Category Archives: River

Clean Rivers 2022-05-05

Update 2022-05-13: Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha, Ichetucknee, Santa Fe all clean 2022-05-12.

Another clean river week! All the WWALS test results for Thursday and Wednesday are good.

It did just rain cats and dogs, but only briefly. We can’t know yet, but my guess is there wasn’t enough rain to wash much contamination into the rivers, not even down Okapilco Creek. I would paddle this weekend, or swim, or fish.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide

If you’re not doing that, come on down to the Salty Snapper for the WWALS Withlacoochee River cleanup. Continue reading →

Reroute: Langdale Park becomes Withlacoochee River and Sugar Creek Cleanup 2022-05-07

Update 2022-05-14: Mayor, Council, volunteers, helped WWALS clean up Sugar Creek and Withlacoochee River 2022-05-07.

We’re changing this Saturday’s paddle to an on-land cleanup below the Salty Snapper parking lot, walking down Sugar Creek to the Withlacoochee River and the railroad bridge.

Because it’s now completely a cleanup, this outing is free! Also, no boat required. Bring mud boots, sturdy clothes, gloves, and any trash pickers you may have. We will supply trash bags. And for the Mayor, a Sawzall.

[Trash and log jams]
Trash and log jams

This reroute is because Continue reading →

Winners, BIG Little River Paddle Race 2022-04-30

Adel, GA, May 3, 2022 — Nineteen canoeists and kayakers set out on a beautiful blue-sky morning on Saturday, April 30, 2022, and one from far away won the BIG Little River Paddle Race.

[Carl Fuller, First Prize Winner]
Carl Fuller, First Prize Winner

They paddled three miles from Red Roberts Landing to the Colquitt County boat ramp on Reed Bingham State Park Lake.

[Five boats]
Carl Fuller already in the lead.

The overall winner was Continue reading →

Spectrum Energy wood pellet plant a health hazard far beyond Adel –WWALS to GA-EPD 2022-05-02

Here is the WWALS comment letter to GA-EPD about the second wood pellet plant permit application for Adel, Georgia.

[Both pages]
Both pages

The Letter

See also PDF.

May 2, 2022

By Electronic Mail to: Continue reading →

Clean rivers again 2022-04-28

Update 2022-05-06: Clean Rivers 2022-05-05.

Happy swimming, boating, and fishing this weekend!

Come on down to Reed Bingham State Park tomorrow for the BIG Little River Paddle Race.

[Chart, rivers, Swim Guide]
Chart, rivers, Swim Guide

All the WWALS results for Wednesday and Thursday and the Valdosta results up to Monday agree: all the tested locations are clean of E. coli. No sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida, and no rain is predicted. Continue reading →

Videos: Trash and river paddles, Suwannee Riverkeeper on Scott James Radio 2022-04-29

This morning, Valdosta Mayor Scott James and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman talked trash and river paddling on 92.1 FM talk radio.

[Movie: BIG Little River Paddle Race, Reed Bingham State Park 2022-04-30]
Movie: BIG Little River Paddle Race, Reed Bingham State Park 2022-04-30

Get your tickets today to join us tomorrow (Saturday) morning for the annual 3-mile WWALS BIG Little River Paddle Race down the idyllic blackwater Little River from Red Roberts Landing into Reed Bingham State Park Lake.

And another paddle next Saturday, May 7, 2022, on the Withlacoochee River from Langdale Park Boat Ramp to Sugar Creek. The Mayor promised to bring nets for trash. I’ll bring sawzalls for any deadfalls.

We mostly talked about the trash situation, in which the Mayor of Valdosta promised to get trash cans set out on the city’s own parking lots, starting with the ones across from City Hall. We discussed the cleanup award from GA-DNR I picked up in Atlanta Wednesday. Cleanups are great, but not enough. We also need trash traps to stop the stuff from getting out of the creeks into the rivers. And we need parking lot owners to keep trash from getting of their lots and to set out and clean out trash cans. Continue reading →

Tickets ’til Friday for Saturday’s BIG Little River Paddle Race at Reed Bingham State Park

Adel, Georgia, April 28, 2022 — For the 8AM, Saturday, April 30, 2022, BIG Little River Paddle Race, ticket sales remain open until 5PM Friday, available only online. Join us for a three-mile paddle down the idyllic blackwater Little River into Reed Bingham State Park, between Adel and Moultrie, Georgia. Tickets are $30 per boat online only at wwals.net. See
https://wwals.net/pictures/2022-04-30–blrpr/

You could win in any of a dozen categories, including $100 First Prize. But you are not required to race: it’s a nice spring paddle anyway! Lunch will be provided. You can just paddle along this scenic three-mile stretch of tea-colored river on the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail among cypress trees, turtles, birds, and yes, alligators. (Don’t pet the alligators and they aren’t likely to bother you.) This race also has fierce competitors, with one past winner finishing in barely more than half an hour.

Nobody beat the previous fastest winning time, so this year if somebody does, they will get an additional $200 prize. Winners in other categories each get a special gift.

Photo: Gretchen Quarterman, of Clay York finishing BLRPR 2019
Photo: Gretchen Quarterman, of Clay York finishing the BIG Little River Paddle Race 2019.

The race will start Continue reading →

Suwannee Riverkeeper on Scott James Radio 7AM Friday 2022-04-29

Update 2022-04-29: Videos: Trash and river paddles, Suwannee Riverkeeper on Scott James Radio 2022-04-29.

Friday morning at 7 AM, Suwannee Riverkeeper will be on Scott James Talk 92.1 FM radio, about the annual 3-mile BIG Little River Paddle Race down the idyllic blackwater Little River from Red Roberts Landing into Reed Bingham State Park Lake.

No doubt we’ll also talk about the trash situation and how you can help stop a strip mine far too near the Okefenokee Swamp, and ask GA-EPD to stop that second wood pellet plant in Adel while you’re at it. We may also talk about water trails, water quality testing, and who knows what else.

[Location, Radio]
Location, Radio

When: 7 AM, Friday, April 29, 2022

Where: Talk 92.1 FM radio, Scott James drivetime show
https://talk921.com/
Or come buy coffee at Continue reading →

Hahira subdivision proposed near Big Branch of Franks Creek @ GLPC 2022-04-25

Update 2022-04-25: LAKE Videos.

According to the survey plat, the north boundary of this 72-acre subdivision parcel is a creek called Big Branch that runs into Franks Creek (which runs into the Little River, then the Withlacoochee, and the Suwannee).

[SURVEY plat]
SURVEY plat
PDF

The lot layout appears to stay well back from that branch and its surrounding wetlands. It’s inside the Hahira City Limits, and likely to be recommended by the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission at its meeting this evening. For more information, see Big Hahira rezoning, 4 small Valdosta @ GLPC 2022-04-25. Continue reading →

Residents can help keep rivers clean –Katherine Ball in Valdosta Daily Times 2022-04-15

Katherine Ball, Valdosta Daily Times, April 15, 2022, BALL: Residents can help keep rivers clean

I get excited, every year, as Earth Day approaches. Not only is it a great day to spend time preserving and enjoying our planet, it is also my birthday.

[Katherine Ball]
Katherine Ball

As I spend this Birth and Earth Day, in Valdosta, I am reminded of the many childhood memories I made playing in Three Mile Branch creek, off Country Club Road. Looking back, my experiences in those waters, directly shaped who I became as an adult and an artist.

Being the only girl in the Magnolia Plantation cul-de-sac, I often found myself, Continue reading →