Category Archives: Cleanup

Two Mile Branch Rivers Alive Trash Clean Up, Valdosta 2022-04-16

Join us for a cleanup on Two Mile Branch in Valdosta, Georgia. This is part of the WWALS Earth Day 2022 events. It’s also a Georgia Rivers Alive cleanup. Floridians, this is getting trash that would otherwise go down Two Mile Branch and Sugar Creek to the Withlacoochee River into Florida.

You can also help by reporting any trash or litter problem you see in Valdosta with Valdosta’s Click ‘n’ Fix smartphone app.

For trash or other problems elsewhere, here’s how to report: https://wwals.net/report/.

For more about the Valdosta trash situation, see: https://wwals.net/issues/trash/

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9 AM, end 12 PM, Saturday, April 16, 2022

Put In: 1011 Stone Castle, Valdosta, GA 31602. That’s off of Mack Drive, between Oak Street and Berkley Drive, north of Gornto Road, south of Canna Drive and Jerry Jones.

GPS: 30.86152, -83.297329

Bring: Cleanup materials will be provided, but if you’ve got a trash picker, bring it along. Also mud boots, sturdy pants, and gloves.

Free: This outing is free to everyone!

We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/#join

Event: facebook, meetup

[Two Mile Branch, Upstream from Berkley Drive, downstream from Oak Street]
Two Mile Branch, Upstream from Berkley Drive, downstream from Oak Street

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Earth Day Rivers Alive Trash Clean Up, Pafford’s Landing, Alapaha River 2022-04-16

Update 2022-05-12: Pictures: Pafford’s Landing cleanup 2022-04-16.

Join us for a cleanup at the white sand beach of Pafford’s Landing on the Alapaha River east of Lakeland, Georgia. This is one of the WWALS events celebrating Earth Day 2022.

When: Gather 9 AM, end 12 PM, Saturday, April 16, 2022

Put In: Pafford’s Landing, east of Lakeland, GA, on the south side of GA 122 and GA 37, into the woods, on the right bank (west side) of the Alapaha River, in Lanier County, on the WWALS Alapaha River Water Trail.

GPS: 31.043011, -83.042564

Bring: Cleanup materials will be provided, but if you’ve got a trash picker, bring it along. No boat is required, but if you want to bring one, you can use it.

Free: This outing is free to everyone!

We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/#join

Event: facebook, meetup

[Pafford's Landing ARWT signs, beach with view of bridge]
Pafford’s Landing ARWT signs, beach with view of bridge.

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Earth Day 2022

Update 2022-04-07: Two Mile Branch Rivers Alive Trash Clean Up, Valdosta 2022-04-16 2022-04-16.

Update 2022-04-05: Constitutional Right to Clean Water: RTCW for Georgia, WWALS Webinar 2022-04-19.

Earth day itself is April 22, 2022. WWALS will have several events surrounding that day: two cleanups, a full moon paddle, a paddle race, and a river paddle and cleanup.

[Cleanups and paddles]
Cleanups and paddles

Before Earth Day

Continue reading →

Withlacoochee Florida Paddle and Cleanup 2022-06-04

Update 2022-06-03: Because of low water, we’re shifting downstream: Florida Campsites to Allen Ramp, Withlacoochee River 2022-06-04.

Hahira, Georgia, March 30, 2022 — WWALS and Madison and Hamilton Counties, Florida, invite you to join us for a summer paddle to see springs and sinks and to clean up the Withlacoochee River, on Saturday, June 4, 2022. It’s 12.5 miles from Sullivan Launch to Madison Ramp along this wooded blackwater river, with a lunch stop along the way. At lunch, Brett Hemphill of Karst Underwater Research will tell us about the many local caverns connected to the river and its creeks.

1311x676 Distributary, Boats, Withlacoochee River, Hardee Spring, Trash, M, in Withlacoochee Florida Paddle and Cleanup, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 4 June 2022Distributary, Boats, Withlacoochee River, Hardee Spring, Trash, M, in Withlacoochee Florida Paddle and Cleanup, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 4 June 2022

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Boxes down into the water at Flying J, Exit 2, I-75 2022-03-19

Update 2022-07-07: Chain link fence, trash cans, and dumpsters: Flying J, Exit 2 2022-07-02.

There’s been some improvement down at the Flying J at I-75 Exit 2 in Lowndes County, Georgia, but there are still discarded boxes in the water, and Denny’s and the Flying J still haven’t finished the fence that would help a lot.

[Boxes at Flying J, Marie Calender's]
Boxes at Flying J, Marie Calender’s

Apparently Marie Callender’s itself has fallen on hard times, and Denny’s lost 60% of its customers in 2021, after losing 52.7% the previous year. But that still doesn’t seem an excuse for discarding boxes into nearby waterways.

Maybe if they finished the fence, like they were supposed to be doing in December 2019, that would cut down on the problem, which has been going on at least since August 2019.

