Update 2020-04-08: Shelby Miller will be livestreaming on the facebook event at 7:15 PM for an hour. Bobby McKenzie will be there in the raffle kayak. You can stay home and watch.

Due to the virus pandemic, WWALS is cancelling the next Full Moon Paddle at Banks Lake, formerly scheduled for sunset, Wednesday, April 8, 2020, with that lunar-monthly series to resume later.

But we have livestreams, videos, and online events, as well as outings and events planned for months from now, while WWALS advocacy continues. You can help.

Shelby Miller will livestream from Banks Lake at the originally-scheduled date and time for the Banks Lake Full Pink Moon Paddle, so you can see as if you were there.

Photo: Gretchen Quarterman, Sunset behind paddlers, Banks Lake, 2020-02-09

It probably would be possible to hold this Full Moon Paddle, since there is no shuttle so no cramming into vehicles, people could put their boats in one by one, and on the lake everybody is far apart, but we’re not going to do that.

Lakeland and Lanier County have declared a 9PM curfew, as I believe have Nashville and Adel, Georgia, in Berrien and Cook Counties, and there is a case confirmed in Clinch County. Lowndes County and all its cities have issued a “voluntary” stay-home order prohibiting gatherings of 10 or more people, as has the state of Georgia. Madison County, Florida, similarly is trying for no groups of 10 or more. While some of these orders currently expire on April 6, don’t be surprised if they get extended.

WWALS does not want to provide any opportunity for anybody to violate any of those things.

So, please stay home and help stop the spread of the novel Coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease it causes.

We’re not postponing this outing: we’re cancelling. Whenever the curfews and the like are clear enough, we will resume our series of lunar-monthly WWALS Full Moon Paddles on Banks Lake.

While you’re home, please post your pictures and videos of your outings on lakes, rivers, creeks, swamps, springs, etc. Here are some from the Full Storm Moon Paddle on Banks Lake, February 9, 2020.

Paddlers golden in sunset

Feel free to get a ticket to the WWALS kayak raffle of an Emotion Stealth 11 Sit-On-Top Kayak with Carlisle Paddle.

You can attend some of our virtual events, such as the WWALS livestreams of one or two people at the sites and original dates of the postponed

• April 18th Earth Day Cleanup at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp on the Withlacoochee River and the
• April 25th BIG Little River Paddle Race at Reed Bingham State Park.

You can visit our WWALS festival booth, currently located in the woods, since we are not attending any festivals at least through the end of March.

Welcome to the booth

You can contribute to our Water Quality Testing Program, which is a solitary activity that our volunteers continue. We just ordered another big box of Petrifilms. That costs a heap of money for a tiny nonprofit, so your financial assistance will be appreciated. Here’s a WWALS video playlist of me explaining some recent results.

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman explaining water quality results for
Filthy Crooked Creek, clean Okapilco Creek upstream 2020-03-20
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS),
at the WWALS booth in the woods, 2020-03-21.

We’ll be posting a bunch of videos from last year’s Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, in preparation for the Third Annual, which is still on for August 22, 2020. Song submission will open on April First, no fooling!

We are still working up brochures and signs for the two WWALS water trails, planning for the Troupville River Camp, and fundraising for a lawsuit against FERC. You can help.

The WWALS Boomerang Paddle Race, from Georgia to Florida and back again, is still on for Saturday, October 24, 2020. It doesn’t have a shuttle, so even if physical distancing continues that long, we can probably find a way.

For more WWALS outings and events as they are posted, see the WWALS calendar or the WWALS outings and events web page. WWALS members also get an upcoming list in the Tannin Times newsletter.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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

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