Posted on June 30, 2025
Key Points
- The Apalachicola River’s historical significance as a vital transportation route has been diminished by detrimental dredging practices.
- The Riparian County Stakeholders Coalition (RCSC) advocates for a balanced approach to navigation, restoration, and economic sustainability.
- The RCSC emphasizes the importance of preserving the river’s heritage while fostering economic opportunities.
For centuries, the Apalachicola River served as the original “main street” of the Southeast. Long before highways or rail lines, it connected the people and places of what is now Florida, Georgia, and Alabama—first by dugout canoe, then by timber rafts and steamboats, and eventually by modest commercial vessels that made their way up and down the river for most of the year.
That all changed when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers set out to convert the Apalachicola from main street to interstate highway. What followed, to mix the metaphor, was a slow-motion train wreck.
The people in the six counties represented by the Riparian County Stakeholders Coalition (RCSC) haven’t forgotten that the decades-long dredging debacle was a financial failure, returning just 40 cents on the dollar to U.S. taxpayers. And it was an environmental disaster, with millions of cubic yards of dredged sand dumped on the river’s banks and floodplain, cutting off critical sloughs and side channels that sustained fish and wildlife as well as the honey-and-money-making tupelo stands.
Now, with locks and dams being repaired and a change of command underway at the Corps’ Mobile District, the conversation has turned once again to navigation. But too often, in the Corps’ world, “navigation” still means wholesale dredging and river disposal—which means destruction.
That’s why the RCSC proposes a better way forward. We support navigation, and we believe it works best when it’s aligned with restoration and economic sustainability. That means using the river’s natural flows and a light hand for maintenance, an approach already reflected in the restoration work now gaining momentum across the region.
State and local agencies—and private sector partners—are investing millions of dollars in projects that reflect a shared commitment to the future of the river and the region. From efforts to rebuild a commercially viable oyster industry in Apalachicola Bay, to the restoration of sloughs in Gulf County, to a forward-looking plan for a fish passage that could reconnect Lake Seminole with the river itself, there is real energy behind the idea of a living, working waterway.
Even more could be on the horizon, as the counties look for ways to connect conservation, recreation, and commerce with the values and traditions that define this region.
True river stewardship means creating opportunity without losing what makes this river and its communities special strengthening both the places and the waters that sustain them.
From recreational boating and fishing to heritage tourism, river-based events, and even limited commercial shipping that doesn’t require heavy dredging, there are many ways to revive the river as a source of pride and prosperity.
The Corps now faces a pivotal choice: become a partner in this locally led vision—or be a bureaucratic relic that communities must work around. One path leads to trust, progress, and shared success. The other drags us back into conflict and frustration.
The Apalachicola River is more than a waterway. It’s a lifeline that connects our region. It deserves a future as rich as its past—and it’s time we navigate that future wisely, together.
