Update 2022-05-06: Clean Rivers 2022-05-05.
Happy swimming, boating, and fishing this weekend!
Come on down to Reed Bingham State Park tomorrow for the BIG Little River Paddle Race.
All the WWALS results for Wednesday and Thursday and the Valdosta results up to Monday agree: all the tested locations are clean of E. coli. No sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida, and no rain is predicted. Continue reading
This morning, Valdosta Mayor Scott James and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman talked trash and river paddling on 92.1 FM talk radio.
![[Movie: BIG Little River Paddle Race, Reed Bingham State Park 2022-04-30]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-04-29--videos-scott-james-radio/MVI_0287-28-32-big-little-river-paddle-race-reed-bingham-state-park-2022-04-30.jpg)
Movie: BIG Little River Paddle Race, Reed Bingham State Park 2022-04-30
Get your tickets today to join us tomorrow (Saturday) morning for the annual 3-mile WWALS BIG Little River Paddle Race down the idyllic blackwater Little River from Red Roberts Landing into Reed Bingham State Park Lake.
And another paddle next Saturday, May 7, 2022, on the Withlacoochee River from Langdale Park Boat Ramp to Sugar Creek. The Mayor promised to bring nets for trash. I’ll bring sawzalls for any deadfalls.
We mostly talked about the trash situation, in which the Mayor of Valdosta promised to get trash cans set out on the city’s own parking lots, starting with the ones across from City Hall. We discussed the cleanup award from GA-DNR I picked up in Atlanta Wednesday. Cleanups are great, but not enough. We also need trash traps to stop the stuff from getting out of the creeks into the rivers. And we need parking lot owners to keep trash from getting of their lots and to set out and clean out trash cans. Continue reading
Adel, Georgia, April 28, 2022 —
For the 8AM, Saturday, April 30, 2022, BIG Little River Paddle Race, ticket sales remain open until 5PM Friday, available only online. Join us for a three-mile paddle down the idyllic blackwater Little River into Reed Bingham State Park, between Adel and Moultrie, Georgia. Tickets are $30 per boat online only at wwals.net. See
https://wwals.net/pictures/2022-04-30–blrpr/
You could win in any of a dozen categories, including $100 First Prize. But you are not required to race: it’s a nice spring paddle anyway! Lunch will be provided. You can just paddle along this scenic three-mile stretch of tea-colored river on the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail among cypress trees, turtles, birds, and yes, alligators. (Don’t pet the alligators and they aren’t likely to bother you.) This race also has fierce competitors, with one past winner finishing in barely more than half an hour.
Nobody beat the previous fastest winning time, so this year if somebody does, they will get an additional $200 prize. Winners in other categories each get a special gift.
Photo: Gretchen Quarterman, of Clay York finishing the BIG Little River Paddle Race 2019.
The race will start Continue reading
Update 2022-04-29: GA-DNR Adopt-A-Stream cleanup award to WWALS, Suwannee Riverkeeper on Scott James Radio 2022-04-29.
WWALS won the Adopt-A-Stream Award for cleanups, presented in the Rivers Alive Awards in Atlanta by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
![[Movie: Stopping trash upstream --Suwannnee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman, for WWALS]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-04-27--ga-dnr-adopt-a-stream/MVI_0286-04-stopping-trash-upstream.jpg)
Movie: Stopping trash upstream –Suwannnee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman, for WWALS
Here are WWALS videos of the award being delivered, and of Suwannee Riverkeeper talking about work WWALS is doing upstream to stop the trash before it gets to the rivers, working with the City of Valdosta about trash traps and parking lot ordinance enforcement. Continue reading
Update 2022-04-29: Videos: Trash and river paddles, Suwannee Riverkeeper on Scott James Radio 2022-04-29.
Friday morning at 7 AM, Suwannee Riverkeeper will be on Scott James Talk 92.1 FM radio, about the annual 3-mile BIG Little River Paddle Race down the idyllic blackwater Little River from Red Roberts Landing into Reed Bingham State Park Lake.
