Calf Pond Creek is located in SE Gainesville. It drains into a shallow pond named (predictably) Calf Pond that contains sinkholes draining into the Floridan aquifer from which the City of Gainesville obtains its drinking water supply.

DESCRIPTION
Residential communities make up about half the area of the watershed and are scattered about the basin. These include Lincoln Estates, Live Oak Acres, Green Tree Village and Calf Creek. The other half of the watershed is comprised of cropland, pastureland, blueberry farms, and tree farms. As it travels though these different areas, the creek winds through forested wetlands, mixed hardwood forests, upland pinelands and croplands under canopies of magnolia, red maple, water oak, hickory and the exotic Chinese tallow tree. Beneath the trees, the understory is a mixture of wax myrtle, blueberry, and southern elderberry bushes, and blue flag irises grow along the creek banks. Many exotic (non-native) species grow along Calf Pond Creek including elephant ear, Mexican petunia, scratchthroat, English ivy, wandering jew, air potato, clematis, and heavenly bamboo. These woods are home to raccoon, opossum, armadillo and deer.
WATER QUALITY
The main threats to water quality in this watershed are the potential for point source pollution from the Florence landfill, an unlined private landfill that accepts construction and demolition waste. Water samples from monitoring wells near the landfill have shown sulfate concentrations exceeding the drinking water standards.
MACROINVERTEBRATES
The health of streams can also be evaluated by determining the number of pollution-sensitive benthic macroinvertebrate organisms present. These organisms, such as the larvae of dragonflies and damselflies are susceptible to degradation of water, sediment, or habitat quality and their populations respond to these cumulative factors over time. Macroinvertebrates are also important food sources for adult insects, fish, frogs and birds. Many sections of the Calf Pond Creek have inadequate or fragmented stream bank vegetation which can lead to in-stream erosion. Erosion causes build-up of sediments on the creek bed, which smothers benthic macroinvertebrate habitat. Additionally, the flow of water in Calf Pond Creek is intermittent during low rainfall periods, when the creek is comprised of disconnected pools of water, making it even more difficult for the creek to support a healthy macroinvertebrate community.

Do you live near Calf Pond Creek? Here’s what you can do to keep your water clean and the creek healthy:

Remember that all of our creeks, one way or another, make their way to the aquifer from which we get our drinking water. The fact that the creeks eventually make their way into the giant “well” from which we draw our drinking water supply is a good reason, among many, to protect them. Increased impervious area and decreased riparian buffers lead to more runoff going into the creeks during storm events. Runoff from yards and driveways carries pollutants like automobile fluids and wastes, detergents, fertilizers, pesticides, household chemicals, pet wastes, and plain trash down the stormdrains into the creeks. Even organic yard wastes – leaves, cuttings and landscape detritus - can overload the creek system. If you ever wondered where those storm drains actually drain to, the creek is your answer. In Gainesville, the runoff can carry considerable pollution into our treasured waterways, and it does.

You can help - keep pollutants off the streets; change your oil and dispose of it sensibly, keep up the maintenance on your vehicles to prevent leaks, use pesticides and fertilizers minimally if at all, dispose of pet waste hygienically, and put trash where it belongs! If you prevent pollution from entering the aquifer, you will be doing your part to protect the health of your community.

If you are lucky enough to live on a creek, you can maintain a healthy riparian buffer with native landscaping to effectively filter pollutants from the roadways. You can sign up for a creek cleanup with Adopt-A-Waterway, or participate in our Watershed Action Volunteers program teaching kids about watersheds, or learn to landscape a Florida Friendly Yard. All of these efforts will help to protect the creeks from pollution.

Calf Pond Creek , Gainesville, Florida

WHERE TO VISIT THIS CREEK
A good place to visit the creek is to take a trip to the Gainesville Organic Blueberry Farm at 1621 SE 15 th Street, 352-336-1112. This is a relatively small watershed by Gainesville standards, covering a total area of 2 square miles of residential and agricultural land.