For centuries, men dreamed of cutting a canal across the Florida peninsula. Intended to reduce shipping times, it was championed in the early twentieth century as a way to make the mostly rural state a center of national commerce and trade. Rejected by the Army Corps of Engineers as "not worthy," the project received continued support from Florida legislators. Federal funding was eventually allocated and work began in the 1930s, but the canal quickly became a lightning rod for controversy. Steven Noll and David Tegeder trace the twists and turns of the project through the years, drawing on a wealth of archival and primary sources. Far from being a simplistic morality tale of good environmentalists versus evil canal developers, the story of the Cross Florida Barge Canal is a complex one of competing interests amid the changing political landscape of modern Florida. Thanks to the unprecedented success of environmental citizen activists, construction was halted in 1971, though it took another twenty years for the project to be canceled. Though the land intended for the canal was deeded to the state and converted into the Cross Florida Greenway, certain aspects of the dispute--including the fate of Rodman Reservoir--have yet to be resolved.

Marjorie Harris Carr (1915-1997) is best known for leading the fight against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Cross Florida Barge Canal. In this first full-length biography, Peggy Macdonald corrects many long-held misapprehensions about the self-described “housewife from Micanopy,” who struggled to balance career and family with her husband, Archie Carr, a pioneering conservation biologist. Born in Boston, Carr grew up in southwest Florida, exploring marshes and waterways and observing firsthand the impact of unchecked development on the state’s flora and fauna. Macdonald’s work depicts a determined woman and Phi Beta Kappa scholar who earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in zoology only to see her career thwarted by institutionalized gender discrimination. Carr launched her conservation career in the 1950s while raising five children and eventually became one of the century’s leading environmental activists. A series of ecological catastrophes in the 1960s placed Florida in the vanguard of the burgeoning environmental revolution as the nation’s developing eco-consciousness ushered in a wave of revolutionary legislation. With Carr serving as one of the most effective leaders of a powerful contingent of citizen activists who opposed dredging a canal across the state, “Free the Ocklawaha” became a rallying cry for environmentalists throughout the country. Marjorie Harris Carr is an intimate look at this remarkable woman who dedicated her life to conserving Florida’s wildlife and wild places. It is also a revelation of how the grassroots battle to save a small but vitally important river in central Florida transformed the modern environmental movement.

Florida is lucky to have had three women — three Marjories — speaking out about saving Florida's natural environment. Marjory Stoneman Douglas is known as the “Mother of the Everglades.” She wrote The Everglades: River of Grass, the seminal and now classic book on this unique region of south Florida. She was a tireless campaigner for the environment and helped make the Everglades a national park. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings is best known for her books set in Florida: The Yearling, Cross Creek, and South Moon Under, all set in the then-remote wilderness of central Florida. Her very popular books brought the world's attention to the importance of the culture and natural environment of this region. Marjorie Harris Carr fought to save the Oklawaha River by challenging the building of the Cross Florida Barge Canal. She argued that this would cut the ecology of the state in two, particularly ruinous for the wildlife. Now there is the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway, which serves as a bridge for wildlife through developed areas and over I-75.

Osborn tells the past and present of the waterway, showing how humans have impacted the region as well as how the lagoon has influenced the human cultures along its shores, to provide much-needed context as debates continue regarding how best to restore this natural resource.

A guide to the best scenic day hikes and overnight trips along the state-spanning Florida Trail, this book helps readers of all backgrounds and experience levels plan an adventure exploring natural Florida.