On the
Skipper Bridge Gauge,
the level was
122.52 feet NAVD88 (2.22 feet from bottom).
Our recommended levels are Lowest boatable: 122.6′,
Highest safe: 131′.
You could paddle through the trickle, but I doubt you’d get through much of the 5 river miles to Franklinville Landing without having to climb over or under or chainsaw through deadfalls from Hurricane Helene.
Actually, the Suwannee River Sill Gates are always open.
This was a facebook comment yesterday, “Open the dam in the swamp.”
It was on this WWALS facebook post:
Very low water, Fargo Ramp, Suwannee River 2025-11-12 Video by Shirley Kokidko for WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS):
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1946665392780126
The Sill itself was an experiment in fire prevention that did not work,
and also turned out to be a bad idea, because the Okefenokee Swamp
needs fire to regenerate itself.
The Santa Fe River and the Withlacoochee River downstream tested clean for Wednesday.
But WWALS got too-high results at the WaterGoat on Sugar Creek for Monday,
and both WWALS and Valdosta Utilities got too-high results upstream on Hightower Creek at St. Augustine Road.
In addition, Valdosta Utilities got too high at GA 133 on the Withlacoochee River downstream from Sugar Creek.
These continuing high Sugar Creek results are still mysterious,
especially given no rain to wash residue downstream.
No sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in the past week in
Georgia
or
Florida,
except a small spill from a force main break Monday in downtown Chiefland, Levy County, Florida.
No rain is expected for the next week.
So I’d avoid Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River near it.
Other than that, happy paddling,
swimming,
fishing,
and boating this weekend.
If you can find enough water to do those things.
Maybe far downstream on the Withlacoochee or Suwannee Rivers.
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 →
We saw many species of bats on our
leisurely Sunset and Full Beaver Moon Paddle on our mini-Okefenokee
just west of Lakeland, Georgia,
after the sun set and the moon rose.
Thanks to Chris Adams, aka Turtleman, for leading this paddle. He is a very experienced naturalist and former guide at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. He has often paddled with us at Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
Thanks to Bat Biologist (and WWALS Board Member) Elizabeth Brunner for identifying many species of bats living in the one bat tree, and probably a couple more flying by.
Veronica Kelly-Summers, a dedicated Visitor Services Manager with
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge,
talked about the Okefenokee Swamp, its history, significance, places to go, things to do, and what’s next,
in this largest and best-preserved freshwater wetland in the U.S.
The Swamp is the headwaters of two rivers: the St. Marys that forms the border between Georgia and Florida,
and the Suwannee, which flows through Georgia and the Florida state song.
Here is the WWALS video of Veronica’s webinar, from noon-1 PM, Thursday, September 11, 2025:
https://youtu.be/pvLU8wPLsZc
The WWALS
campout at Floyd’s Island
in the middle of the Okefenokee Swamp
has unfortunately been cancelled due to low water.
So you can watch Veronica’s presentation instead.
WWALS Board Member Janet Martin gave a brief introduction.
In questions and answers at the end,
Veronica elaborated on what it means
for the Okefenokee NWR to become a World Heritage Site:
more visibility, more visitors, but no additional federal funding.
Veronica Kelly-Summers is a dedicated Visitor Services Manager with
over 15 years of experience in protecting natural resources and
connecting people with nature. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s
degree in forestry from Southern Illinois University with a focus on
forest recreation and wildlife habitat management. Her career with
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has taken her to eight national
wildlife refuges from the woods and swamps of southern Illinois to
the Loess Bluffs of Iowa and Missouri, the Florida Everglades, and
she’s now stationed at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in
Georgia. She works closely with staff and partners to provide
leadership and strategic direction for the Visitor Services program
including managing visitor facilities and recreational opportunities
for camping, boating, interpretation, environmental education,
special events, outreach, hunting, fishing, managing volunteers, and
much more. When not at work, she enjoys spending time with her
husband, Jacob, and their pets, a yellow lab named Charlie and a
spicy tuxedo cat named Tino.
Join us for a fascinating historical exploration of Georgia’s Wiregrass Region and the complex stories of survival, resistance, and adaptation that unfolded there after the 1814 Treaty of Fort Jackson.
Native American and Passageways to Freedom within the Wiregrass Region1
As settlers moved south of the Oconee River, drawn by the land’s
economic promise, waves of migration and militia efforts reshaped
the landscape—and the lives of the Native American families
who called it home. Through rivers, streams, and the vast Okefenokee
Swamp, Indigenous people found ways not only to endure but to carve
out paths of freedom and self-determination amid the U.S. Indian
Removal Policy of the 1830s.
