Related to
population centers in the Suwannee River watershed,
someone asked,
“Do we need an interstate Suwannee Bioregion Coalition to guard the waters that feed into the Suwannee River?”
We’ve got pieces of it already cooperating to some extent in opposing
the Sabal Trail pipeline.
There are many other even larger issues that everyone in the Suwannee River
basin faces.
In south Georgia and north Florida we have Continue reading
Much conservation activism lately on
the third main tributary of the Suwannee River, the Santa Fe River,
with its tributary the Ichetucknee River, both completely in Florida,
unlike WWALS’ Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers, which cross from Georgia
into Florida.
They each have their own watershed groups, somewhat like WWALS.
Christopher Curry wrote for the Gainesville Sun 21 June 2014, Grassroots environmentalists fight to protect Ichetucknee, Santa Fe,
At the head spring, a woman stands in knee-deep water on the stairs leading into the swimming hole. About 20 feet in front of her, splashing, swimming family members shout out some encouragement to try to coax her into the cold blue water.
It’s an idyllic scene of summer fun. At a nearby picnic table in the shade, the atmosphere is more serious.
There, some folks from two small but active environmental groups in the Suwannee River Water Management District — Our Santa Fe River and the Ichetucknee Alliance — are gathered, sharing Continue reading
A Greenway Trail is an onland version of the sort of Blueways or Water Trails WWALS is working on. WWALS board member Chris Graham got a very nice spread in one of the Lakeland newspapers today about Greenways, speaking for himself. -jsq
Lanier County Advocate, 4 June 2014, Page 12, Local nature enthusiast hoping to bring Greenway Trail to Lakeland,
Naylor native Christopher Graham has spent the majority of his life exploring the great outdoors every chance he gets.
Currently, Graham serves on the board of the Water Shed group to help ensure local rivers are clean and safe for citizens to enjoy. But what Graham has been striving for is to bring a Greenway Trail to the local area.
What are Greenway Trails? Continue reading
What
they told FERC today
was more subtle than just “avoid our area”, but after
the Sabal Trail methane pipeline avoid
karst limestone, any unconfined areas of our Floridan aquifer,
caves, springs, wetlands, drilling under rivers, blasting,
or using groundwater for testing pipes or disposing of it afterwards,
where can that pipeline go?
The Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) covers the Florida parts of WWALS’ watersheds, and our Withlacoochee River is named in the SRWMD comments. Unlike Georgia’s Suwannee-Satilla Water management District, SRWMD has state funding and staff that produced some very interesting comments.
This is the first I’ve heard of this point about source and disposal of testing water: Continue reading
This weekend’s boat outing is cancelled due to flood-stage water levels in the Withlacoochee River, with more rain expected Friday. To be rescheduled.
Continue readingStroud Water Center wrote in their Upstream Newsletter, VOL. 2014, ISSUE 1, February 2014,
Scientists Set Buffer Width Minimum Standard.
A strip of forest along a stream channel, also called a riparian forest buffer, has been proposed and used for decades as a best management practice to protect streams by filtering out contaminants from agriculture and other land uses before they can enter them.Their benefits are many, but one benefit has dominated social and political conversations, and that is their role in preventing contaminants from entering streams.
A few years ago, Stroud Water Research Center proposed that riparian forest buffers also play another important role by Continue reading
As two of the Suwannee Democrat’s commentors ask:
Why does Valdosta keep having these spills?
Hasn’t this happened like 3 times now?
Why yes, yes it has. For example, Valdosta became famous for this all the way to the Gulf 3 March 2013, and there were two more spills in 2013 to add to the big one in 2009. However, the City of Valdosta has promised to use SPLOST and other funding to fix it within a few years. As AP reported Friday:
The city of Valdosta says it is making improvements to the Withlacoochee Water Pollution Control Plant to prevent future problems.
Staff, Suwannee Democrat, 28 February 2014, Florida Department of Health advises of possible wastewater contamination: Wastewater overflow from Valdosta, Ga. may impact Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers
Live Oak — The Florida Department of Health (DOH) today issued an advisory to residents in counties surrounding the Withlacoochee and Suwannee rivers. The City of Valdosta has reported a spill, made up of a combination of storm water and partially treated sewage, that has overflowed into the Withlacoochee River. The Withlacoochee flows south and connects with the Suwannee River.
Until further information Continue reading
The WWALS outing was location in Statenville, Georgia DNR boat ramp on the Alapaha river. The water level @ the time of the outing was around 9 ft, but the river was within the backs. But the weather was sunny but cool day with a moderate wind. So the participants for this outing Continue reading
One month from now!
Paddle at your own leisure, or race for prizes
Saturday, March 22nd,
at the
Second Annual
BIG Little River Paddle Event,
at Reed Bingham State Park, Adel, Georgia.
Proceeds to benefit
Friends of Reed Bingham State Park
and WWALS Watershed Coalition.
You can
sign up and pay online or you can do that at the event.
Bret Wagenhorst has prepared a poster suitable for hanging up at your place of fun or business: PDF. Comment on this post if you want a paper copy.
Looking forward to seeing you there! Continue reading
