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.
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
It was drizzly and it rained on Floyds Island, but everybody enjoyed it anyway.
![[Floyds Island Campout, Okefenokee Swamp 2024-11-10-11, Suwannee River, and Middle Fork]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/gretchen/2024-11-10--floyds-island/fbmany.jpg)
Floyds Island Campout, Okefenokee Swamp 2024-11-10-11, Suwannee River, and Middle Fork
Thanks to Brack Barker for leading this Floyds Island Campout, 9 miles upstream on the Suwannee River in the Okefenokee Swamp.
Thanks to Gretchen Quarterman for these pictures.
Not many gators were visible, but there was a tree full of wood storks. Continue reading
Update 2024-12-09: Virtual public meeting about the minor proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge 2024-12-09.
Update 2024-11-16: Why Okefenokee NWR expansion matters in Florida –Rose Schnabel, WUFT 2024-11-16.
Chip Campbell, formerly of Okefenokee Expeditions Adventures, summed it up so everyone could understand, the
proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge:
nobody has to sell land.
According to https://www.fws.gov/refuge/okefenokee, “The public has until November 18, 2024 to submit input via email to Okefenokee@fws.gov”
![[Nobody has to sell land with Okefenokee NWR expansion, Public Meeting, Folkston, GA 2024-11-12]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-11-12--okefenokee-nwr-expansion-meeting/fbmany.jpg)
Nobody has to sell land with Okefenokee NWR expansion, Public Meeting, Folkston, GA 2024-11-12
To paraphrase Chip’s paraphrase: the Refuge expansion is aspirational. With it, if someone wants to sell to the Refuge they can. Without it, they can’t.
The expansion does nothing to affect the strip mine application. The miners could choose to sell or donate the land before any permit. They could mine and later donate or sell the land. Or neither. But without the expansion, there is no mechanism for their land to join the Refuge.
Addressing the dozen or so people from Charlton and the other counties surrounding the Refuge, Chip said they could sell or take out a conservation easement, or not, if they are within the expansion boundary. Nobody is making them do anything. Continue reading
Back at the first festival WWALS ever attended, it was fun. Thanks Jo Ford, Rindy Kennedy, Heather Brasell, and Gretchen Quarterman for helping.
![[Alapaha Station Celebration, Alapaha, GA 2024-11-09 Thanks, Rindy, Jo, Heather, and Gretchen]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-11-09--alapaha-station-celebration-pictures/many.jpg)
Alapaha Station Celebration, Alapaha, GA 2024-11-09 Thanks, Rindy, Jo, Heather, and Gretchen
Rindy and Jo moved quite a few kayak raffle tickets, and one small boy insisted on getting one while Heather and I were packing up at the end of the day. That’s only $10 for one or $50 for six tickets. It’s a slightly used Skimmer 128 Hurricane kayak, which lists new for $1,399. The drawing is December 15, so get your tickets now. Continue reading
Update 2024-11-08: Filthy Withlacoochee and Little Rivers 2024-11-07.
Scotti Jay wrote today, “Day 2 of the sewage fountain on Wainright Dr. One Mile Branch that flows to Sugar Creek>Withlacoochee River>Suwannee River>Gulf of Mexico. Approaching 72 hours since the heavy rains and no warning signs installed by the city. No public notice. Nothing…”
![[Manholes spewing sewage into One Mile Branch, Wainwright Drive Valdosta, GA, second day, 2024-11-08]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-11-08--one-mile-branch-valdosta-spill/many.jpg)
Manholes spewing sewage into One Mile Branch, Wainwright Drive Valdosta, GA, second day, 2024-11-08
He’s referring to the foot of rain that fell on Valdosta Wednesday and Thursday, 6-7 November 2024, causing flooding and bridge and school closures.
Valdosta City Schools posted on Thursday morning a list of streets closed, as did the City of Valdosta, Lowndes County Schools, and the Georgia Department of Transportation.
WWALS posted yesterday about yet another ongoing sewage spill at Knob Hill Road: pictures and video.
Only today do we finally get a report by the City about seven sewage spills, two still ongoing, including at Wainwright Drive. Why couldn’t the City let everyone know about sewage spills as soon as they knew? Warning people not to drive into flood waters is important, but why is telling people about contaminated waterways not as urgent?
As Scotti asks, why no sewer spill warning signs?
Why has that manhole at Wainwright Drive not been fixed yet? We were complaining about it back in 2021 and before. The same location (and many of the others of this time) spilled Hurricane Debby.
The builder put in another, higher, manhole. But they did not remove the old one. And in these videos you can see both manholes still spewing sewage.
These are not criticisms of Valdosta Utilities or its Director. They are questions for the City Manager, Mayor, and Council, about their priorities.
Here’s a playlist of the videos Sara Squires Jones took today:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKwQ5xfKf-Qz6Ljyu3iNBI2tsx_3kqHD3&si=x91G0JX49wonCNeb Continue reading
Many of us remember Mr. Griffis, jovially greeting us at Griffis Fish Camp on the Suwannee River just downstream from the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, and showing us his museum. He will be missed.
According to Roundtree Funeral Home, Inc.
Edwin Alphin Griffis
June 21, 1930 — October 27, 2024
Edwin Alphin Griffis, 94, of Fargo passed away Sunday morning, October 27, 2024 at his residence after an extended illness. He was born in Clinch County to the late Elemuel “Lem” and Alice Howell Griffis. Mr. Griffis lived in Clinch County for most of his life where he retired from the Clinch County Board of Education as the Principal of Fargo Elementary School. He was a member of the Clinch County Retired Teacher’s Association, Fargo Senior Citizens. Mr. Griffis was a member of the Fargo United Methodist Church where he taught Sunday School for thirty-five years. He always enjoyed talking with people staying at Griffis Campground in Fargo.
