FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Board and Committee members sought by WWALS Watershed Coalition, a WATERKEEPER® Affiliate

Hahira, June 20th, 2015 — From paddle races to opposing pipelines to building water trails for recreation, landowner protection, and economy, local nonprofit WWALS Watershed Coalition seeks additional members, committee members, and board members to extend advocacy for the watersheds of the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, and Little Rivers. Applications are now being accepted online for committee and board members to be elected at the July 8th Annual Meeting in Adel, Georgia, and anyone can pay for a membership at any time.

WWALS Secretary Garry Gentry of Tifton said:

“I have been involved with WWALS since almost the beginning and common sense says we need clean water and good stewardship of our planet to leave as a legacy for the next generation.”

Last month thirty people paddled and won prizes in the Third Annual BIG Little River Paddle Race organized by WWALS and Friends of Reed Bingham State Park.

This month WWALS paddled up the Alapahoochee River from Sasser Landing to see the Turket Creek Waterfall, then down the Alapaha River past springs and the Suck Hole or Devil’s Den, to the Dead River, where a short walk led to the The Siphon, where the water disappears underground. As Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote in his famous poem, Kubla Khan:

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground

With walls and towers were girdled round;

And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,

Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;

And here were forests ancient as the hills,

Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

That outing continued WWALS exploration of the exotic topography and subtropical vegetation and wildlife of Alapaha River. Alapaha River Water Trail Committee members are wanted to help place road signs and kiosks at access points to go with the freshly printed WRWT map brochures. Plus members are wanted to help monitorwater quality and invasive species both on outings and elsewhere.

WWALS Treasurer Gretchen Quarterman of Lowndes County remarked:

“Without clean safe water, we cannot live. Protecting our environment, the rivers, the soil, the aquifer is fundamental to the success of our community.”

WWALS is starting a Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail, which runs much nearer Moultrie, Adel, Hahira, Quitman, and Madison, so people from Colquitt, Cook, Brooks, and Madison Counties may want to join the new WRWT Committee.

Because WWALS was recently approved by WATERKEEPER® Alliance as a WATERKEEPER® Affiliate, it has gained access to more national and international allies in advocacy such as opposing the unnecessary, environmentally damaging, and hazardous Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline, and more people would be most helpful in leveraging those contacts.

WWALS Annual Meeting—July 8, 2015

Each year, WWALS holds an annual meeting with the presentation and review of the annual report and the election of board members at a July meeting. The meeting is scheduled this year for July 8, 2015 at 7:00pm at the IHOP in Adel GA. All WWALS members are invited to attend and those who attend are eligible to vote in the election. Those members interested in being considered for a board position should fill in a WWALS Board Member Application form and submit it by July 1, 2015 for consideration by the nominating committee. Questions about the board or how to participate on a committee should be sent to wwalswatershed@gmail.com.

Former WWALS board member Karan A. Rawlins of Tifton, who has moved on to be president of the Georgia Exotic Pest Council, noted:

“WWALS is great group with an important role to play in keeping our local waterways safe. You have done an amazing job and should be proud of your accomplishments.”

For more on why you should join WWALS in watershed conservation, biographies of current board members with why they are involved are online with a link to the application form at

/about/board/

Contact:

John S. Quarterman, President
WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc.
229-242-0102
wwalswatershed@gmail.com
www.wwals.net
PO Box 88, Hahira, GA 31632

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