Category Archives: GA-DNR

Echols County Comprehensive Plan Transmittal Hearing 2025-06-03

The Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT) is mentioned numerous times in the Echols County Comprehensive Plan 2025-2030, as is Suwannee Riverkeeper, including in the 5-Year Community Work Program Update for projects “Promote Suwannee River Boat Ramp” and “Work with private organizations to keep the river passable”.

Echols County Comprehensive Plan, with water trails: Alapaha and Suwannee

Sitting up front at this Transmittal Public Hearing were County Manager Alan Levesque and Alexandra Arzayus, Planner II, Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC). Thanks to them for organizing the series of meetings that led up to this one. The Echols County Commission is expected to vote Thursday to transmit this plan to the state of Georgia. Continue reading →

Installed: Troupville Boat Ramp water trail signs 2025-04-01

New water trail signs replace the old, shot-up ones at Troupville Boat Ramp on the Little River just downstream from GA 133.

Installed: water trail signs at Troupville Boat Ramp, Little River @ GA 133, Thanks, VLPRA & GA-DNR 2025-04-01

Thanks to Herman Gordon of Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLPRA) for coming down to help install the new signs for the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).

Herman is preparing for the April 19th Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle. I think he was relieved that WWALS, Valdosta, and Lowndes County rescheduled it because of high water on the previous date.
https://wwals.net/?p=67242

Thanks to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA-DNR) that paid for (most of) the cost of these and other signs.

GA-DNR’s own signs about “Clean Your Gear” and “Don’t Release It Here!” have also been shot up. Gordon and I are contacting them about that.

And I’ve already left a message for Lowndes County Public Works about the large potholes on the entrance road. Continue reading →

Mayday Landing ARWT Signs 2025-02-26

Update 2025-04-01: Installed: Troupville Boat Ramp water trail signs 2025-04-01.

Thanks again to Echols County Manager Alan Levesque and Road Crew, the signs are planted for Mayday Landing on the Alapaha River.

Mayday Landing, Alapaha River, ARWT Signs Planted 2025-02-26, At-Water and Road: Thanks, Alan Levesque & Echols County Road Crew

Both the road signs and the at-water signs were paid for (80%) by a generous grant from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA-DNR). The signs were made by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), but the state could not plant the signs, because Howell Road is not a state or federal road. But the county could, and Echols County did.

Like the Statenville Boat Ramp signs, I delivered the Mayday signs to Echols County at a Comprehensive Plan Five-Year Update meeting the day before.

Mayday Landing is at 749 Howell Road, Stockton, GA 31649. It is on the left bank, the east side of the Alapaha River, south of Howell Road, north of the railroad bridge, in Echols County.

It is towards the middle of the WWALS Alapaha River Water Trail.
https://wwals.net/maps/alapaha-water-trail/ Continue reading →

ARWT signs planted at Statenville Boat Ramp 2025-02-26

Update 2025-03-12: Mayday Landing ARWT Signs 2025-02-26.

Thanks to Echols County Manager Alan Levesque and the Echols County Road Crew for planting the Statenville Boat Ramp signs next to the ramp.

ARWT signs planted, Statenville Boat Ramp 2025-02-26, Thanks, Alan Levesque, Echols County Manager

I delivered them the previous day at an Echols County Comprehensive Plan Five-Year Update meeting. Continue reading →

Statenville Boat Ramp, Alapaha River 2025-02-25

The Alapaha River is moving fast at Statenville Boat Ramp, just upstream of the GA 94 bridge and west across the river from Statenville, Georgia, on the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT).
https://wwals.net/maps/arwt

Statenville Boat Ramp, Alapaha River 2025-02-25, GA 94 Bridge, Sky Dog

The Statenville Gauge read 9.61 feet (85.71 feet NAVD88), with 1580 cubic feet per second of discharge (2.04 kcfs).

Sky the Suwannee Riverkeeper Dog came along to sniff out the situation.

More pictures and videos below. Continue reading →

Griffis Fish Camp Suwannee River Water Trail signs planted –Richard Fowler 2024-12-15

Thanks to Richard Fowler for these pictures of the WWALS Suwannee River Water Trail signs being planted at Griffis Fish Camp.

Griffis Fish Camp, Suwannee River Water Trail signs, planted 2024-12-15, Photos: Richard Fowler

Thanks to Linda Tindall for digging and leveling, to Shirley Kokidko for pouring, and to camp manager Walter Hickox for advising on where to plant the signs.

Thanks to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA-DNR) for the generous grant that paid for these signs, the signpost, the concrete, and the screws.

