Florida lost an environmental giant in March with the passing of John Hankinson. I got to know John in 1983 and was quickly joined to his lifelong cause of restoring the Ocklawaha River. For those who did not know John well, consider what he fought for.

The Ocklawaha River is an ecosystem – part of the prettiest part of Florida. However, the Rodman Dam chokes the Ocklawaha. It impounds 16 miles of one of our best rivers, and its reservoir drowns 9,000 acres of floodplain. That is a lot of habitat and beauty – the remnant of a terrible idea. Restoration back to the area’s historic beauty has faced political challenges since the 1980s.

John passed away on March 3. We were friends and conservation collaborators, and I already miss his good counsel. I last saw him at the 2016 Audubon Assembly when he gave an opening talk titled “One Gulf.” That is the way he saw things. I asked him to play a tune and sing and his verbal response is still with me. “One Love”, he said. That really is how he saw things with an enormous sense that we and the earth are one.

So John, to honor your legacy, we are going to keep going until the Ocklawaha is “One River” again.

This article and more are featured in the Spring 2017 edition of Audubon Florida's Naturalist magazine.