Category Archives: Agriculture

Suwannee Riverkeeper on Welcome to Florida podcast by Craig Pittman 2025-04-08

Thanks to Craig Pittman for inviting me on his Welcome to Florida podcast, Episode 250: The Suwanee River.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1169570/episodes/16921299

The Suwannee part starts 6:15.

He spells it Suwanee with one n.

Stephen C. Foster spelled it Swanee.

We talked about the Suwannee, Santa Fe, Alapaha, Withlacoochee, New, New, Little, and Little Rivers. About sewage and cow manure, fertlizer nitrates leaching into springs and rivers causing algae blooms, the Hamilton County phosphate mine, and Titanium dioxide mines in north Florida at the top of the Santa Fe River Basin and in south Georgia too near the Okefenokee Swamp. About leaping Gulf sturgeon, Alligator snapping turtles, and beavers.

And musicians, don’t forget to send in your song to the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, part of WWALS River Revue, September 6, 2025, at the Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta, Georgia.
https://wwals.net/?p=67322

Suwannee Riverkeeper on Welcome to Florida podcast, by Craig Pittman, April 8, 2025

Best selling author, award winning reporter and Florida native Craig Pittman is joined by radio personality and Florida transplant Chadd Scott to discuss the state’s history, people, politics, environment, animals, current events and weirdness. You’ll hear great storytelling and have great fun in each weekly episode.

Show Notes Continue reading →

SRWMD exchange back of Ellaville Tract for Riverview Farms Withlacoochee River land? 2025-03-29

Update 2025-04-02: Update Rock Bluff Management Plan, renew Woods Ferry River Camp lease agreement @ SRWMD 2025-04-08.

Update 2025-03-29: See also Florida buys Hardee Spring on the Withlacoochee River.

Why not buy the riverfront property?

It’s easy to see why SRWMD would want the Riverview Farms tract: it’s between two Twin Rivers State Forest tracts on the Withlacoochee River in Madison County and directly across from another in Hamilton County.

SRWMD Land Swap: Gopher tortoises for riverfront, Ellaville Tract for Riverview Farms, Why not buy Riverview Farms?

And SRWMD is offering to trade is not riverfront property; it’s the back of the Ellaville Tract. But it still has gopher tortoises on it: a keystone species that harbors up to 300 other species in its burrows.

If you want to stop this land swap, here’s a petition to sign:
https://act.audubon.org/a/ellaville

And call or write your SRWMD Board member and show up at their next meeting.
https://www.mysuwanneeriver.com/133/Governing-Board

Larry Sessions represents the Upper Suwannee Basin, including both these tracts. Harry Smith and Charles Keith are at large. Chair Virginia H. Johns has to consider the entire District.

Even better, if you know grasstops who have the ear of that Board, such as timber company Rayonier and cattle company Lukes Brothers, ask them to contact the Board.

Craig Pittman called gopher tortoise burrows “Nature’s Condo,” Continue reading →

U.S. EPA recognizes sewage sludge on farmland among human health risks of PFOA and PFOS forever chemicals 2025-01-14

WWALS Science Committee Chair Dr. Tom Potter notes, “Finally EPA has recognized the risks of sludge application to farmland.”

Sewage sludge as fertlizer is a widespread problem in Florida.
https://wwals.net/?p=61560

These forever chemicals as in our rivers in Georgia and Florida. They collect in fish, including in the Alapaha River.

Waterkeeper Alliance encourages Waterkeeper groups to participate in the public comment period, which must be received on or before March 17. Individuals and other groups can also comment.

U.S. EPA recognizes sewage sludge on farmland among human health risk of PFOA and PFOS forever chemicals 2025-01-14

See EPA on Draft Sewage Sludge Risk Assessment for Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid (PFOS) and https://www.Regulations.gov, EPA-HQ-OW-2024-0504; FRL 12451-01-OW. Continue reading →

Students, forestry and water at Gaskins Forest Education Center 2024-06-28

Thanks to Amanda Rollins of Georgia Forestry Foundation for inviting WWALS to talk about forestry and water to elementary school students from Moultrie, Colquitt County, and Albany, Georgia.

