The Lake Forest Creek watershed encompasses most of eastern Gainesville, or approximately 8.9 square miles of urban and rural land. Lake Forest Creek flows from west to east meandering slowly through neighborhoods, open land and pastures, mixed hardwood hammocks, pine flatwoods and forests.
DESCRIPTION
The headwaters of the main channel begin north of SR 20, east of SE 20th Street, and south of East University Avenue. The channel flows east and crosses beneath SE 43rd Street. The creek transitions from channelized ditches to braided channels as it flows under County Road 329B (CR329B) and east to Newnans Lake. Archaeological sites in the area include several subsurface prehistoric lithic and ceramic scatter sites. Today, the dominant land use in the Lake Forest Creek watershed is institutional. Over half of the land is state owned. State facilities include Tacachale, a State of Florida Department of Children and Families facility for the developmentally disabled, North Florida Treatment and Evaluation Center, Alachua County Health Department, and Florida Department of Corrections Work Camp. Cattle pastures and silvicultural land are predominant in the northeastern section of the watershed. Schools in the area include Eastside High School, Lake Forest Elementary, and W. Travis Loften High School.
FLORA and FAUNA
More than half of the watershed is state land, farmland, forest and swamp. In the eastern portion of the watershed, riparian buffer zones often extend 60 feet from the streambed and contain diverse native vegetation. However, much of the streambed is sand or silt smothered and exotic plant species are common. The major tree species throughout the western and southern sections of the watershed are mixed hardwoods and pines dominated by oak, southern red cedar, sweet gum, loblolly pine, slash pine, and cypress domes. Emergent vegetation is often weedy and invasive, and includes exotic taro, water milfoil, and water hyacinth. Where the Lateral D tributary joins the main channel of Lake Forest Creek, the banks are completely covered with blackberries, Greenbriar, and southern elderberry, an understory species indicative of disturbed areas. The overstory in this section begins as a pine and red maple forest and opens up into a large bald cypress dome.East of SE 43rd Street the creek is more sinuous; however, low flow sections are interspersed with areas of pools and riffles. There are stands of medium-sized oak, hickory, sweetgum, and pine with an excellent understory of wax myrtle, holly, lyonia, and native azalea. However, much of the riparian zone understory is covered with exotic species such as white-flowered wandering jew and Florida hedge nettle. A good place to visit Lake Forest Creek is where the creek flows past SE 51st Street and continues east towards Newnans Lake. It passes through pristine areas of pine flatwoods and forested wetlands with excellent habitat. The creek supports several native and exotic fish such as mosquitofish, sail fin mollies, and swamp darters. Many birds are found here as well, including the bald eagle, red-tail hawk, osprey, and barred owl. Wading birds are common and include the exotic cattle egret and native species such as great egret, little blue heron, sandhill crane, and white ibis. Frogs, snakes, and anoles are abundant. This area supports a diverse array of overstory, understory, and aquatic vegetation. The water becomes slightly tannic as the creek winds through a dense understory of native vegetation including bald cypress and red maple. Wax myrtle, yaupon holly, sparkleberry, and switch cane are also common. Aquatic vegetation includes pennywort, cattail, and duckweed.

Lake Forest Creek , Gainesville, Florida

Do you live near Lake Forest 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-River, or participate in our Watershed Action Volunteer 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.