WWALS Ambassador Dave Hetzel explains the
Alapaha River Water Trail: recreation through fishing, swimming, boating,
conservation, and economic benefits through heads on beds, restaurant
customers, gas, and outfitters. Continue reading
Category Archives: PR
GWC DD#9: Sabal Trail pipeline threatens Withlacoochee River and Floridan Aquifer
Here is
the WWALS item #9
in the
Georgia Water Coalition Dirty Dozen 2014;
I added the links and the illustrations. -jsq
2014’s
Worst Offenses Against
GEORGIA’S WATER
WITHLACOOCHEE RIVER & FLORIDAN AQUIFER
Gas Pipeline Threatens Southwest Georgia Water, Way of Life
INTRODUCTION:
Southwest Georgians are fighting an invader—one every bitas worrisome as the boll weevil that destroyed cotton harvests in the 1900s, except this one takes farmers’ land as well as crops. Continue reading
Withlacoochee River & Floridan Aquifer: Gas Pipeline Threatens Southwest Georgia Water, Way of Life, GWC Dirty Dozen
The Withlacoochee River and the Floridan Aquifer affected by the
Sabal Trail pipeline is #9 in the Georgia Water
Coalition’s Dirty Dozen 2014: A Call to
Action, 
and here’s the
press release,
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 22, 2014 — Today, Georgia’s leading water coalition named its “Dirty Dozen” for 2014, highlighting 12 of the worst offenses to Georgia’s waters. The annual Dirty Dozen shines a spotlight on threats to Georgia’s water resources as well as the polluters and state policies or failures that ultimately harm—or could harm—Georgia property owners, downstream communities, fish and wildlife, hunters and anglers, and boaters and swimmers.
“The Dirty Dozen is not a list of the most polluted water bodies in Georgia, nor are they ranked in any particular order,” said Joe Cook, Advocacy & Communication Coordinator at the Coosa River Basin Initiative. “It’s a list of problems that exemplify the results of inadequate funding for Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division (EPD), a lack of political will to enforce existing environmental protections, and ultimately misguided water planning and spending priorities that flow from the very top of Georgia’s leadership.”
WWALS submitted #9 of the Dirty Dozen:
9. Withlacoochee River & Floridan Aquifer: Gas Pipeline Threatens Southwest Georgia Water, Way of Life
The Sabal Trail pipeline’s path across Continue reading
2nd Annual Flatlander Canoe and Kayak Race.
Lanier County Advocate, 2 Oct 2014:
The 2nd Annual Flatlanders Canoe and Kayak Race will be held at Lake Irma in Lakeland on Sunday, October 5, starting at 2:30 p.m.
There is no charge to participate in this event, and it will again feature the popular “If It Floats, It’s a Boat” race.
Rules for the canoe and kayak races include: Continue reading
New Georgia law bans riding ATVs in riverbeds.
Terry Dickson and Walter C. Jones wrote for the Florida Times-Union Saturday, May 22, 2010,
New Georgia law bans riding ATVs in riverbeds,
The measure should increase safety and reduce environmental damage.
House Bill 207, Continue reading
Moultrie Observer: WWALS op-ed against Sabal Trail pipeline
Bigger type than the rest of the page, and in the editorial column position:
Haley Hyatt, who took these pictures, noticed that about how the
Moultrie Observer
printed the
WWALS op-ed Friday 1 August 2014, as
“Much opposition”.
So that’s at least two newspapers so far, the other being the Ocala StarBanner. Continue reading
Tifton Gazette, WWALS receives Alapaha Water Trali grant
In the Tifton Gazette, WWALS receives Alapaha Water Trali grant,
27 July 2014,
from the
WWALS PR of 21 July 2014.
WWALS Ambassador Dave Hetzel found this, and I took the picture last night
at the first in-person Alapaha Water Trail Committee meeting.
So at least two newspapers carried the story. The other one was the Valdosta Daily Times, 22 July 2014, WWALS gets grant from river network, in which Matthew Woody added some detail beyond the press release. Continue reading
WWALS gets grant from river network –VDT
Statewide organization recognizes WWALS Watershed Coalition, plus local direct and indirect economic benefits of an Alapaha Water Trail, wrote the reporter who called me yesterday about the WWALS PR. -jsq
Matthew Woody wrote for the Valdosta Daily Times yesterday, WWALS gets grant from river network,
The Willacoochee, Withlacoochee, Alapaha, and Little River Systems Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS) received a $500 Alapaha Water Trail Grant from the Georgia River Network. John Quarterman, president of WWALS, said that making a water trail on the Alapaha River involves mapping out the river and putting out guide posts. The maps will show where boat ramps are along the river.
This grant goes beyond maps and guide posts; it signifies that a statewide organization recognizes South Georgia rivers.
“The grant for the Alapaha Water Trail is Continue reading
WWALS receives Alapaha Water Trail grant from Georgia River Network
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WWALS receives Alapaha Water Trail grant from Georgia River Network
Adel, GA, July 21st 2014 — The statewide umbrella
group
Georgia River Network has
awarded a grant
to WWALS Watershed Coalition to help conserve the
mostly-undiscovered recreational and economic gem of
the Alapaha River by constructing an
Alapaha Water Trail (ART).
WWALS invites landowners, local governments, and the public
to participate.
Brown’s Guide to Georgia describes the Alapaha as “jungle-like in its remoteness and luxurious with exotic vegetation, the dark reddish-brown waters of the Alapaha wind through a swampy wonderland teeming with wildlife.”
A Water Trail or blueway will help more people see this local gem, raising awareness to conserve it, more than outweighing the minimal disturbance of signs and boats. WWALS will draw on GRN’s extensive experience with Water Trails on other rivers in Georgia.
WWALS will center the initial blueway section Continue reading
WWALS at Earth Day by SAVE
WWALS will have a table at Earth Day today, 1PM in the Magnolia Room,
University Center, VSU.
That’s on the east side of Patterson Street,
just south of Brookwood Drive from Drexel Park.
-jsq