Gaskins Forest Education Center, Alapaha, GA, 2024-06-28, 2024-07-10, Forestry and Water, Boys & Girls Club, Georgia Forestry Foundation

At each of two sessions, there were seven groups of students, who cycled by us for 20 minutes each, as one of seven stations.

Thanks to Heather Brasell for hosting this event twice at the Gaskins Forest Education Center.

Thanks to WWALS President Sara Squires Jones and Board member Scotti Jay Jones for staffing the WWALS booth on July 10. Gretchen Quarterman and John S. Quarterman did the same on June 28. Continue reading →

Applicant slides and sound recording, 2,109-acre PUD, Chiefland, FL 2024-06-24

Update 2024-08-12: Packet: Return of the proposed 2,109-acre rezoning for Planned Unit Development in floodplain –City of Chiefland, FL 2024-08-12.

Here is audio of the applicant’s answers to citizen questions in the June 24, 2024 Chiefland City Commission meeting, as well as the applicant’s slides.

Applicant slides, sound recordings 2024-06-24, Proposed 2,109-acre PUD, Chiefland, FL, Manatee Springshed

If somebody wants to transcribe these audio files, that would be most helpful.

Here is part 1 of audio from the June 24, Chiefland City Commission meeting:

Continue reading →

Proposed 2,109-acre rezoning for Planned Unit Development in floodplain –City of Chiefland, FL 2024-07-08

Update 2024-08-12: Packet: Return of the proposed 2,109-acre rezoning for Planned Unit Development in floodplain –City of Chiefland, FL 2024-08-12.

Update 2024-07-20: Applicant slides and sound recording, 2,109-acre PUD, Chiefland, FL 2024-06-24.

The City of Chiefland has an application for a 2,109-acre Planned Unit Development with a 50-year plan for residential, commercial, industrial, and other uses, in an area now zoned as Agricultural / Rural Residential. It is mostly in the floodplain of Long Pond, and upstream of the Suwannee River.

2,109-acre 50-year PUD rezoning

A development where “when you live in the development you don’t have to leave” is not a bad idea. But the location is unfortunate.

Fortunately, the applicant pulled the agenda item for yesterday’s Chiefland City Commission meeting. Chiefland City Hall told me he would resubmit when he thinks he’s ready. So watch for it reappearing.

Two weeks before, many citizens asked many questions. The minutes for that June 24, 2024, City Commission meeting says a representative of the applicant answered all the questions, but the minutes do not say what the answers were.

The agenda for July 8 also does not say what the answers were.

If you oppose this rezoning, you can use the time to organize before the application re-appears.

You may want to consider joining the public facebook group RURL Residents United for Rural Levy.

Apparently the connection to the Suwannee River may involve an underground section. Continue reading →

Aerials of Hodge dirt mine, 10 miles from 3RT Sand Mine, Levy County, FL 2024-01-24

Yesterday we received some pictures of a dirt mine about ten miles east-southeast of the 3RT Sand Mine site. They show mined pits filled with water, as well as mounds of may be barn waste such as manure, or perhaps residue from a nearby saw mill.

Dirt mine dumping, Levy County, FL 2024-01-24

We are not saying there is anything illegal going on at the dirt mine site.

We do wonder that if the activities shown are allowed on a mine site in Levy County, how do we know they won’t happen on the 3RT mine site? And what effect might they have on that much larger proposed mine site?

We are told by a usually reliable source that these aerials were taken January 24, 2024, by a source that wishes to be anonymous, but grants permission for public posting. Continue reading →

Winners: Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2023-09-22

Hahira, GA, September 25, 2023 — Hahira, Georgia, September 25, 2023 — Ten musicians wrote songs and seven sang them, about the delights of the waters of the Suwannee River Basin and the need to preserve them against numerous threats. Jane Fallon came all the way from Dunedin, Florida, to the Turner Arts Center in Valdosta, Georgia, to sing a story about legendary Sun Daughters reflecting on a proposed mine near the Okefenokee Swamp, the headwaters of the Suwannee River. The three judges marked her high on storytelling and presenting the value of the waters, on originality of lyrics and music, and on performance, with extra credit for naming waterways. She took home First Prize in the Sixth Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest.

