Category Archives: Cleanup

Better Saturday at Knights Ferry, Nankin, Withlacoochee River, but rain 2020-04-18

Update 2020-04-24: OK quality mid-week, but much rain yesterday, Withlacoochee River 2020-04-22.

WWALS Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall got 300 cfu/100 mL E. coli at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp Saturday, and 333 at Nankin Boat Ramp, both on the Withlacoochee River. That’s similar to Thursday at Knights Ferry, and better at Nankin; both not good, but not terrible. See also What do these numbers mean?

But watch out: it rained a quarter inch in Brooks County, Georgia, Sunday. WWALS continues testing and correlating results from various sources with rainfall.

You can help by donating for water quality collection supplies. Even those metal yellow Caution signs cost money. See below for those signs going up during the livestreamed virtual Earth Day cleanup at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp.

[Boaters, Suzy, signs, trash, Bobby]
Boaters, Suzy, signs, trash, Bobby

There were a bunch of boaters, all keeping their distance. They were already aware of the contamination, but did not plan to get in the river water.

Apparently most of the previous contamination had washed down the river, but how far? Continue reading →

No WWALS booth at festivals rest of March 2020 due to virus

Due to the many health considerations of our volunteers and their families, WWALS, exercising an abundance of caution, will not send the information booth to festivals for the rest of March 2020.

Preparing for Community Mass Gatherings --GA-DPH

This means we are cancelling our appearances at:

While we are sorry to have to do that, the risk is beyond simple infection of our booth volunteers, which would be bad enough. The novel coronavirus is airborne, causes a disease that Continue reading →

Video: Earth Day Cleanup and Paddle –Suwannee Riverkeeper & Georgia Power on Scott James Radio 2020-03-12

Update 2020-03-19: Earth Day Cleanup Postponed due to pandemic: WWALS, Georgia Power, Valdosta, and Brooks County, GA, Madison County, FL.

Update 2020-03-14: Much better water quality: Withlacoochee River, Okapilco Creek 2020-03-11.

Joe Brownlee is bringing Georgia Power people and a grill to the Earth Day Cleanup, 8AM, Saturday, April 18, 2020, at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp. This WWALS cleanup is co-sponsored by Georgia Power, the City of Valdosta, and Brooks County, Georgia. Madison and Suwannee Counties, Florida, will be holding Earth Day cleanups that same day downstream on the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers. The cleanups are free. The paddle is $10 per person, or free for WWALS members. No reservation necessary, but please check Going on the facebook event to encourage others to come.

[On Air]
On Air

We also discussed fecal bacteria in the river and the novel coronavirus. But first, we reminded people not to go on the Withlacoochee right now, because it’s Continue reading →

Earth Day Cleanup and BIG Little River Paddle Race on Scott James Talk 92.1 FM Radio 2020-03-12

Update 2020-03-13: Video.

8AM this Thursday morning, Georgia Power Southwest District Director Joe Brownlee and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman will visit Scott James on his Talk 92.1 FM radio, to talk about an Earth Day Cleanup on the Withlacoochee River co-sponsored by WWALS, Georgia Power, the City of Valdosta, and Brooks County, Georgia.

When: 8AM, Thursday, March 12, 2020

Where: Talk 92.1 FM Scott James drive-time radio show.
You can listen on the air, or through the radio show’s own website, or through several online listening services.

Event: facebook

[WWALS and Lowndes County]
WWALS and Lowndes County signs at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp.

All about the WWALS Earth Day Cleanup and optional paddle, which is co-hosted by Georgia Power, the City of Valdosta, and Brooks County, Georgia, at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp on the Withlacoochee River southwest of Clyattville, April 18, 2020.

And all about the Eighth Annual BIG Little River Paddle Race (BLRPR) at Reed Bingham State Park, between Adel and Moultrie, Georgia, April 25, 2020.

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!

Cleanup finishing at Flying J, Exit 2, I-75, Lowndes County, GA 2019-12-10

Update 2022-03-02: Trash beyond fence not finished at Flying J, I-75 exit 2 2022-02-26.