Drawing from original correspondence between settlers, militia, and
Georgia’s governors in Milledgeville, this presentation reveals how
waterways became corridors of escape and survival. As Everitte
reminds us, “Swamps are places on the margins — as much,
they are places of transition, opportunity, and challenge.”2
The Withlacoochee River tested clean downstream for Wednesday and Thursday.
We also have a completely clean Suwannee River result for last Wednesday.
But Valdosta Utilities again got too-high results upstream on Sugar Creek
at Gornto Road and Baytree Road.
However, Valdosta got OK results for the Withlacoochee River Upstream at US 41,
and OK downstream at GA 133, plus clean farther downstream at US 84,
matching an even cleaner WWALS result on the Withlacoochee almost down at the Suwannee.
So these continuing high Sugar Creek results are still mysterious,
especially given no rain to wash residue downstream
No sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in the past week in
Georgia
or
Florida.
It might rain Saturday morning.
Other than that, no rain is expected for the next ten days.
So I’d avoid Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River near it.
Other than that, happy paddling,
swimming,
fishing,
and boating this weekend.
Or join us tomorrow (Saturday, November 8) at one of two festivals in two states:
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 →
Received yesterday, a comment against the huge borrow pit proposed in a horse area, uphill from the Crystal River, in Citrus County, Florida,
to build another segment of the unnecessary Suncoast Parkway toll road.
That segment 3A would be another stop towards continuing up across the
Suwannee River and other sensitive wetlands all the way to the GA-FL line towards
Thomasville, Georgia.
Hurricane evacuation is the usual excuse for this toll road,
but solar panels and batteries for houses and businesses would cost less
and would mean many people would not have to evacuate and would not be
without power for weeks as happens now after every hurricane.
You can also send a public comment, to:
PublicMail.CESAJ-CC@usace.army.mil
Formal Public Comment and Request for Clean Water Act §404(q) Review
November 6, 2025
Dear Regulatory Division:
Please find attached the Formal Public Comment “A permit that Never
Existed” Statement for the Record submitted by the Stop the Sand
Mine Committee regarding the proposed Suncoast Parkway 2 Segment 3A
(FPID 442764-2), and the related Southworth sand mine property
purchase now being pursued by FDOT using public tax dollars.
![[Withlacoochee Trickle, Hagan Bridge Landing, 2025-11-17, GA 122 east of Hahira, Lowndes County, GA]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-17--withlacoochee-trickle-hagan-bridge/fbmany.jpg)
![[Open the Okefenokee Gates, Suwannee River Sill, Actually always open, Since around 2000]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-15--open-the-okefenokee-gates/fbmany.jpg)
![[Clean Santa Fe River and Withlacoochee downstream, Dirty Hightower and Sugar Creek, 2025-11-12]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-12--wq/many.jpg)
![[Lakeland Boat Ramp, Alapaha River 2025-11-12, Water very low, Lower than recommended]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-12--lakeland-boat-ramp-alapaha-river/fbmany.jpg)
![[Full Beaver Moon Paddle, Banks Lake, 2025-11-05, Guide: Chris Turtleman Adams, Bat Biologist: Elizabeth Brunner]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-05--full-beaver-moon-paddle-pictures/fbmany.jpg)
![[Okefenokee Swamp by Veronica Kelley-Summers, a WWALS Webinar by Zoom, 2025-09-11]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-09-11--okefenokee-swamp-webinar-video/fbmany.jpg)
![[Alapaha Station Celebration, Alapaha, Georgia, Thanks, Gretchen and Heather, Heavy Rain 2025-11-08]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-08--alapaha-station-celebration-pictures/fbmany.jpg)
![[Geography of Opportunity in Georgia's Wiregrass Region, by History Instructor Vickie Everitte, a WWALS Webinar, Noon-1 PM by zoom, 2025-12-11]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-12-11--geography-of-opportunity-webinar/many.jpg)
![[Clean Withlacoochee River, Dirty Sugar Creek, Might rain Saturday, 2025-11-06]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-06--wq/many.jpg)
![[Comment and CWA Request, re Suncoast Parkway 2 Seg 3A --Stop the Sand Mine Committee, 2025-11-06]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-11-06--stop-the-sand-mine-comment-suncoast-parkway-seg-2/fbmany.jpg)