I am also sending this report to Lowndes County Code Enforcement. Continue reading →

Sugar Creek trash after a half inch of rain 2022-03-16

Kentucky Fried Chicken, Michelob Ultra, vitamin water, and many other bottles cans, and styrofoam, were netted in two cleanouts at the WWALS trash boom in Sugar Creek. The first was after a weekend half-inch rain, then after the Monday half-inch rain.

[Trash and boom, Sugar Creek]
Trash and boom, Sugar Creek

KFC appears to have three locations in Valdosta:

  • 1207 N. Ashley Street, which is near One Mile Branch upstream of Drexel Park.
  • 3026 N. Ashley Street, which is near the top of Three Mile Branch, which does not run into Sugar Creek.
  • 1300 St. Augustine Road, which should drain into Lake Sheri, and be caught by Valdosta’s one existing trash trap west on Baytree Road.

Sure, anybody could have thrown that KFC cup away anywhere. But if it came off a KFC parking lot, I’d guess the one at 1207 N. Ashley Street. Continue reading →

Trash beyond fence not finished at Flying J, I-75 exit 2 2022-02-26

Update 2022-03-21: Boxes down into the water at Flying J, Exit 2, I-75 2022-03-19.

Well, they never finished the fence behind the Flying J at I-75 Exit 2, after Lowndes County Code Enforcement made them and Dennys clean up back there in 2019. The trash is not as bad as it was, but definitely room for further improvement.

[Trash in water, No Dumping sign, trash where no fence]
Trash in water, No Dumping sign, trash where no fence

That’s Flying J Travel Center #631, 7001 Lake Park Bellville Road, Lake Park, GA 31636.

As near as I can tell, that containment pond eventually drains into Deese Tract Creek that runs into the Withlacoochee River just upstream from Sullivan Launch.

I will mention this to Lowndes County Code Enforcement. Continue reading →

Pictures: Family fun cleanup, Sugar Creek, Onemile Branch, Little and Withlacoochee Rivers 2021-10-09

Saturday’s River and Creek Cleanup went well. Here are pictures from Troupville Boat Ramp up from Land Between the Rivers on the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers, from Sugar Creek at the Salty Snapper, and from Drexel Park on Onemile Branch.

[Troupville, Sugar Creek, Chairman and Mayor doing work, Drexel Park]
Troupville, Sugar Creek, Chairman and Mayor doing work, Drexel Park

Thanks to recent cleanups by Valdosta Stormwater, Sugar Creek wasn’t bad, but we found plenty of trash between the Salty Snapper parking lot and the creek, and Scotti and Sara hauled up from the woods a tire with rim and a satellite dish.

Thanks to Stafford, the owner of the parking lot on St. Augustine Road at Hightower Creek, keeping it much cleaner, there should be less trash coming down Sugar Creek.

Thanks to weeksly cleanups by Lowndes County Litter Control, Troupville Boat Ramp itself was pretty clean, but there was no shortage of trash to pick up downstream at Land Between the Rivers. Thanks to landowner Helen Tapp for getting her hunting lease to hold off for the day.

You don’t see this very often: Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter and Valdosta Mayor Scott James doing actual work together.

Later, they told everyone they were working together to purchase Helen’s land to add to the existing park to form a bigger nature park with a Troupville River Camp. Continue reading →

WWALS calls in the Marines to clean up Pafford’s Landing 2021-07-24

Only two of us showed up at Pafford’s Landing for the July Alapaha River cleanup, due to the weather and the state of the access road. But the Marines were there, with recruits! We got 60 pounds of trash, and the Marines rescued my boat.

[Pafford's Landing, trash, Alapaha River, Marines, boat, bags, potholes]
Pafford’s Landing, trash, Alapaha River, Marines, boat, bags, potholes

See also Bobby McKenzie’s facebook video of Marines helping clean up.

Pafford’s Landing is just east of Lakeland, Georgia. It’s a few thousand feet downstream from Lakeland Boat Ramp on GA 122. Both are part of the Alapaha River Water Trail. Continue reading →

Sugar Creek Valdosta Stormwater bug-bitten cleanup 2021-09-30

Bobby McKenzie noticed somebody had been there, so I wrote to Valdosta Stormwater Director Angela Bray, “Thanks for another Sugar Creek logjam cleanup; Are we guessing correctly that it was you and Valdosta Stormwater?”

She answered:

You guessed right!

I only took a picture of the trash we picked up. We forgot mosquito spray so we had to get in and out as quick as possible! 🙂

The creek is definitely dropping but makes it super slippery.

[Bags of trash in boat]
Bags of trash in boat

Thanks to Valdosta Stormwater for cleaning up the Sugar Creek trashjam twice in one month! It’s good to see they’re having the full experience, like we have for more than a year now, cleaning up this repeating logjam of trash. For much more about the problem, its upstream sources, and how it can be fixed, see the post about their previous cleanup.

You are all invited to come help clean up Sugar Creek on Saturday, October 9, 2021, at this same location behind the Salty Snapper on Gornto Road, just upstream from the Withlacoochee River. Continue reading →