Category Archives: Economy

Okefenokee NWR Minor Acquisition Boundary Expansion approved by USFWS 2025-01-03

Now anyone who wants to sell property within the new boundary to the Refuge can do so.

That includes the coal miners from Alabama who want to strip mine within three miles of the Okefenokee Swamp. Sure, right now they say they don’t want to do that, but things could change.

See also the WWALS support letter for this Minor Expansion, which notes that this action protects not just Trail Ridge, but the entire circumference of the Swamp.
https://wwals.net/?p=66587

Leslie Hull-Ryde, USFWS PR, January 3, 2025, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Finalizes Plan for a Minor Expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge Boundary
Enables voluntary actions to protect hydrological integrity, conserve wetlands and key wildlife habitat, and create fuel reduction zone to help protect neighboring properties

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced its final decision to expand the acquisition boundary of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge by approximately 22,000 acres. The new acquisition boundary includes lands currently held by a variety of owners within a 1-mile fuel reduction zone adjacent to the refuge. Potential conservation actions on the lands within the boundary expansion could strengthen protection of the hydrological integrity of the swamp, provide habitat for the gopher tortoise, mitigate impacts of wildfires, and provide opportunities for longleaf pine restoration to benefit the red-cockaded woodpecker.

The expanded boundary allows the Service to potentially offer priority public uses such as hunting, fishing, wildlife watching, and education to the more than 400,000 annual visitors to the refuge, thereby driving a growing ecotourism economy within the community.

[Okefenokee NWR Minor Expansion of Acquisition Boundary approved 2025-01-05 by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service]
Okefenokee NWR Minor Expansion of Acquisition Boundary approved 2025-01-05 by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Today’s decision follows the Department’s recent announcement that Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge will be nominated to the UNESCO World Heritage List. If designated, the refuge would join the list recognizing 1,223 cultural and natural sites of universal importance, such as the Grand Canyon in Arizona, the Taj Mahal in India, the Great Wall in China, and the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador. Continue reading →

WWALS comment on Okefenokee NWR Expansion 2024-12-13

Update 2025-01-05: Okefenokee NWR Minor Acquisition Boundary Expansion approved by USFWS 2025-01-03.

Here is the letter I sent to USFWS yesterday. I have added some images and links for this web publication, plus a few extra paragraph breaks to fit the pictures. See also the PDF.

December 13, 2024

To: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Okefenokee@fws.gov

Re: WWALS comment on Okefenokee NWR Expansion

Dear Fish and Wildlife Service,

Suwannee Riverkeeper for WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS) files these comments in support of the proposed minor expansion of the acquisition boundary for the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR).

I further recommend that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or the Department of Interior, or Congress, provide sufficient funds to make competitive offers to buy land.

[WWALS Comments 2024-12-13, Proposed Minor Expansion of the Okefenokee, National Wildlife Refuge]
WWALS Comments 2024-12-13, Proposed Minor Expansion of the Okefenokee, National Wildlife Refuge

I sympathize with concerns I have heard expressed by people living near the ONWR, perhaps most basically Continue reading →

Pictures: Suwannee River Basin BMAP meeting in Live Oak 2024-10-30

Update 2025-04-03: BMAP Webinars: Lower and Middle Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers, Silver and Rainbow Springs 2025-04-10.

I got to the Suwannee Basin BMAP meeting late, because I had been at SRWMD HQ talking about water trails. Still, this seemed sparsely attended.

[Suwannee River Basin BMAP meeting in Live Oak 2024-10-30 Much like Santa Fe BMAP and no closer to solutions]
Suwannee River Basin BMAP meeting in Live Oak 2024-10-30 Much like Santa Fe BMAP and no closer to solutions

Other than a few IFAS people, almost everybody there seemed to be the same usual suspects from the Santa Fe BMAP meeting two days before in Lake Butler. So that was an opportunity to talk to many of them without much interruption.

I promised them some comments, which I will send to Chandler B. Keenan <Chandler.B.Keenan@FloridaDEP.gov>

For example, asking why SRWMD made no mention of the Manatee Springs BMAP when issuing an ERP for a road in the area of the big PUD rezoning that Chiefland City Commission approved mostly in flood zones next to Long Pond, in the springshed of Manatee Springs. Continue reading →

Pictures: Santa Fe River BMAP meeting, Lake Butler, FL 2024-10-28

There was better communication than last time, but of course that was a low bar.

You can follow up after that meeting, and the next ones: here are some ideas.
https://wwals.net/?p=66108

The other two BMAP meetings are today (see below).

[Santa Fe River BMAP Meeting, Lake Butler, FL 2024-10-28 Better communication than last time]
Santa Fe River BMAP Meeting, Lake Butler, FL 2024-10-28 Better communication than last time

At the Santa Fe BMAP meeting in Lake Butler, none of the people from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) volunteered an answer to the most basic question: how has the situation improved since the BMAPs started?

Thanks to the graph Ryan Smart of the Florida Springs Council (FSC) brought, showing “Changes in pounds of nitrogen at spring vent”, several of them did agree that in fact the situation has gotten worse. Continue reading →

Help fix the broken BMAPs to clean up Florida waters 2024-10-30

Update 2024-11-05: Pictures: Suwannee River Basin BMAP meeting in Live Oak 2024-10-30.

Update 2024-10-30: Pictures: Santa Fe River BMAP meeting, Lake Butler, FL 2024-10-28.

FDEP has announced rescheduled dates for some BMAP meetings after the hurricanes.
https://floridadep.gov/dear/water-quality-restoration/content/bmap-public-meetings

Please go and say why you think the Basin Management Action Plans (BMAPs) are broken. But don’t stop there, or they will just mark down x number of people came, so public outreach was successful.

Here are more things you can do at the meeting and afterwards.

Wear blue, so we can all be seen together, as recommended by Sarah Younger of the Suwannee-St. Johns Group of Sierra Club Florida.

Ask for metrics for improvement since the BMAPs started, such as how much less nitrate leaching from irrigated fertilizer into springs and rivers.

Turn their poster session format into a grassroots town hall. Video your question and their answer. Post your video on social media with a hashtag: #BMAPSantaFe, #BMAPSuwannee, or #BMAPSilverRainbow (see below).

If they say go look at some obscure website, ask them to tell you the metrics now.

If the FDEP person refuses to answer, video that, and post it.

For the Suwannee BMAP, ask them why SRWMD did not mention the Manatee Springs BMAP when it issued an Environmental Resource Permit (ERP) for a road inside the 2,109-acre rezoning area for a development in floodplain.

For the Rainbow BMAP, ask them why SWFWMD did not mention the Rainbow Springs Springshed when it issued an ERP for the sand mine.

Ask them what the BMAPs are doing to get farmers to convert from Monsanto-seed Glysophate-spraying over-fertilized water-sucking over-irrigated agriculture to methods more friendly to Florida’s waters.

Be polite. The specific FDEP employees there are probably just trying to do their job. The problem comes from higher up. See below for what to do about that after the meeting.

[Help fix Florida BMAPs to fix Florida polluted waters 2024-10-28-30]
Help fix Florida BMAPs to fix Florida polluted waters 2024-10-28-30

Three meetings are of particular interest. Continue reading →

Judge tosses Sand Mine Exception because Levy County Commissioners violated their own rules 2024-09-18

A judge today quashed the Special Exception the Levy County BOCC approved for the 3RT Sand Mine.

Craig C. DeThomasis, Florida Eight Judicial Circuit Court Judge, ruled that the county failed several ways to provide notices required by law for hearings and appeal requirements, and failed to do at least two kinds of required studies: traffic and wildlife.

[Florida Judge Quashes 2024-09-18 Levy County 3RT Sand Mine: Lack of Public Notices & Lack of required studies]
Florida Judge Quashes 2024-09-18 Levy County 3RT Sand Mine: Lack of Public Notices & Lack of required studies

This does not mean it’s all over. It does mean the applicant has to start the whole process over, and this time the county has to follow state law and its own procedures. Meanwhile, the opposition is still organized and ready.

The judge did not consider that the mine is in the springshed of Rainbow Springs nor that SWFWMD in issuing an ERP did not consider its own Rainbow Springs BMAP.

The judge noted: Continue reading →

Downstream dozen Florida counties task force reactivated after raw sewage spills across Georgia state line –WUFT 2024-07-23

Update 2024-08-02: Three more Ashburn sewage spills reported more than a week late 2024-07-20.

Update 2024-07-26: Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Santa Fe Rivers 2024-07-25.

Thanks to the reporter for doing this story, especially for including the material about the stigma of sewage spills, which affects even Suwannee Basin rivers that are not even downstream from Valdosta, and about the economic damage of such stigma.

Please note that while Valdosta is the biggest sewage spill problem, because it is the most populous city in the Suwannee River Basin, it is far from the only city that spills sewage, and not all E. coli contamination comes from sewage; see other sources.

As noted in the story, Valdosta is spending millions of dollars to fix its sewage problems. Nobody will be happier when there are no more sewage spills than Valdosta staff and elected officials, many of whom are new since most of the notorious sewage spills happened. But that day is still some time in the future.

[Downstream dozen Florida counties task force reactivated after raw sewage spills across Georgia state line --WUFT 2024-07-23]
Downstream dozen Florida counties task force reactivated after raw sewage spills across Georgia state line –WUFT 2024-07-23

I’ve noted a few errata below, plus I’ve added some links and some more images.

Rylan DiGiacomo-Rapp, WUFT, July 23, 2024, North Central Florida river task force reactivated following raw sewage spills across Georgia state lines, Continue reading →

Jobs and Comprehensive Plans at NCFRPC 2024-07-25

I don’t see anything in the agenda about the Middle and Lower Suwannee River and Withlacoochee River Task Force that the NCFRPC reactivated in May after Valdosta’s April sewage spills. Maybe they are meeting separately and have nothing to report yet.

Also, in the statewide metrics of https://thefloridascorecard.org/ I don’t see anything about water: not drinking water, river water, springs, levels, flows, E. coli, nitrates, cyanobacteria, nothing.

But on the agenda are several county Comprehensive Plan updates, so those could be interesting.

[North Central Florida Regional Planning Council 2024-07-25, Metrics, Jobs, and Comprehensive Plans]
North Central Florida Regional Planning Council 2024-07-25, Metrics, Jobs, and Comprehensive Plans

Received this morning:

Council Members, Interested Persons, and News Media,

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE MEETING STARTS AT 7:00 P.M.

Please be advised that there will be a Hybrid Meeting in-Person at Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites, Suwannee Room, 213 Southwest Commerce Boulevard, Lake City, Florida, and via Communications Media Technology for the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council on Thursday, July 25, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.

Continue reading →

Brooks County Industrial Park Maps 2009-03-03

These 120 sheets of detailed 2009 Construction Plans for the Brooks County Industrial Park contain a clue to how the sewer system there is connected to Quitman.

[Construction Plans, Brooks County Industrial Park 2009-03-03, DeVane PlanEng, Brooks County Industrial Authority]
Construction Plans, Brooks County Industrial Park 2009-03-03, DeVane PlanEng, Brooks County Industrial Authority

It turns out the clue is on the 2006 maps, too, but less obvious.

Stay tuned for that connection.

To interpret these sheets, it is useful to know that Prospect Drive is what appears on googlemaps as Fritzke Drive. Aviagen’s chicken incubation plant is south of Prospect Drive, east of GA 333. Continue reading →

If you can’t beat the mines, buy the land –Dwight Davis 2024-04-23

Update 2024-10-18: Proposed Okefenokee NWR expansion to include TiO2 miners’ land and more 2024-10-18.

There is one slight catch: buying the land will be very expensive. There is probably only one organization that can afford it.

Although the lawsuits likely to ensue as soon as the permits are issued may reduce the price.

Nonetheless, merely buying the land would encourage more mining permit applications. There needs to be legislation to prohibit such mines anywhere near the Okefenokee Swamp.

Also, I don’t know what questioning he is referring to.

Dwight Davis, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 23, 2024, If you can’t beat the mines, buy the land,

The mining permit for Trail Ridge near the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge has evolved into a contentious debate. Though initially a civil discourse on ecological preservation, recent opposition has taken a harsh tone, unfairly questioning the integrity of state officials involved in the decision-making process. Amid this, crucial facts have been overlooked.

[If you can't beat the mines, buy the land --Dwight Davis, Okefenokee Swamp, GA-EPD, GA-DNR]
If you can’t beat the mines, buy the land –Dwight Davis, Okefenokee Swamp, GA-EPD, GA-DNR

Having served on the board of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources for 14 years, including as its past chairman, I’ve engaged with various stakeholders, including environmental groups, local elected officials and the mining company, Twin Pines, that is seeking permits to mine for minerals near the treasured Okefenokee swamp. Despite the board having no direct influence over the permit decision, we closely monitored the process.

Opponents of mining proudly claim they want to save the Okefenokee, but so does the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, which is Continue reading →