Lake Apopka used to be the second largest lake in Florida, crystal clear and filled with big mouth bass. Men and women would experience direct contact with the pesticides on the fields and children would be affected as well in the proces s. This created a huge health risk to this population of people. Farmworkers who once toiled in the pesticide-laced muck farms off Lake Apopka have complained for years of common symptoms: unusual rashes, swelling and arthritic conditions. These taxes were necessary to fund the maintenance and expansion of a massive engineering project: the formation of the muck farms. The Lake Apopka North Shore is a true diamond in the rough. Now the water is the color of black tea with milk and the big mouth bass have been displaced by what locals refer to as a “trash fish”- shad. This muck land, much like the famed Everglades muck, was valued for its fertility.

Some 9,000 acres of muck land were reclaimed from underneath the lake, through the creation of a levee. The 20,000 acres that make up the Lake Apopka North Shore, were once part of the lake itself. Farm Workers & Lake Apopka. Thousands of farm workers worked day after day to cultivate and harvest crops lad en with chemical pesticides. Apopka and the adjoining former muck farms provide a valuable case study for future large-scale restoration of muck impaired lakes and subsided wetlands. However, these valuable wetlands were separated from the lake in 1941 by a large levee. The restoration of former muck farms has transformed this area into a haven for wildlife and a jewel for the recreating public. Lawton Chiles did the right thing when he signed legislation approving the $20 million appropriation for the buyout of Lake Apopka muck farms. Lake Apopka lies mostly within the bounds of Orange County, although the western part of the lake lies within Lake County, Florida. Gov.