Category Archives: Forestry

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 Gateway Getaway at The Farm at Okefenokee 2023-10-26

It was quite a do, at The Farm at Okefenokee.

Okefenokee Gateway Getaway, The Farm at Okefenokee, Next to Okefenokee NWR, October 26, 2023

The Okefenokee Gateway Getaway was put on by Charlton, Clinch, and Ware Counties, whose leaders “collaboratively strive to harness the potential of our region’s crowning jewel – the Okefenokee Swamp and Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.” It was apparently the first-ever collaborative venture of those three Georgia counties. Continue reading →

How Humans Affect the Aquifer, a WWALS Webinar, by Dennis J. Price, P.G., 2025-06-19

Dennis Price, P.G., of Hamilton County, Florida, says, “I plan on going through the history of surface and ground water in the flatwoods in south Georgia and north Florida in the Suwannee River Basin. Historic water levels and how we have changed these levels. Changes beginning with forestry then farming, and population growth. Ideas for correcting the problems.”

This applies to the Floridan Aquifer proper and the other aquifers above it, all below the Suwannee, Alapaha, and Withlacoochee Rivers, the Okefenokee Swamp, and their tributaries.

When: 12-1 PM, Thursday, June 19, 2025

Put In: Register to join with zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/FdxNg0QeSB-ngQLGUaIWKw
WWALS Board Member Janet Martin will give a brief introduction.
Questions and answers will be at the end.

How Humans Affect the Aquifer, a WWALS Webinar 2025-06-19

Continue reading →

Historic Hillman Bridge (old US 90) over the Suwannee River at Ellaville 2018-12-01

Update 2025-04-25: Site of Town of Ellaville and Hillman Bridge, Suwannee River 2025-04-22.

Built in 1925, abandoned in 1983 when an overweight truck damaged it, the historic Hillman Bridge still stands over the Suwannee River.

Historic Hillman Bridge, Suwannee River, Ellaville, Florida, Withlacoochee River Confluence

It has a storied past, starting with the millionaire Turpentine King, Captain Winder Josephus Hillman (1857-1931), who got his start in Live Oak and High Springs and “opened another camp in Inverness before expanding his operations throughout Central and South Florida before becoming a director of the Consolidated Naval Stores Company of Jacksonville, the largest naval stores trader in the United States.” See below for the source and more quotes.

Hillman Bridge is downstream of the CSX Railroad Bridge and the Withlacoochee River Confluence. Continue reading →

SRWMD exchange back of Ellaville Tract for Riverview Farms Withlacoochee River land? 2025-03-29

Update 2025-04-02: Update Rock Bluff Management Plan, renew Woods Ferry River Camp lease agreement @ SRWMD 2025-04-08.

Update 2025-03-29: See also Florida buys Hardee Spring on the Withlacoochee River.

Why not buy the riverfront property?

It’s easy to see why SRWMD would want the Riverview Farms tract: it’s between two Twin Rivers State Forest tracts on the Withlacoochee River in Madison County and directly across from another in Hamilton County.

SRWMD Land Swap: Gopher tortoises for riverfront, Ellaville Tract for Riverview Farms, Why not buy Riverview Farms?

And SRWMD is offering to trade is not riverfront property; it’s the back of the Ellaville Tract. But it still has gopher tortoises on it: a keystone species that harbors up to 300 other species in its burrows.

If you want to stop this land swap, here’s a petition to sign:
https://act.audubon.org/a/ellaville

And call or write your SRWMD Board member and show up at their next meeting.
https://www.mysuwanneeriver.com/133/Governing-Board

Larry Sessions represents the Upper Suwannee Basin, including both these tracts. Harry Smith and Charles Keith are at large. Chair Virginia H. Johns has to consider the entire District.

Even better, if you know grasstops who have the ear of that Board, such as timber company Rayonier and cattle company Lukes Brothers, ask them to contact the Board.

Craig Pittman called gopher tortoise burrows “Nature’s Condo,” Continue reading →

Modifications, Spectrum Energy pellet mill permit application, Adel, Cook County, GA 2025-03-05

Spectrum Energy has gotten some modifications to its pellet mill Air Quality application, partly due to comments during previous comment periods.

This latest comment period expires April 7, 2025.

Modifications, Spectrum Energy pellet mill permit application, Adel, Cook County, GA @ GA-EPD 2025-03-05

NOTICE OF DRAFT SYNTHETIC MINOR AND SIP OPERATING PERMITS AND PERMIT MODIFICATIONS
GEORGIA ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION DIVISION
AIR PROTECTION BRANCH
4244 INTERNATIONAL PARKWAY, SUITE 120, ATLANTA, GA 30354
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division announces its intent to issue initial Synthetic Minor Operating Permits, Synthetic Minor Modifications, and Major Source SIP Permits for the following facilities. The deadlines for submitting comments are specified for each facility.

MAJOR SOURCE SIP PERMITS
COOK COUNTY
Facility Name: Spectrum Energy Georgia, LLC
Application No: 29318
Facility Address: 801 Cook Street, Adel, 31620
EPD Notice Type: Proposed Permit
Description of Operation: Pellet Mill
Reason for Application: To construct and operate a greenfield wood pellet manufacturing facility. This application is a consolidated, smaller-scope version of the facility’s previous E-permit application.
Comment period expires on: April 07, 2025
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 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 →

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge to be Nominated to Join UNESCO World Heritage List –U.S. Department of the Interior 2024-12-20

After the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Refuge staff and others did a lot of work, including much public input, the Interior Department has taken the next step towards getting the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list.

Okefenokee NWR Nominated as UNESCO World Heritage Site, U.S. Department of the Interior, December 20, 2024

If approved by UNESCO, the Okefenokee will join its nearest neighbors, Everglades and Great Smokey Mountains National Parks in North Carolina and Florida, and Poverty Point Monumental Earthworks in Louisiana. 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 →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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