Yet, Ichetucknee Springs didn't always look as pristine as it does today. For more than 12,000 years, the greater Ichetucknee ecosystem, and specifically the area around Mission Spring half way down the river, was a place of endless human industry, supporting Archaic, Paleo, and Timucuan Indians, as well as one of the largest Spanish missionary settlements between Tallahassee and St. Augustine. Humanity's impact on the Ichetucknee, however, didn't end with Spanish colonization. With the introduction of large-scale grazing and agriculture, the Ichetucknee springshed was almost completely deforested by the early 1900s, and as recently as 1960, cows still grazed in the river itself, trampling whatever native vegetation they didn't directly consume.

Thanks to people like Jim, however, humanity's relationship with the Ichetucknee is now one of reparation. In 1970, Ichetucknee Springs was officially designated a State Park, beginning what is now a 32-year effort to resuscitate the river system through targeted restoration programs including land acquisition in the springshed, implementation of a recreational "carrying capacity," prescribed burns in the surrounding sandhill regions, and the manual removal of invasive plant species like water lettuce by a corps of dedicated volunteers. According to Sam, the effect of these measures has been greater than anyone ever imagined.

"I don't know of any other spring-fed river in the state that's bounced back like the Ichetucknee," he tells me. "Once we established a carrying capacity to limit the number of people on the river and began protecting the Ichetucknee's springshed, nature has healed its own scars. We're canoeing through a success story."

As we near the end of our journey on this spring run, the Ichetucknee has transformed itself once again-this time into broad floodplain forest shaded by a tangled canopy of tupulo, ash, and massive old growth cypress trees. Since our departure early this morning, we've traveled almost four miles of crystal clear river and, with the exception of a jet contrail overhead, seen not a single artifact of civilization. As we pull our canoes from the water at the park's final landing just upstream from Santa Fe river, it's as if we've emerged from a time warp.

Not surprisingly, we're not the only ones who have been moved by a trip down the Ichetucknee. It was a trip along this same stretch of river in 1999 that inspired Governor Jeb Bush and DEP Secretary David Struhs to move forward with a long-term protection plan for Florida's springs; this has included the formation of the Florida Springs Task Force and a major commitment of resources to identify priorities for spring and aquifer protection.

"Once they saw the Ichetucknee for themselves," says Jim, "The decision to protect and restore springs through the Springs Initiative was a done deal."

With any luck, these protections will extend to every springshed feature which affects water's journey through the Floridan aquifer to springs and down river to the sea.

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