One of the springs within the Ocala National Forest has been temporarily closed to visitor access after a trail became eroded.
Fern Hammock Springs was closed to visitor access on Saturday due to “hydrological conditions eroding an area of the trail,” according to Naventure, the company formerly known as Adventure Ocala, LLC.
The organization says that emergency mitigation efforts will begin this week and that the space will be closed “until further notice.”
“This is a case of allowing nature to take its course,” reads a statement from Naventure. “So we are unable to predict what it will do and how long it will take.”
Fern Hammock Springs is a second-magnitude spring with an irregularly shaped main pool and a wooden footbridge that spans it, according to the St. Johns River Water Management District.
The spring discharges toward the northwest and flows about 600 feet down a meandering run to Juniper Creek before it moves northeast for about 10 miles until Lake George.
For more information on the spring, visit the Fern Hammock Springs webpage through the St. Johns River Water Management District website.
The closure comes just a few months after another spring at Ocala National Forest was temporarily closed.