The National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) provides data on wetlands throughout the country, plus a mapper, from which I’ve pulled these stills of the Suwannee River Basin.

I used a topo map as background.

Phosphate Mines

One that already exists, and where another one wants to be.

PCS, Hamilton Co., FL, Phosphate mine

All those straight lines don’t look natural, because they’re not. This is the Nutrien (formerly PCS) phosphate mine that just got its five-year permit renewal in Hamilton County, Florida, next to the Suwannee River. White Springs is in the bottom center of this map, with White Sulfur Springs, one of the first tourist attractions in Florida, now dry. The mine says they had nothing to do with that.

Proposed PCS II, Union & Bradford Co., FL, Phosphate mine

This is where local mine proponents want to gouge their HPS II phosphate mine in Union and Bradford Counties, Florida, straddling the New River, upstream from the Santa Fe and Suwannee Rivers.

Sections

Four cross-sections, north to south, in Georgia and Florida, of the Suwannee River Basin.

Cordele, Fitzgerald, Tifton, Willacoochee, GA, Sections

Moultrie, Nashville, Adel, Lakeland, Homerville, Fargo, Statenville, Valdosta, Quitman, GA, Sections

Madison, Jasper, Live Oak, Lake City, Lake Butler, Starke, FL, Sections

High Springs, Chiefland, Cross City, Suwannee, Cedar Key, FL, Sections

Detail

And a few detail maps.

Okapilco, Little, Withlacoochee, Alapaha Rivers, Detail

No wonder they called it the land of the Creeks.

Little River Confluence, Troupville, GA, Detail

Here a few weeks ago WWALS had a 50-person cleanup at the site of the former county seat of Lowndes County, Georgia, at the confluence of the Little River with the Withlacoochee River.

Alapahoochee Confluence, Jasper, FL, Detail

Also visible is the confluence of Turket Creek with the Alapahoochee River, which forms the Turket Creek Waterfall.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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