From Mullet Train to Manatees: How the New Deal Reshaped Citrus County
As we celebrate the United States’ 250th anniversary, the America250 initiative invites us to recognize how federal conservation programs rescued landscapes from industrial exhaustion. At Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, a proud member of the Adventures Unbound family, we are honoring the Civilian Conservation Corps and the broader New Deal programs that rehabilitated Citrus County’s depleted lands, creating the conservation foundation that protects the springs ecosystem today.
Healing a Mined-Out Landscape
Long before manatees became Homosassa’s main attraction, the springs were a stop on the Mullet Train, a narrow-gauge railroad that ran from 1887 to 1941. Passengers would pause along what is now Fishbowl Drive to swim and eat beside the spring. But by the 1930s, the landscape surrounding Homosassa was in crisis. Phosphate mining had torn through Citrus County, leaving behind abandoned pits with no value for agriculture and no chance of natural forest recovery.
The New Deal intervened. Between 1936 and 1939, the federal government created the Withlacoochee Resettlement Land Use Demonstration Project, acquiring 39,309 acres in Citrus County alone as part of a 113,000-acre rehabilitation effort. The U.S. Land Resettlement Administration purchased exhausted mining and agricultural land from private owners and placed it under conservation management. Across the state, CCC enrollees planted over 13 million trees and built fire prevention infrastructure, including 3,000 lookout towers.
The Withlacoochee State Forest’s Citrus Tract now encompasses nearly 50,000 acres, much of it originally acquired through the Resettlement Project. The Richloam Fire Tower in the Withlacoochee State Forest dates to the 1930s and 1940s, a lasting artifact of CCC-era fire prevention work across the region.
Conservation Made the Springs Possible
Today, Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is one of the best places in Florida to see manatees in their natural habitat. That habitat exists in part because the New Deal rescued the surrounding landscape from industrial devastation. The forests the CCC replanted, the lands the Resettlement Project preserved, the fire towers that protected regenerating woodlands: all of it contributed to the healthy ecosystem that draws manatees and visitors alike.
To learn more about how we are celebrating the diverse stories behind America’s national heritage, visit America250 at Adventures Unbound.
