Category Archives: Outing

Arsenic, Outings, and Flooding: WWALS Watershed Coalition @ VLCIA 2013-04-16

Water issues strongly affect economic development, so I talked about the new WWALS Watershed Coalition at the 16 April 2013 Board Meeting of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority.

The VDT declined to speak, so I did. After apologizing for no okra today, I commended the Authority for talking about the missing agenda items and for mentioning due diligence and flood control.

Mostly I talked about the new WWALS Watershed Coalition, www.wwals.net, incorporated in June 2012, which is about watershed issues such as flooding, water quality, and invasive species related to the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, and Little River System. I mentioned arsenic in some local well water, which the Department of Health has finally said should be tested, three years after Janet McMahan discovered it was a problem. I invited VLCIA board and staff to two upcoming WWALS events:

WWALS board meetings are every second Wednesday of the month, usually at the IHOP in Adel because it’s centrally located. WWALS is communicating with Valdosta and various organizations about flooding and other watershed-wide issues, which in my opinion have to do with things like too much clearcutting without consideration for where the water goes, too much development without consideration for what the impervious surface would do, (to my surprise, the Executive Director and several board members nodded along with that) so it was good to hear them mention flood containment.

Here’s the video:


Arsenic, Outings, and Flooding: WWALS Watershed Coalition
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland, Chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett, Andrea Schruijer, Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton, Attorney, Tom Davis, CPA, Allan Ricketts, Project Manager,S. Meghan Duke, Public Relations & Marketing Manager, Lu Williams, Operations Manager,
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 16 April 2013.

-jsq

Withlacoochee River at Franklinville 16 April 2013 2013-04-20

Come paddle the Withlacoochee River from GA 122 to Franklinville, 10 AM 20 April 2013, in the monthly WWALS outing.

Update 2016-02-01: Pictures by Gretchen Quarterman.

Franklinville Road Bridge (closed):

Franklinville Road Bridge (closed)

Withlacoochee River:

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First annual Big LITTLE RIVER Paddle Race

Start On Saturday, March 30 WWALS held their first joint fundraiser with the Friends of Reed Bingham State Park: the first annual Big LITTLE RIVER Paddle Race. We had 18 boats and 27 paddlers participate. The start was at Rountree Bridge at the north end of Reed Bingham State Park.

-Bret Wagenhorst

Start:

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Big Little River Paddle Race

188253_10200781394396347_1903725575_n Thanks to the hard work and dedication of Bret Wagenhorst, WWALS Watershed Coalition will be hosting the first Big Little River Paddle Race on Saturday March 23rd at 10am. The goal for the days event will be to have fun, enjoy the natural beauty of our watershed, and to hopefully raise funds for watershed conservation and preservation. The paddle race will be held on a three mile course, where we will float upon the tannin stained waterways, and pass both indigenous as well as invasive species. For anyone who has not previously paddled the Little River, we hope you will enjoy yourselves, and hopefully make use of this resource more frequently. For the experienced paddler, good luck and enjoy the journey.

Register Here

Registration costs $20 per boat in advance through 20 March 2013. Event day sign-in will be from 8:30 to 9:30am; registration at the event costs $30 per boat.

Flyer with details: PDF

First Annual

Big LITTLE RIVER Paddle Race

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Proceeds to benefit Friends of Reed Bingham and WWALS Watershed Coalition

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WWALS outing called because of weather, but….

Gretchen posted:

The “official” event is off because of the weather. However, if you want to see the location, gather at Gary Rampley’s, past Mullins Lane at 6974 Old State Road and park in his yard and then walk to the River (less than .2 miles) at 1:00. Meet others who like a cold, rainy outing.

Or, at 2:00pm meet at Let’s Eat Cafe (Exit 18 from I75—across from Austin’s Steak House at the Shell Station) to discuss strategies for keeping access to the Alapaha River in Lowndes County.

Our local hosts still want to meet up with interested folks and for those not up to braving the weather, we will be indoors at Let’s Eat (an excellent local place to meet and eat).

Alapaha River trip 2009, ending at Hotchkiss Landing

In 2009 Bret Wagenhorst of Tifton organized a canoe trip on the Alapaha River. He says:

I believe we had nearly 15 people on that trip. The put in was at Burnt Church, just above the Boy Scout camp outside of Lakeland. The take out was the state road that is being proposed to be closed due to lack of use. The photos are in an album on my Facebook page. I believe it is titled “Alapaha River Trip”. The last photo of the album shows lots of people at the take out— the state road access that “is hardly ever used”! Feel free to copy any of the photos you like.

Since his facebook album requires facebook login to view, I’ve copied it to a flickr set. That last picture sure does look like Hotchkiss Landing:

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