Thanks, Flying J and Lowndes County Code Enforcement, for finishing cleaning up what was a huge mess of trash at Exit 2 on I-75 in Lowndes County, Georgia.

[Fence keeping trash in]
Fence keeping trash in

Back in August, a WWALS member called Code Enforcement, and I followed up. Code Enforcement responded quickly, came to an agreement with the company, and Continue reading →

Pictures: Nankin to Four Freedoms Trail, Withlacoochee River cleanup and paddle 2019-11-16

A gate, a tire, and bags of trash cleaned up at Nankin Boat Ramp, on the Withlacoochee River, and at Four Freedoms Trail, on our November 16, 2019 Withlacoochee River cleanup and paddle. Plus plenty of shoals, a sunken boat, a creek, McIntyre Spring, cypress knees, and skinned shins, all ending up at the old railroad trestle.

[Three in a row]
Three in a row

Our destination was the old railroad trestle, just past which is the takeout onto the Four Freedoms Trail in Madison County, Florida.

[We made it]
We made it

Parallel trash retrieval missions for a gate and for a tire at Nankin Boat Ramp, under the bridge for Clyattville-Nankin Road. Continue reading →

Trash at GA 376, Alapahoochee River, Echols County, GA 2019-11-08

Elizabeth Reynolds sums it up in her video with her pictures of the trash at the Alapahoochee bridge: “Way to go, humans!“

Who’s interested in a cleanup?

[Mattress]
Mattress

This is about halfway between Lake Park in Lowndes County and Statenville in Echols County, at the GA 376 bridge on the Alapahoochee River.

It’s also about ten miles upstream from Florida, and about a dozen miles from the Alapahoochee Confluence with the Alapaha River. Continue reading →

Nankin to Four Freedoms Trail, Withlacoochee River, Cleanup and Paddle 2019-11-16

Update 2019-11-22: Some pictures.

Join us to clean up trash at Nankin Boat Ramp in Lowndes County, Georgia. Bring a boat and join us paddling down the Withlacoochee River, continuing cleanuing up. We will stop at second-magnitude McIntyre Spring in Brooks County, Georgia, which should be flowing fine about now. Thanks to special permission from Madison County, Florida, we will take a few vehicles down to the river at the end of the Four Freedoms Trail to collect an abandoned canoe and other items, and we will take out there.

When: Gather 9:00 AM, launch 10 AM, Saturday, November 16, 2019

Put In: Nankin Boat Ramp, 6899 Clyattville-Nankin Rd, Valdosta, GA 31601, in Lowndes County.

GPS: 30.675192, -83.394143

Take Out: Four Freedoms Trail, NE Peppermint Trail, Pinetta, FL, Madison County.

Bring: the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup, especially this one.

Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!

Event: facebook, meetup

[Upstream, 2019:10:17 15:59:44, 30.6294432, -83.3186451]
Photo: John S Quarterman, Upstream under the abandoned railroad trestle, at the end of Four Freedoms Trail, 2019:10:17 15:59:44, 30.6294432, -83.3186451

Continue reading →

Pictures: Cleanup, Alapaha River, Lakeland and Pafford’s Landing 2019-10-12

A fun couple of hours and a truckload of #Rivers Alive trash picked up in and around the Alapaha River at Lakeland Boat Ramp and Pafford’s Landing, on the Alapaha River Water Trail, yesterday, October 12, 2019.

[WWALS #RiversAlive Alapaha River]
Photo: Gretchen Quarterman, WWALS #RiversAlive Alapaha River

Continue reading →

ARWT Sign to Pafford’s Landing: Cleanup this Saturday 2019-10-12

Stay to the left to go to Lanier Boat Ramp first, then come back and take the right fork to Pafford’s Landing for the WWALS and Rivers Alive cleanup this 10 AM this Saturday, October 12, 2019, on the Alapaha River near Lakeland, Georgia. It’s free!

[With roads]
With roads

You can also help pay for these Alapaha River Water Trail road signs Continue reading →