Tag Archives: John S. Quarterman

Pictures: Children and Working Forests at Gaskins Forest Education Center 2025-06-06

We showed maps, pictures, and the EnviroScape to students brought by the Colquitt / Moultrie Boys and Girls Clubs, at the Gaskins Forest Education Center (GFEC) near Alapaha, Georgia.

We also discussed water trails, water quality testing, trash, and how to stop it being produced.

[Children and Working Forests at Gaskins Forest Education Center, Georgia Forestry Foundation, Colquitt/Moultrie B&G Club 2025-06-06]
Children and Working Forests at Gaskins Forest Education Center, Georgia Forestry Foundation, Colquitt/Moultrie B&G Club 2025-06-06

Gretchen Quarterman and her granddaughters Elleanor and Hazel Williams did most of the teaching. They especially like using the EnviroScape to show how watr flowing downhill carries all sorts of things with it.

Thanks to Amanda Rollins of Georgia Forestry Foundation for inviting us again this year.

Thanks to Heather Brasell, as always, for providing the venue. GFEC is near the Alapaha River on the WWALS Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT). Moultrie is on Okapilco River, as they call Okapilco Creek in Colquitt County. All above the Floridan Aquifer, from which we all drink with straws.

Heather is also a former WWALS Board member and a current WWALS water quality tester.

Here is video of a WWALS Webinar she did: The effects of forest management on water quality –Heather Brasell, WWALS Webinar 2024-11-14. Continue reading

WWALS Annual Members Meeting and Quarterly Board Meeting, by Zoom 2026-07-12

Sunday evening, July 12, 2026:

6:00-6:30 PM, WWALS Annual Member Meeting
Presentation of annual report, election of some board members.

6:30-8:00 PM, WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting
Election of Officers, reports by officers, staff, and committees

All online by zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81934488179?pwd=GSsu2IaE4kXf2EoUjgI5S1tsS1fUbU.1

Facebook event:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1053544810682545/

[WWALS Annual Members Meeting, Annual Report 2026-07-12, Quarterly Board Meeting, Election of Officers, by Zoom]
WWALS Annual Members Meeting, Annual Report 2026-07-12, Quarterly Board Meeting, Election of Officers, by Zoom

AMM

Agenda for WWALS Annual Member Meeting: PDF Continue reading

Clean Withlacoochee River 2026-06-29 and Alapaha River 2026-07-01

The Withlacoochee River and the Alapaha River tested clean in the results we have for this week.

No new sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia.

According to the results we have, happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating, and it’s even supposed to be sunny Saturday and Sunday morning.

This image is an illustration. Scroll down for the details.

[Clean Withlacoochee 2026-06-29, and Alapaha River 2026-07-01, Sunny Saturday and Sunday morning, Happy paddling, swimming, and fishing]
Clean Withlacoochee 2026-06-29, and Alapaha River 2026-07-01, Sunny Saturday and Sunday morning, Happy paddling, swimming, and fishing

Follow this link for the WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results, rainfall, and sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results

The image below is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet. Continue reading

Clean Withlacoochee and Santa Fe Rivers 2026-06-25

Update 2026-07-03: Clean Withlacoochee River 2026-06-29 and Alapaha River 2026-07-01.

The Withlacoochee River and the Santa Fe River tested clean in the results we have for this week. Even Sugar Creek tested pretty clean.

No new sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia.

According to the results we have, happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating, and it’s even supposed to be sunny this weekend.

Maybe you’d like to join WWALS for Gibson County Park to SRSP Paddle, Suwannee River 2026-06-27.

https://wwals.net/?p=70541

This image is an illustration. Scroll down for the details.

[Clean Withlacoochee and Santa Fe Rivers, plus Sugar Creek, 2026-06-25]
Clean Withlacoochee and Santa Fe Rivers, plus Sugar Creek, 2026-06-25

Follow this link for the WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results, rainfall, and sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results

The image below is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet. Continue reading

Filthy Sugar Creek 2026-06-19

Update 2026-06-26: Clean Withlacoochee and Santa Fe Rivers 2026-06-25.

WWALS got a filthy water quality result for Sunday at the WaterGoat on Sugar Creek, just downstream from Two Mile Branch and not far upstream from the Withlacoochee River.

I was hoping to include the City of Valdosta’s Monday results for GA 133 and US 84 on the Withlacoochee River, but those are not published yet.

No new sewage spills were reported since our last WWALS water quality report in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia.

But we have to wonder, since these high Sugar Creek results keep happening, whether there is still some sewage problem on Sugar Creek or upstream on Two Mile Branch or One Mile Branch.

This image is an illustration. Scroll down for the details.

[Filthy Sugar Creek at WaterGoat 2026-06-19, Just upstream from Withlacoochee River]
Filthy Sugar Creek at WaterGoat 2026-06-19, Just upstream from Withlacoochee River

Follow this link for the WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results, rainfall, and sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results

The image below is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet. Continue reading

Pictures: Juneteenth at Reed Bingham State Park Beach, Little River 2026-06-20

More than 20 boatloads of new paddlers went on Reed Bingham State Park Lake, in Juneteenth, June 20, 2026, by Macedonia Community Foundation and WWALS.

