2025: Year In Review
As 2025 comes to a close, we wanted to take time to update you on our progress over the last year. Mighty River Recovery is now the fastest growing nonprofit in freshwater Florida for good reason: we work on REAL problems that affect YOU, not obscure issues for photo opps.
We’re unaccepting of the decline of the St. Johns River and insist on a better way forward.
Let’s dive in.
Mighty River Recovery focuses on numerous issues affecting the St. Johns. We can’t discuss them all, so we want to key in on top concerns as determined by our members.
Ya, We’ve Got Lawyers.
Policies are complicated, so we gathered allies. We wanted to know: are managers of the St. Johns River obeying the law? Are politics and relationships overriding sound management decisions?
On a daily basis, our group is dissecting the complicated environmental policies that leave Floridians in the dark. From the Rivers and Harbors Act to the Florida Aquatic Plant Control Program, the legal mumbo-jumbo can be overwhelming.
We’re not intimidated. Thanks to an ongoing partnership with the Stetson University College of Law, we’re pushing forward to determine the legalities behind management decisions.
We’ve also brought on a Policy Director, Greg Lawrence, backed by a successful career as an attorney and a passion for the St. Johns River. Like most of our crew, Greg is a life-long angler and has seen the river’s decline first-hand.
What lies next? Plans to bring you - our members - into the fold of government policy, while we insist environmental considerations be factored into management decisions. We’re prepared to take this as far as necessary, regardless of expense or effort. Stay tuned!
Where Is the Grass?
Habitat loss is an ongoing problem across the St. Johns River, especially the decline of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). Studies prove, over 95% of SAV in the St. Johns has been lost, severely reducing fish and wildlife habitat and leading to declines in water quality.
Since the inception of our group, it’s been our goal to find ways to successfully restore SAV. No other organization or agency spends more time on, and in, the St. Johns River working on this effort.
While restoration efforts by the FWC and others focus on the impact of herbivores (turtles and manatees), we’re taking a broader approach through our Citizen Enclosure Project (CEP). You may have seen these small research units on lakes Beresford, Woodruff or Dexter; they’re allowing us to address multiple factors leading to vegetation loss.
In 2025, some units grew robust vegetation while others struggled. In the end, we determined that numerous stressors are responsible for the lack of SAV across the St. Johns River and a multi-faceted approach will be needed for restoration. Moving forward, our areas of primary concern include:
Water levels:
Despite a calm hurricane season in 2025, waters in the St. Johns River again rose to abnormally high levels in October. High, dark water blocks light and makes it impossible for SAV to grow.
While our river has always fluctuated with Florida’s semi-tropical environment, data proves that high water is now more common - and longer lasting - than ever. Management must adapt to these new norms!
Turbidity:
With higher water comes more turbid conditions. Turbidity is the measure of particles in the water, effectively blocking light at an alarming pace. While flood conditions can always be expected to be turbid, our initial studies show that turbidity is being fueled by decades of herbicide use on the St. Johns River. We’ll be working hard on this subject in 2026 and keep you updated.
Exotic fish:
Tilapia have exploded throughout much of the St. Johns River. Our sampling last season found times when tilapia outnumbered all other fish 100 to 1. With these invaders come increases in nutrients and turbidity: two things we don’t need. Right now, the Florida FWC has no plan to combat tilapia in the middle and lower basins of the St. Johns River. We’ll study tilapia impacts more in 2026 and insist on a solution.
What About Herbicides?
In 2025, we tested several areas of the St. Johns River for the presence of herbicides in the water and sediment. Luckily, we found none. We’ll continue testing in 2026.
While it does not appear that herbicides - the chemicals themselves - are hurting our efforts to restore SAV, the collateral damage done by decades of herbicide use is severely impacting the St. Johns River.
As we mentioned, the use of herbicides greatly increases turbidity in our system and blocks beneficial sunlight. In addition, our 2025 research concluded something we suspected all along: herbicide use causes major fluctuations in nutrients, leading to algae blooms and making our problems worse.
It’s basic science, really. When plants die due to herbicides, the nutrients in those plant cycle into the environment. And too many nutrients = algae blooms.
Everywhere we turn, we hear of the dangers of increased nutrients. Nutrients coming from septic tanks, from agriculture, from polluted groundwater. Elevated nutrient levels are now a “Florida thing” and dangerous algae blooms are a daily occurrence.
So why in the world are we managing the St. Johns River in a way that promotes nutrient increase? We’ll be expanding this important sampling in 2026.
Please continue to follow along. Share this page with others who are tired of the same old song and dance: Florida’s natural resources are falling apart.
We didn’t come to dance.
Together we are MIGHTY.