No doubt we’ll also talk about the trash situation and how you can help stop a strip mine far too near the Okefenokee Swamp, and ask GA-EPD to stop that second wood pellet plant in Adel while you’re at it. We may also talk about water trails, water quality testing, and who knows what else.
When: 7 AM, Friday, April 29, 2022
Where:
Talk 92.1 FM radio, Scott James drivetime show
https://talk921.com/
Or come buy coffee at Continue reading
Update 2022-04-25: LAKE Videos.
According to the survey plat, the north boundary of this 72-acre subdivision parcel is a creek called Big Branch that runs into Franks Creek (which runs into the Little River, then the Withlacoochee, and the Suwannee).
The lot layout appears to stay well back from that branch and its surrounding wetlands. It’s inside the Hahira City Limits, and likely to be recommended by the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission at its meeting this evening. For more information, see Big Hahira rezoning, 4 small Valdosta @ GLPC 2022-04-25. Continue reading
The presentation was solid, and the discussion was enlightening. Please watch and send us feedback.
The slides are on the WWALS website.
Here is the zoom video of the WWALS webinar about Rights to Clean Water for Georgia, Tuesday, April 19, 2022, from 7:00 to 8:00 PM Eastern Time.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Katherine Ball, Valdosta Daily Times, April 15, 2022, BALL: Residents can help keep rivers clean
I get excited, every year, as Earth Day approaches. Not only is it a great day to spend time preserving and enjoying our planet, it is also my birthday.
As I spend this Birth and Earth Day, in Valdosta, I am reminded of the many childhood memories I made playing in Three Mile Branch creek, off Country Club Road. Looking back, my experiences in those waters, directly shaped who I became as an adult and an artist.
Being the only girl in the Magnolia Plantation cul-de-sac, I often found myself, Continue reading
Update 2022-05-01: Florida petition online now for Right to Clean and Healthy Waters 2022-05-01.
Five of us spoke about the new Florida Right to Clean and Healthy Waters (RTCW) statewide petition for a constitutional amendment. We said saying extraordinary problems demand extraordinary solutions, water supports everything, RTCW is needed like the First Amendment, flow and nitrates in the Santa Fe River and springs need RTCW, and drinking water needs RTCW.
That press conference at Poe Springs Park on the Santa Fe River was covered by CBS4 News out of Gainesville. Here is the TV news story, WWALS video of the speakers, and the full text of the petition amendment.
Julianne Amaya, CBS4, Gainesville, Florida, Thursday, April 21, 2022, Petition calls for ‘rights to clean and healthy waters’ in Florida, Continue reading
Update 2022-04-28: Clean rivers again 2022-04-28.
Happy Earth Day, and good swimming, boating, and fishing this weekend!
All the test results we have are fine for this weekend. There have been no new sewage spills reported in Georgia or Florida. And no rain is predicted for a week.
All the WWALS test results for Wednesday and Thursday were well down in clean green levels.
The most recent results we have from Valdosta are for Monday. They got too high on Okapilco Creek after the Sunday rains (presumably the usual cattle manure). But Valdosta got OK results downstream on the Withlacoochee River for Monday.
Valdosta’s Friday results corroborate what we reported last time. Continue reading
![[Chart, rivers, Swim Guide]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-04-28--wq/many.jpg)
![[Location, Radio]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-04-29--scott-james-radio/many.jpg)
![[SURVEY plat]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-04-25--hahira-rezoning-big-branch-franks-creek/Agenda-Item-9-0010.jpg)
![[Speakers, RTCW]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-04-19--wwals-rtcw-webinar/videos.jpg)
![[Katherine Ball]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-04-15--katherine-ball-vdt/6258175251115.jpg)
![[RTCW, Poe Springs]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-04-21--poe-springs-fl-rtcw-pictures/many.jpg)
![[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-04-21--wq/many.jpg)