State officials to propose a waterfowl area at Lake Apopka

St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) staff plan to propose a new, marked waterfowl area at Lake Apopka, according to officials who met in Tallahassee Thursday to discuss the lake’s condition with state lawmakers.

The potential waterfowl area was one of several different lake management strategies discussed at Thursday’s meeting of the state House of Representatives’ Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture & Natural Resources, where lawmakers heard from SJRWMD and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) about ongoing efforts to restore and maintain Lake Apopka.

Lake Apopka is Florida’s fourth-largest lake, today spanning more than 30,000 acres, according to SJRWMD Assistant Executive Director Mary Ellen Winkler. On Thursday, Winkler called it “Florida’s original tourist attraction.”

Today, Lake Apopka remains a fixture for fishing and waterfowl hunting, but some worry that might not be the case for much longer. Many fishing and hunting enthusiasts shared their concerns about herbicide treatments with FWC commissioners at a different meeting earlier this week.