Earlier today I transmitted PDF files documenting the first 1611 signatures (and comments, if any from the first 1611) supporting this petition to the St. Johns River Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. I advised both of those excellent Florida agencies that there will be many, many more signatures to come in the future! The photo shows "Ocklawahaman" in one (there are more) of those surviving original-growth, virgin bald cypress trees (1000-year-old+) that lurk in the floodplain swamp of the middle Ocklawaha River between Silver River and Eureka. This segment was spared from being "improved" by man into "Eureka Pool" when President Nixon halted construction of the Cross Florida Barge Canal on 19 January 1971. Nixon's order saved this tree from being drowned to death! THE SONG: "Crooked River With Big Old Trees, Ocklawaha, Set Her Free" By "Ocklawahaman" Paul Nosca (11 July 2012) Silver Springs to that St. Johns wide A fifty-six-mile canoeing ride She lost her freedom at Rodman Dam Blocking striped bass wasn't Nature's plan Crooked river, big old trees Ocklawaha, set her free That crooked river with them big old trees The Ocklawaha, let's set her free Virgin cypress and tall tupelo grow Artesian springs enter her shaded flow Catch largemouth bass from my canoe Remove that Dam, there'll be stripers too Crooked river, big old trees Ocklawaha, set her free That crooked river with them big old trees The Ocklawaha, let's set her free Bellowing gators and drake wood ducks Wild hogs, turkeys, and whitetail bucks Manatees, black bears, and sandhill cranes Reckon river water runs through my veins Crooked river, big old trees Ocklawaha, set her free That crooked river with them big old trees The Ocklawaha, let's set her free Cry the ghosts of ivorybills--haunting them virgin cypress trees The Ocklawaha, let's set her free https://sites.google.com/site/paulnoscasbassfishingphotos/2013-florida-folk-festival-crooked-river-big-old-trees Show your support for the free migration -- St. Johns River to Silver Springs -- of the Florida-native: manatee, channel catfish, riverine largemouth bass and Atlantic-race STRIPED BASS. Note that the native Atlantic-race STRIPED BASS lost its only suitable spawning habitat of the entire St. Johns River basin (and the most southern in the U.S.) when Rodman (Kirkpatrick) Dam was closed across the Ocklawaha River on September 30, 1968. Riverine LARGEMOUTH BASS have been native to the Ocklawaha River for thousands of years -- they don't need Rodman Dam or Rodman Reservoir for their survival! Thank you to all that have already signed this petition FOR-FREE and desire a free-flowing "Source to the Sea" 56-mainstream-mile "Real-Florida-By-God" Ocklawaha River - Silver River - Silver Springs system! Encourage others & spouses &/or significant others to do the same! Thanks for your support! Sincerely, Paul.