![[Alphin Griffis at the Griffis Camp office, near Fargo, Georgia. The office is home to dozens of well-prepared mounts of animals native to the swamp (as a young man, Griffis taught himself the craft of taxidermy). [Dirk Stevenson/for Savannah Morning News]]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-10-27--edwin-alphin-griffis/museum.jpg)
Alphin Griffis at the Griffis Camp office, near Fargo, Georgia. The office is home to dozens of well-prepared mounts of animals native to the swamp (as a young man, Griffis taught himself the craft of taxidermy). [Dirk Stevenson/for Savannah Morning News
Dirk J. Stevenson, SavannahNow, August 16, 2019, Learning from a lifelong swamper.Along with his parents he was preceded in death by his wife, Dorothy Grace Barineau Griffis; grandson, Kyle Ware; two sisters, Maldine Barnhill and Mary Alice Griffis; one brother, Arden Griffis.
Survivors include Continue reading
It’s back: the Georgia Historical Society marker for the town of Troupville.
It’s on the north side of GA-133 (St. Augustine Road), west of I-75 exit 18, just east of the Withlacoochee River.
![[Troupville Town Site Historical Marker 2024, Georgia Historical Society, Plus UDC marker]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-10-23--troupville-marker/fbmany.jpg)
Troupville Town Site Historical Marker 2024, Georgia Historical Society, Plus UDC marker
Continue readingTROUPVILLE
The settlement of Troupville once existed near here, about four miles northwest of present-day Valdosta. The town was named Troupville in honor of George M. Troup, governor of Georgia from 1823 to 1827. In 1833, the county seat of Lowndes County moved from Franklinville to Troupville, which was incorporated in 1837 and continued as county seat until 1860. When the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad, running from Savannah toward Pensacola, surveyed for right-of-way in the area, the proposed route bypassed Troupville. Lowndes County established the new town of Valdosta on the new railroad line. Shortly after train operations began in 1860 the county seat transferred to Valdosta. Early residents of the town include the Ayer, Briggs, Ellis, Griffin, Hall, Howell, Jones, Morgan, Smith, and Treadwell families, many of whom are buried at the nearby Troupville Cemetery.
092-2
Re-erected by the Georgia Historical Society in 2024
1961
Update 2024-12-27: Final Report: Georgia House Study Committee on Navigable Streams 2024-12-01.
The Georgia House Navigable Streams Committee is meeting in Newnan on Wednesday morning, November 13, 2024, after the Nahunta meeting a few weeks ago was cancelled due to Hurricane Helene aftermath.
Instead of a whole meeting, we get this item:
And this subject of the entire meeting:
Meeting #3: Utilizing Mechanisms to Increase Public Access to Waterways
We don’t need fancy mechanisms. We just need a Georgia navigability law that matches what people actually use waterways for these days: paddling, motoring, fishing, and swimming. That’s a substantial part of the outdoor economy and recreation.
So if you want to continue to be able to paddle or motor on your favorite stream, you may want to show up and speak, or send written input to your state representative. You can ask them for a 21st-century update to the 1863 Georgia navigability law.
Here is the meeting notice and agenda (local copy): Continue reading
The wide-ranging discussion included crackers as whip-cracking cow-herding illegal immigrants, ferries, bridges, and Old Coffee Road, when well-known local historian and naturalist Chris Adams gave a WWALS Webinar about how people used waterways in the Suwannee River Basin, Native Americans and Early Settlers, by zoom, Thursday, September 12, 2024.
He runs the facebook pages
Turtleman Chris Adams
https://www.facebook.com/1GATurtleman/
and Wiregrass Ecological and Cultural Project.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100079482833584
Here is the video:
https://youtu.be/db0H8D0tsmc Continue reading
Update 2024-09-13: Brack Barker got a Floyds Island camping permit for Sunday, November 10. Since Monday, November 11, is a federal holiday, Veterans Day, that should work.
Join us to paddle 9 miles upstream on the Suwannee River for primitive camping on Floyd’s Island in the Okefenokee Swamp.
You must RSVP on meetup to get a spot.
This is the farthest you can get from any road in Georgia, with very dark sky.
You can camp inside the century-old Hebard Cabin, or in your tent or hammock outside.
Yes, you will see gators, and probably other wildlife.
When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10 AM, end All Day, Sunday, November 10, 2024
Launch 9 AM, end 1 PM, Monday, November 11, 2024
Put In: Stephen C. Foster State Park Ramp, 17515 GA-177, Fargo, GA 31631. From Fargo, travel south on US 441 to CR 177; turn left and travel to Stephen C. Foster State Park in Charlton County.
Continue reading![[Okefenokee NWR Nominated as UNESCO World Heritage Site, U.S. Department of the Interior, December 20, 2024]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-12-20--onwr-unesco-us-interior/fbmany.jpg)
![[Georgia House Study Committee on Navigable Streams in Newnan 2024-11-13: Law: Ownership, Property Rights; Passage: Recreation, Economy]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-11-13--ga-house-navigable-streams-study-committee/many.jpg)
![[Video: How Native Americans and, and Early Settlers used Waterways, Featuring Crackers and Old Coffee Road --Chris Adams, WWALS Webinar 2024-09-12]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-09-12--chris-adams-settlers-waterways-wwals-webinar-pictures/fbmany.jpg)
![[Floyds Island Campout, Okefenokee Swamp 2024-11-02-03, Suwannee River, Fargo, GA, Stephen C. Foster State Park]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-11-02--okefenokee-floyds-island-campout/fbmany.jpg)