You are invited this Saturday morning to Reed Bingham State Park (between Adel and Moultrie) for a morning of sun, fun, cypress, turtles, and don’t pet the alligator at the fourth annual BIG Little River Paddle Race. You can register online (follow the link) or at the site (also follow the link for details). And Phil Hubbard’s special offer is still open: he will pay for two free registrations. If interested, send email wwalswatershed@gmail.com; first two received win.

Lots of prizes in numerous categories, including $100 for first prize. Plus Phil Hubbard also made and we have available the WWALS Fallers Plaque, which you may win if you inadvertently fall into the water. Thanks again to Bret Wagenhorst of Tifton for organizing the paddle race.

Here’s video of me talking about that on Chris Beckhams’s radio show, WVGA 105.9 FM the morning of May 16th:

BIG Little River Paddle Race 2016-05-21
Video of Chris Beckham radio show 16 May 2016
Video by John S. Quarterman for WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS).

Other things we discussed on the radio:

• Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WRWT or WLRWT).
• WRWT Pamphlet; also thanks to Valdosta-Lowndes Tourism Authority for their generous contribution towards printing fancier WRWT brochures.
• Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail Workshop at VSU back in February.
• WWALS Outings Faller Award, thanks to Phil Hubbard.

Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline

Progress stopping the unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline,

• The great victory of the 128 to 34 GA House denial of river-drilling easements to Sabal Trail and how that’s different from the same day 18-month moratorium against petroleum products pipelines tha caused Kinder Morgan the next week to suspend its Palmetto Project across the Georgia coast to Jacksonville.
• Last Sunday’s hike to the Suwannee River with U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho FL-03 and other elected and appointed officials to show them sinkholes and other discrepancies Sabal Trail didn’t mention to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Rep. Yoho said he would contact the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and ask them to look into that. We’d like the Corps to start a Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS). The three Florida County Commission letters to the Corps are linked in to the above blog post. And we are asking Rep. Austin Scott GA-08 and Rep. Sanford Bishop GA-02, among others, to also ask the Corps for a SEIS.
• Lowndes County Chairman says accepting easement was not endorsement of Sabal Trail pipeline.
• The long letter from WWALS to the Corps.

Alapaha River Water Trail

I didn’t get time to mention that we just paddled the Alapaha River from US 84 to Mayday, with its exotic A+ scenery, and people fishing and swimming around every bend. We started where Lowndes County has purchased land for a boat ramp. These outings continue the WWALS series of paddles exploring the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT), with a few more stretches still to go.

We just reprinted another 5,000 copies of the ARWT brochure, thanks to funding from the Hamilton County, Florida Tourism Development Committee. And we’re negotiating with GDOT about placing signs at access points. You or your organization can help WWALS build the ARWT by contributing time or money, as V-L Tourism, Hamilton County TDC, and others have already done.

More Outings and Advocacy

Watch the WWALS blog, facebook page, or twitter, and newsletter for still more outings and events, or check the WWALS calendar.

On the radio I also didn’t get to mention Valdosta’s ongoing wastewater improvements. There are questions still to be answered, but they say they will be finished this month with the two big pieces of their wastewater fixes: the force main, and the new, uphill, out-of-the-flood-plain Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant.

And I didn’t mention what is Bill Gates up to with his recent purchases of thousands of acres of farmland in five six counties around here?

If you want to help with this work or any of the other dozen WWALS goals, we’re always looking for more committee members or board members.

-jsq

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

Short Link: