Category Archives: Economy

Please deny subdividing on Bradford Road –WWALS to Berrien County, GA 2025-08-21

Update 2025-09-16: Applicant packet, Bradford Road Subdivision @ Berrien Planning Commission 2025-08-21.

I sent this letter before the previous Public Hearing that got tabled because citizens brought up irregularities.

What else should I send before the rescheduled Public Hearing this Thursday?

That’s September 18, 2025, at 5:30 PM, in the County Commissioner’s Board Room, 201 North Davis Street, Nashville Ga 31639.

Please deny subdividing on Bradford Road 2025-09-18 –WWALS to Berrien County, GA, Previous hearing tabled 2025-08-21

Here’s a facebook event to encourage people to come to this Public Hearing:
https://www.facebook.com/events/977417484854080/

Meanwhile, you can send your own letter, or call or write your county commissioners, planning commissioners, your neighbors, or the media, and sign the petition against this subdivision of ten houses on agricultural land:
https://chng.it/kKDVsN92xT

August 21, 2025
To: Teresa Willis
Berrien County Zoning Administrator
229-686-2149
twillis@berriencountyga.gov
201 N. Davis Street Room 122
Nashville GA 31639
Re: Subdividing M&P 061-14-000, 061-16-002, Old Valdosta Rd. & Bradford Rd.
Dear Berrien County Zoning Administrator and Planning Commission, I write with concern about the proposal to put a housing subdivision in an agricultural area.
As you know, the Berrien County Comprehensive Plan Strategy for an Agriculture Character Area says: Continue reading →

WCTV: Florida river task force to meet with Valdosta City Council about sewage spill concerns 2025-08-13

Update 2025-08-18: Videos: Florida River Task Force and City of Valdosta City Council Joint Workshop 2025-08-14.

Michael Clark from WCTV interviewed me by zoom yesterday, and here’s the story. What he quoted that I said:

“This also matters upstream in Georgia, because, for example, Lowndes County, Georgia, is always trying to attract clean industry with the sorts of people who like to oh let me think, paddle, motor, swim, fish. And the Withlacoochee River goes right by Valdosta, so it’s not good for attracting the kinds of businesses and employees they want if there’s a problem with that river,” Quarterman said.

The meeting is 6 PM today at Valdosta City Hall Annex, 300 North Lee Street, Valdosta, GA 31601.

It’s not a WWALS meeting, but WWALS invites the public to come.
https://www.facebook.com/events/2285600495227880/

WCTV story

WCTV Staff, WCTV, Aug. 13, 2025 at 10:40 PM EDT|Updated around midnight, Florida river task force to meet with Valdosta City Council about sewage spill concerns: Continue reading →

Okefenokee Business Idea Bootcamp 2025-08-22

This is a free, full-day event (9 AM–4 PM) designed to equip aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs with the tools, confidence, and connections they need to launch and grow their business ideas. Through hands-on activities and practical guidance, participants will leave with a clearer vision and tangible next steps.

Okefenokee Business Idea Bootcamp, Waycross City Hall, 2025-08-22, Okefenokee Partnership, ecotourism, hospitality, retail, entertainment

When: Friday, August 22nd, 2025, 9 AM-4 PM

Where: Waycross City Hall, 417 Pendleton St. Waycross, GA

Food: Lunch will be provided

Free tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/idea-bootcamp-waycross-tickets-1493380454139 Continue reading →

SRWMD & SJRWMD aquifer recharge project update @ SRWMD 2025-07-08

Update 2025-12-18: Water First North Florida wetland locations: unknown –SRWMD 2025-12-17.

Update 2025-12-06: Packet: SRWMD Board plus Workshop on Drought Conditions 2025-12-09.

Update 2025-08-31: SRWMD purchased Rayonier tract with mineral rights leased to Chemours for TiO2 mining –SRWMD to Carol Mosley 2025-07-11.

A billion dollars to run Jacksonville and JEA treated wastewater through wetlands in the Suwannee River Basin and into the Floridan Aquifer: this proposal was presented to the SRWMD Board this month.

Nevermind that sewage effluent carries PFAS forever chemicals into wetlands. After contaminating all the wetland wildlife, PFAS would continue into the Florida Aquifer, from which we all drink.

SRWMD & SJRWMD aquifer recharge project update @ SRWMD 2025-07-08, What about PFAS? and limits on water withdrawals?

A SRWMD Board member pointed out that desalination of seawater would cost less. Another pointed out that Jacksonville would just suck the water back out of the aquifer. More on board comments below.

Instead, how about Jacksonville and JEA treat their effluent to drinking water standards and reuse it for themselves? The money they save from pumping it to any of those recharge areas would be enormous. That would use less groundwater, so there would be less need for recharge.

The excuse for this project is increasing population needing more water. Continue reading →

Georgia needs better economic solutions for forestry and rural south Georgia 2025-06-26

I’m going to agree with something a supporter of the now bought-out mine said: we need better economic solutions for south Georgia forest owners. And beyond that, for south Georgia. So counties and cities won’t be tempted by jobs promised by mines, landfills, private prisons, and pellet plants.

Georgia needs better economics, for forestry & rural south Georgia, Drew Jones, Charlton Co. Commission, Okefenokee Swamp & blackwater rivers

Drew Jones wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution today, June 26, 2025, Okefenokee deal exposed how Georgia’s forest policy is flawed and needs reform, Continue reading →

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Three meetings are of particular interest. Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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