Devil's Ear Spring
Devil’s Ear is designated as an Outstanding Florida Spring and is one of three springs in the Devil Spring system in Gilchrist County. Since 1971, Devil’s Ear, Devil’s Eye, and Devil Spring have all been managed by the privately owned Ginnie Springs Outdoors, Inc. This spring group is in the Suwannee River Water Management District. Beneath the three springs lies a complex cave system renowned for its cave diving opportunities. Devil’s Ear is the largest spring of the system, flowing at the first magnitude through a large fissure in the spring run. The high flow rate coupled with the tendency of the spring to be covered by a sheet of tannic river water makes Devil’s Ear a prime location for divers seeking a challenge.
In 2016, the Florida Legislature passed the Florida Springs and Aquifer Protection Act.
Devil’s Ear Spring is currently one of the twenty four Outstanding Florida Springs or Springs Groups that is considered “impaired”.
Science Hub
This is the location for access to data related to this spring. Below, you will find links to reports, data, as well as maps and information from the Florida Springs Institute’s Blue Water Audit project about this particular spring or spring group.
The Blue Water Audit is a tool developed by the Florida Springs Institute to estimate and visualize the impact of human activities on the Floridan Aquifer. Using existing data from a variety of sources, the Blue Water Audit estimates nitrogen loading and groundwater withdrawals for the Florida Springs Region. These estimates are used to assign Aquifer Footprints – a Floridan Aquifer Nitrogen Footprint (water quality) and a Floridan Aquifer Groundwater Footprint (water quantity). Below are maps of the Blue Water Audit Floridan Aquifer Nitrogen footprint for the Devil’s Ear springshed within the Suwannee River Water Management District, as well as a map of the land use within the Devil’s Ear springshed. To find out more about the Blue Water Audit project and to learn how this tool was developed, visit Blue Water Audit.
DATA AND REPORTS
The Interactive Florida Springs Atlas was produced with generous support from the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida. The Community Foundation of North Central Florida supported this project through generous support for our Blue Water Audit project.