Suwannee Riverkeeper with the Winners: Cindy Bear and Franc Robert, Best Folk; Jane Fallon, First Prize; Bacon James, Best from Outside; Kyle Bird Chamberlain and David Rodock, tie for Best from Inside; Chamberlain, Best Blues; Rodock, Best AmeriKinda; Kevin Stephenson, Best Country; and Robert Thatcher (not pictured). Photo: Chuck Roberts

Jane Fallon said, “Thank you for the honor in recognizing my song ‘Chant For The Okefenokee’ in your contest. It is always a special feeling to sing a song for an audience that truly understands its meaning. Thank you also for the work you do in trying to preserve the waterways. It is so important.”

Here is the first half of her lyrics: Continue reading →

Videos: Quarterman Road rezoning unanimously denied @ LCC 2023-09-12

Update 2023-09-26: Curious omissions from the minutes; see Packet: Golf carts, mental health, wetland credits, regional transit, Lift Station and Fire Station Access Roads, 2 TIA Road Bids @ LCC 2023-09-25.

The Lowndes County Commission unanimously denied the inappropriate 2.5-acre rezoning proposed on minimum 5-acre and predominantly agriculture, forestry, and conservation Quarterman Road, after five local residents spoke against and nobody for.

Collage, Quarterman Road rezoning denied by Lowndes County Commission 2023-09-12

Thanks to all who signed the petition against that rexoning, who called or wrote County Commissioners, who spoke in the Planning Commission or County Commission meetings, and thanks to the County Commisisoners for denying the rezoning.

Among the five who spoke at the County Commission were Gretchen Quarterman (who also took the videos for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE)) and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman (details on both are below). He made sure the Commissioners had a copy of the WWALS letter that had mysteriously been left out of the board packet; thanks to WWALS President Sara Jay Jones for signing that letter.

This denial comes after two previous denials, both also in an Agriculture/Forestry/Conservation Character Area, both also provoking many petition signatures and speakers in opposition, including WWALS.

The Miller Bridge Road rezoning too near the Little River, that WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman spoke against at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) back in November 2021 and which was unanimously denied by the Lowndes County Commission in February 2022.
The Dollar General rezoning on Skipper Bridge Road that WWALS sent a letter opposing, which would drain its trash down a short creek into the Withlacoochee River, and which the Lowndes County Commission denied in January 2023.

Maybe developers will get the picture that development is not appropriate in such a Character Area, especially when wetlands and waterways are affected.

County Planner

It is interesting the extent to which a development mindset can color a presentation by a County Planner. I was just going to mention one example of that, but as I listened to the LAKE video of his presentation, I kept noticing more examples. Continue reading →

Radio: water quality, cows, trash, mining too near the Okefenokee Swamp @ WKUB FM 2023-09-07

Update 2023-09-13: About WWALS River Revue on The Spotlight Show, Talk92.1 FM 2023-09-14.

How WWALS water quality testing discovered cow manure was contaminating the Withlacoochee River and got it (mostly) fixed.

About that titanium dioxide strip mine proposed too near the Okefenokee Swamp, plus trash and water trails.

Thanks to Bryan Blount for inviting me on WKUB 105.1 FM, from Pierce County, Georgia.

This is Part 2. See also Part 1 about the WWALS River Revue sit-down fundraising dinner, with three speakers, silent auction, and the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, all 6-10 PM, Friday, September 22, 2023, at the Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta, Georgia.

Tickets are available online only here:
https://www.betterunite.com/WWALS-wwalsriverrevue2023/

Suwannee Riverkeeper against a strip mine too near the Okefenokee Swamp, on WKUB FM 2023-09-07

For more Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.