FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WWALS receives Alapaha Water Trail grant from Georgia River Network
Adel, GA, July 21st 2014 — The statewide umbrella
group
Georgia River Network has
awarded a grant
to WWALS Watershed Coalition to help conserve the
mostly-undiscovered recreational and economic gem of
the Alapaha River by constructing an
Alapaha Water Trail (ART).
WWALS invites landowners, local governments, and the public
to participate.
Brown’s Guide to Georgia describes the Alapaha as “jungle-like in its remoteness and luxurious with exotic vegetation, the dark reddish-brown waters of the Alapaha wind through a swampy wonderland teeming with wildlife.”
A Water Trail or blueway will help more people see this local gem, raising awareness to conserve it, more than outweighing the minimal disturbance of signs and boats. WWALS will draw on GRN’s extensive experience with Water Trails on other rivers in Georgia.
WWALS will center the initial blueway section
on the
Alapaha River Park recently funded by SPLOST tax dollars
for implementation by the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and
Recreation Authority (VLPRA), after
a successful campaign
for that park with the Lowndes County Commission last year.
Starting at Lakeland in Lanier County, the Alapaha Water
Trail will run
from GA 122 past
the site of Hotchkiss
Bridge (Lanier County), to
the new park at US 84 (Lowndes
County), to Statenville (Echols County), connecting
to Florida’s
Suwannee River Wilderness Trail (SRWT)
near Jennings (Hamilton County, FL).
Distances between those put-ins are rather long for family
outings, so WWALS seeks landowners who would be willing to
provide community access in between, or perhaps emergency
exits. Some landowners may wish to showcase their local
native plants or minerals, perhaps even offering local hiking
trails or greenways.
Landowners farther upriver than Lakeland are also invited
to participate, since the ART should expand up that way.
The SWRT already includes the Florida portions of the Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers, with a boat ramp at the junction of the Alapahoochee River and a canoe launch near Jennings, FL:
http://www.floridastateparks.org/ wilderness/Maps.cfm
http://www.srwmd.state.fl.us/ DocumentCenter/Home/View/1224
The SWRT includes most of the section where the Alapaha River goes underground south of Statenville, GA in the dry season, bubbling back up very cold at the Alapaha Rise south of Jennings, FL, flowing for a few more miles before joining the Suwannee River. Fortunately, the SWRT includes hiking and biking trails, so a dry-land river section is no problem. WWALS plans for ART to also branch out into hiking and biking trails or greenways, probably starting with hiking the riverbed in that dry section.
The August WWALS outing is to the Alapaha Rise and mouth
of the Alapaha on the Suwannee, so you can see for yourselves.
ART guide materials
(brochures, maps, guides, cards) will include side trips
for
Grand Bay Wetlands Management Area (Lowndes County)
and
Banks Lake (Lanier County).
WWALS welcomes local government participation in
implementing
and promoting this Alapaha Water Trail. Boating, fishing,
and camping are
environmentally-friendly ways to promote
the local economy. Boaters buy gear and eat at local
restaurants, and not everybody sleeps in a tent; some stay
in local hotels. This kind of recreational opportunity
improves quality of life, and
is attractive to employees of knowledge-based businesses.
WWALS welcomes donations and foundation support to implement further Water Trails, such as upstream on the Alapaha, plus on the Withlacoochee and Little Rivers, and possibly on the Willacoochee and Alapahoochee Rivers, maybe even on Okapilco Creek and other creeks in the WWALS watersheds.
WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. is
an advocacy organization
working for watershed conservation of the Willacoochee,
Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Little River Systems watershed
in south Georgia and north Florida through awareness,
environmental monitoring, and citizen advocacy. WWALS’
nine
board members hail from four counties: Tift, Berrien,
Lanier, and Lowndes; board meetings are open to the public.
WWALS hosts monthly outings on the rivers, including the annual BIG Little River Paddle Event at Reed Bingham State Park.
WWALS holds frequent indoor
events about
invasive and native plants, the
Floridan Aquifer,
history, archaeology, water quality and
quantity. WWALS advocacy
so far has included
speaking at the
Georgia Public Service Commission in favor of
solar power for less water use,
filing as an intervenor against the Sabal Trail methane
pipeline that would
cross our Withlacoochee River twice,
and
lobbying the Lowndes County Commission for
establishment of an Alapaha River Park.
WWALS invites you to become a member today!
Contact:
Chris Graham 229-588-1392
John S. Quarterman 229-242-0102
wwalswatershed@gmail.com
http://wwals.com/blog
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