Category Archives: Blueway

Conservation

There’s are a reason the WWALS Mission says “conservation”. It’s pithily summed up by Prof. Rahul Mehrotra.

Elizabeth Gudrais wrote for Harvard Magazine May-June 2012, Engaging Students with Conservation,

PROFESSOR OF URBAN DESIGN and planning Rahul Mehrotra has been involved with restoring historic palaces, writing a law on historic preservation in Mumbai, and crafting a conservation master plan for the Taj Mahal. Harvard recruited him in part for this expertise, and this academic year, with Noyes professor in architectural theory Michael Hays, he has launched a conservation track for Graduate School of Design (GSD) master’s students.

Conservation, he says, is not the same as preservation, which focuses on protection and repair. Conservation is broader and richer, combining historical integrity and creativity to develop narratives connecting the present with the past.

Historical narratives like connecting Continue reading →

1970s Alapaha River Trail

Thanks to Glenn Dowling of Georgia River Network for this flyer from the 1970s for an Alapaha River Trail on “Georgia’s Cleanest River”.

Front

300x343 Georgias Cleanest River, in Canoe Guide to the Alapaha River Trail, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 0 1979 CANOE GUIDE
to the
Alapaha
River Trail

GEORGIA’S CLEANEST
RIVER

GEORGIA
State of Adventure

Back

Continue reading →

Alapaha River access at Hwy 82 at very low water

300x179 The cement strip boat ramp is uneven, in Alapaha River access at Hwy 82 at very low water, by Bret Wagenhorst, for WWALS.net, 14 September 2014 Pictures of the location of the Alapaha River Cleanup at US 82, 27 September 2014, taken east of the town of Alapaha at US 82 on the Alapaha River by Bret Wagenhorst.

And this access point is on the Alapaha River Water Trail WWALS is developing.

Continue reading →

Alapaha River Cleanup at US 82, 27 September 2014

300x229 Low water at US 82, in Alapaha River Cleanup @ US 82, by Bret Wagenhorst, for WWALS.net, 27 September 2014 Second WWALS outing this month, this time on land; facebook event.

If you enjoy paddling the Alapaha River, I hope you will consider coming out this Saturday to give back and help clean up along the river’s banks as part of a GA Rivers Alive cleanup. Starts at 0900 at the boat ramp at the Hwy 82 bridge just east of the town of Alapaha. I anticipate the cleanup will last about an hour. Bring work gloves and good cheer.

It is much easier to pick up trash along the banks Continue reading →

Alapaha River Water Trail letter to Lowndes County Commission

Delivered on paper to Commissioner Joyce E. Evans a week ago, and sent by email to all the Lowndes County Commissioners today, with attached PDF. -jsq

WWALS Watershed Coalition
3338 Country Club Road #L336
Valdosta, GA 31605
11 September 2014

Re: Alapaha Water Trail

Dear Lowndes County Commissioners,

WWALS Watershed Coalition is implementing a small grant from Georgia River Network (GRN) to establish an Alapaha River Water Trail. Map, in Alapaha River Water Trail, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 23 September 2014 In addition, a grant application opportunity has come up that could result in funding to Lowndes County for related facilities, and perhaps to extend that Water Trail into a system of Blueways also including the Withlacoochee and Little Rivers. In addition to improving local quality of life, either or both could contribute to the economy of Lowndes County by bringing in boaters on the rivers who would buy locally, and providing features attractive to knowledge-based businesses and their employees. All at little or no cost to the county plus grant funding.

The GRN grant involves Continue reading →

Alapaha River @ US 84: endpoint of Sunday’s WWALS Outing 24 August 2014

Chris Graham took this picture a week ago of the Alapaha River at US 84, where tomorrow’s WWALS Outing will end up. Come join us on this gem of a blackwater rural river! We’re boating the central area of the in-progress Alapaha River Trail, tomorrow afternoon, Sunday, August 24st 2014.

Meet up at 1:30 at Hotchkiss Crossing on the Lanier County side.

We will drop the boats off, drive the end point at US 84, on a public right of way, where the road is gravel.

Get on water at 2:00.

We will pass by the location for the new Lowndes County boat ramp and public access point. This is a relatively short paddle, about 1.27 miles, but it could take as long as 2 hours if the water level stays low.

This event is FREE! All we ask is that Continue reading →

WWALS gets grant from river network –VDT

Statewide organization recognizes WWALS Watershed Coalition, plus local direct and indirect economic benefits of an Alapaha Water Trail, wrote the reporter who called me yesterday about the WWALS PR. -jsq

Matthew Woody wrote for the Valdosta Daily Times yesterday, WWALS gets grant from river network,

The Willacoochee, Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Little River Systems Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS) received a $500 Alapaha Water Trail Grant from the Georgia River Network. John Quarterman, president of WWALS, said that making a water trail on the Alapaha River involves mapping out the river and putting out guide posts. The maps will show where boat ramps are along the river.

This grant goes beyond maps and guide posts; it signifies that a statewide organization recognizes South Georgia rivers.

“The grant for the Alapaha Water Trail is Continue reading →

WWALS July 19 outing.

Update 2014-07-17: River water too low. Outing instead at 8:30AM Saturday 19 July 2014 at Banks Lake.

We should be @ Gaskins Environment Education Center By noon so we can put in @ 12:30 on the Alapaha River upstream and back paddle. Time on water: 2 hr. Tour the center before or after paddle. The Gaskins Forest Education Center is location @ 3359 Moore Sawmill Rd, Alapaha, GA 31622. Alternate if water too low: Banks lake at Ga. hwy 122.