See also the other pictures of this sign planting, and also at Fargo Ramp:
https://wwals.net/?p=66605

And pictures of the paddle Shirley organized the previous day from Stephen C. Foster State Park in the Okefenokee Swamp down the Suwannee River back to Griffis Fish Camp:
https://wwals.net/?p=66675 Continue reading →

Final Report: Georgia House Study Committee on Navigable Streams 2024-12-01

They decided not to change the 1863 law, and did not chart any clear legislative course forward.

This is better than some courses they could have taken, the Georgia House Study Committee on Navigable Streams and Related Matters.

However, they seem to left the problem for everyone else to navigate in ad hoc partnerships, which could leave paddlers having to negotiate passage among many parties.

Final Report for little change, maybe privatization of passage 2024-12-01, Georgia House Study Committee on Navigable Streams and Related Matters

Here are the recommendations of the committee from their final report:

Maintain the definition of navigability set forth in O.C.G.A. §44-8-5(a) and the right of passage for navigable streams as found in O.C.G.A. §52-1-31;
Refrain from a statutory delineation of navigable and non-navigable streams;
Incentivize and strengthen tools to foster collaboration and partnerships between landowners, nonprofits, and local/state government that increase opportunities for public access and conservation of Georgia’s waterways;
Preserve the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program;
Urge the Department of Natural Resources to further publicize and fund new technologies that assist in tracking and resolving disputes on waterways; and
Protect Georgia’s fishing, hunting, trapping, and outdoor recreation traditions, as well as those reliant on waterways such as logging and farming, by carefully analyzing the impact of any potential legislation on these sectors.

They paid commendable attention to what the public had to say, including fishers, paddlers, riparian landowners, loggers, farmers, and trappers (who said current law does not permit them to trap on public waters).

Noting pulls in various directions, the committee continued to support the 1863 law that requires a navigable stream to be “capable of transporting boats loaded with freight in the regular course of trade either for the whole or a part of the year,” while the committee also depended on GA-DNR’s opinion: Continue reading →

Suwannee River Water Trail signs planted at Fargo Ramp and Griffis Fish Camp 2024-12-15

Update 2025-01-02: Another view: Griffis Fish Camp Suwannee River Water Trail signs planted –Richard Fowler 2024-12-15.

We got two sets of at-water signs planted Sunday on the Suwannee River in Georgia, at Fargo Ramp and Griffis Fish Camp, just downstream from the Okefenokee Swamp.

Suwannee River Water Trail at-water signs planted at Fargo Ramp and Griffis Fish Camp 2024-12-15

Thanks to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA-DNR) for the grant that paid for these signs for the Suwannee River Water Trail (SRWT).

Thanks to Ray Figueroa of Miami for digging the hole at Fargo Ramp.

Thanks to Linda Tindall of Umatilla, Florida, for digging at Griffis Fish Camp, to Richard Fowler of I’m not sure where for photographing, and to Shirley Kokidko of Pearson, Georgia, for bringing water for the Quikrete.

Thanks to camp manager Walter Hickox for telling us where to plant the Griffis signs.

There are also signs for Stephen C. Foster State Park, but those are waiting on final sign-off by the Park and by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

There are more images below. Continue reading →

Videos: Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council meeting in Valdosta 2024-11-21

Water withdrawals in the SSRWPC region are almost entirely agricultural, noted Mark Masters of the Georgia Water Planning & Policy Center, Albany State University.

Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council 2024-11-21, at Wiregrass Tech, Valdosta, Georgia

This was at the Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council meeting at Valdosta Tech in Valdosta, Georgia, November 21, 2024. Continue reading →

Road Signs, Mayday Landing, Echols County, Alapaha River Water Trail 2024-10-31

Update 2025-03-12: Mayday Landing ARWT Signs 2025-02-26.

For Halloween, I went to the Tifton GDOT sign shop and picked up the road signs for Mayday Landing.

Mayday Landing, Echols County, ARWT 2024-10-31, Alapaha River Water Trail, Road signs from GDOT with GA-DNR grant

Thanks to Kayla R. Hancock, Sign Supply Supervisor, GDOT Tifton (pictured on the right), for organizing this.

Alapaha River Water Trail, Mayday Landing, Echols County

This is one set. The other set is the same, except the arrow points in the other direction. Each came with a 12-foot steel post, a 48-inch foundation stub, and nuts and bolts.

Thanks to Ouicia Jolly, Recreational Trails Program Coordinator, Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA-DNR), for organizing the grant program that is reimbursing 80% of the cost of these signs and for the rack cards and the at-water signs, with 10-foot 4×4-inch posts, scews, and Quikrete.

-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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