluvial forest habitat. A monolithic limestone slab juts out from the forest, an homage to the wooden jumping platform that used to exist there.

Underwater, Red Ludwigia, Water Pennywort, and Stonewort and other native aquatics are replanted to restore the spring-run stream ecosystem. Swimming is limited to floating downstream in the spring run, and limestone slabs designate areas for people to rest their feet.

Download full project booklet here: https://tinyurl.com/y2bfx5nc