Thanks to Fannie Marie Gibbs for the idea. She was indisposed and could not come. Her grandchildren Andre and Aisha Gibbs and friends and relatives brought the food and the games for children.

WWALS supplied the boats and the stunt adults to paddle with children whose parents don’t want to get in a boat: Andrew Reinlieb, Gretchen Quarterman, Scotti Jay, and John S. Quarterman, plus Kimberly Godden Tanner signing people in.

[Juneteenth with new boaters, Reed Bingham State Park Beach, Little River 2026-06-20, And food!]
Juneteenth with new boaters, Reed Bingham State Park Beach, Little River 2026-06-20, And food!

Here are some video snippets:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/902855629498139/

https://youtu.be/_APnkogCgcg

People seemed to like it. I took the first boatload out soon after the 11 AM start time, and more boatloads of new paddlers were still going well after the nominal 3 PM end time, even after 4 PM.

Georgia State Parks raised the parking rate from to $10. Sorry about that. Other than that, there was no charge.

June 19, 2027, is on a Saturday, so that’s the most likely next time for this Juneteenth celebration.

If you want to know about Juneteenth the event, try this:

https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/moments/juneteenth Continue reading

Clean Withlacoochee River 2026-06-18

Update 2026-06-24: Filthy Sugar Creek 2026-06-19.

The Withlacoochee River tested clean in the results we have for this week.

No new sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia.

According to the results we have, happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating, if you can find some time between the rains.

Maybe you’d like to join WWALS for Juneteenth at Reed Bingham State Park Beach, Little River 2026-06-20.

https://wwals.net/?p=70133

This image is an illustration. Scroll down for the details.

[Clean Withlacoochee River, 2026-06-18, Water levels up, Much rain predicted]
Clean Withlacoochee River, 2026-06-18, Water levels up, Much rain predicted

Follow this link for the WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results, rainfall, and sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results

The image below is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet. Continue reading

Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2026-06-07

We put in at Troupville Boat Ramp and chainsawed a few big deadfalls and some small ones up past Sugar Creek.

[Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, Up past Sugar Creek 2026-06-07, From Troupville Boat Ramp, And back again]
Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River, Up past Sugar Creek 2026-06-07, From Troupville Boat Ramp, And back again

Thanks to Phil Hubbard for leading this expedition and doing most of the chainsawing.

Thanks to Daniel Reinlieb for riding along, sawing, bailing, and picking up trash.

Here are some video snippets:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/959705457046263/

https://www.instagram.com/p/DZxzra9IFZP/

https://youtu.be/eIwdkvY8t6w Continue reading

Pictures: Alapahoochee River Cleanup 2026-05-30

We started at Sasser Landing on the Alapaha River and paddled up the Alapahoochee River, chainsawing passage through several deadfalls, 0.86 river miles up to Devil Shoal, on this May 30, 2026, WWALS river outing.

[Pictures: Alapahoochee River Cleanup, Turket Creek Waterfall, Passage Chainsawed from Sasser Landing up to Devil Shoal 2026-05-30]
Pictures: Alapahoochee River Cleanup, Turket Creek Waterfall, Passage Chainsawed from Sasser Landing up to Devil Shoal 2026-05-30

There was no way to even walk up past Devil Shoal anymore, after Hurricane Helene and numerous other storms. So we turned back, also to get ahead of the predicted thunderstorm.

Of course we stopped at Turket Creek Waterfall, where some dipped in the river and others hiked up the bank.

As we neared Sasser Landing again, our expedition leader Kyle “Bird” Chamberlain summed it up, “We did as much as we could, as long as we could.”

We’ll be back at a later date, to start higher up the Alapahoochee, when the water level gets appropriate again.

Here are some video snippets:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/2099033114344650/

https://www.instagram.com/p/DZscx7QopwX/

https://youtu.be/hMuKMrxxLDk Continue reading

Clean Alapaha, Withlacoochee, Santa Fe Rivers 2026-06-10

Update 2026-06-19: Clean Withlacoochee River 2026-06-18.

Even better news! The Alapaha, Withlacoochee, and Santa Fe Rivers tested even better this week.

No new sewage spills were reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia.

According to the results we have, happy paddling, swimming, fishing, and boating.

Maybe you’d like to join WWALS for Statenville to Sasser Landing, Alapaha River 2026-06-13.

https://wwals.net/?p=70464

This image is an illustration. Scroll down for the details.

[Clean Alapaha 2026-06-07, Withlacoochee 2026-06-08, Santa Fe 2026-06-10, Happy paddling & swimming]
Clean Alapaha 2026-06-07, Withlacoochee 2026-06-08, Santa Fe 2026-06-10, Happy paddling & swimming

Follow this link for the WWALS composite spreadsheet of water quality results, rainfall, and sewage spills in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida:
https://wwals.net/issues/testing/#results

The image below is a current excerpt from that spreadsheet. Continue reading