Category Archives: Pond

Videos: Valdosta trash tour again 2023-05-23

Malia Thomas, reporter for the Valdosta Daily Times, and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman toured many of the same Valdosta trash locations we visited three months earlier. Most of them did not seem what you might call fixed.

[Valdosta Trash Examples 2023-05-23]
Valdosta Trash Examples 2023-05-23

Plus one added stop was most definitely not fixed. Apparently 84 days of $100 a day fines were not enough.

There is some progress on Valdosta’s chronic trash problem, such as the three trash traps (thanks, City Engineer Ben O’Dowd and Stormwater Manager Angela Bray) and the notices sent to parking lot owners by City Marshalls (thanks, Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley), but there is also much more room for improvement. Apparently some of those notices have not had much effect yet, and more trash traps are needed, as well as other measures. See:
https://wwals.net/issues/trash/

Needless to say, WWALS and the usual citizens are still watching and speaking up. Continue reading →

Maps: Valdosta Stormwater Pond Facility Clusters 2023-03-01

These maps show the locations of Valdosta’s Stormwater Pond Facility Clusters previously posted. They provide clues to where trash may be accumulating.

Most of the major creeks in Valdosta are represented, plus some that I didn’t know had names, such as Bunche Street Canal and Knob Hill Canal, as well as some that apparently do not have names.

Most (Sugar Creek, Hightower Creek, Dow Street Canal, One Mile Branch, Two Mile Branch, Three Mile Branch, Knob Hill Canal, Cherry Creek, and Browns Canal) are in the Withlacoochee River Basin.

Others (Knights Creek, Dukes Bay Canal, Bunche Street Canal) are in the Alapaha River Basin.

Several of the maps straddles several watersheds.

[Example Cluster maps]
Example Cluster maps

Below there is a pair of maps for each of the clusters: a map received from Valdosta in response to an open records request, and a map excerpt from one of the WWALS water trail maps.

The rest of the text below is from the document previously posted. Continue reading →

Valdosta sprays Glyphosate on elephant ears 2023-02-19

Update 2023-04-05: Maps: Valdosta Stormwater Pond Facility Clusters 2023-03-01.

The most interesting parts of the response to the open records request I sent to Valdosta about spraying are the summary by Stormwater Manager Angela Bray, and the Stormwater Pond Facility Clusters.

I agree with her first two points, but am confused by her other two.

[ORR Response and Stormwater Pond Facility Clusters]
ORR Response and Stormwater Pond Facility Clusters

This is the main part of the Stormwater Manager’s summary: Continue reading →

Kayakers needed to accompany swimmers –TCT7 2021-09-12

Kayakers wanted to volunteer to pace swimmers for the annual TCT7.

[Banner]
Banner

Kayakers will need to be there by 6:45 AM on Sunday, September 12, 2021.

There is the Lake Park 4-H Camp, 5000 4-H Club Road, Lake Park, GA US 31636, on the banks of Long Pond.

Anyone interested in volunteering to kayak can contact Andy Woods at (614) 312-9897.

They are expecting a huge turn out of swimmers since the event is going to be a qualifying event for local swim teams. Please see the following information from John Eunice, whose son the event memorializes.

Thank you for your support of the TCT7 Swim and the James Eunice Charity Fund. This year’s event is Continue reading →

Hutchinson Mill Pond 2020-12-10

What’s upstream on Hutchinson Mill Creek, which joins the Withlacoochee River just upstream (north) of Hagan Bridge on GA 122 in Lowndes County, Georgia?

[Spillway, Hutchinson Pond, 16:22:31, 31.0554820, -83.3514000]
Spillway, Hutchinson Pond, 16:22:31, 31.0554820, -83.3514000

Hutchinson Pond, in Cook County on Caulie Harris Road, presumably at the site of Hutchinson Mill Pond. Continue reading →

Trash on Two Mile Branch at Sugar Creek 2020-04-21

Cleanup opportunity on Two Mile Branch where it joins Sugar Creek!

A few days ago we got this: “Hello! I don’t know if y’all are the people I should contact, but I was at Two Mile Branch today, and there is a huge amount of garbage and debris.”

We have an offer of cleanup access from a neighboring property owner. It’s possible to do this while staying six feet apart, and people don’t even have to go at the same time. This is a great opportunity for #SuwanneeCleanup!

[Two views]
Two views

Easy way to report a problem (trash, sewer spill, etc.) to Continue reading →

Ockolocoochee, Little River 1889-01-29

Who knows the Ockolocoochee River? No, not the Ochlockonee River; that’s a bit to the west. You do know the Ockolocoochee River as the Little River, of the Withlacoochee, of the Suwannee. Here is news from 1889 that also includes the boat that didn’t survive from Troupville to Ellaville, which was apparently not a paddlewheel steamer.


Irwin County, 1885a, GeorgiaInfo, Rand McNally Map of Georgia, 1885

Atlanta Constitution, January 29, 1889, Pg 12., quoted in Ray City History Blog, 18 October 2010, More About Troupville, GA and the Withlacoochee River,

THE WITHLACOOCHEE RIVER.

VALDOSTA, Ga., January 19. -[Special.]- Away up near the northern limit of the great wiregrass section there is a big cypress swamp. They call them bays there. From this bay emerges Continue reading →

What WWALS Does: watershed advocacy from outings and water trails to wastewater and pipelines

Water trails, wastewater, corporate agriculture, solar power, fracking, and pipelines: WWALS works with many issues in many ways, as part of our advocacy for conservation and stewardship through education, awareness, environmental monitoring and activities such as our monthly paddle outings. McIntyre Spring snorkel 30.6416626, -83.3660889

Here’s an introduction to WWALS for the many new members and even more people following WWALS on facebook and twitter.

WWALS Watershed Coalition, or WWALS for short, is an IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation about everything related to water in the watersheds Continue reading →

Grassy Pond opened to public by Moody AFB

A sinkhole lake like a state park, run by a local Air Force Base, is now open to the public.

Dave Miller, WALB, 14 January 2015, Moody AFB opens Grassy Pond to the public,

LAKE PARK, GA (WALB)—Moody Air Force Base announced Tuesday that Grassy Pond in Lake Park, an affiliate of Moody, is now open to the public for daily enjoyment.

For decades, Grassy Pond has catered to military personnel, retirees and their family members, but in an effort to build community relations, the Air Force approved Moody’s request to grant public access to the facility.

This 500 acre recreational area is similar to Continue reading →