Category Archives: Swamp

Video: Senate Study Committee on Making Georgia the No. 1 State for Tourism meeting in Valdosta 2025-10-15

Update 2025-10-19: Filthy Sugar Creek 2025-10-17.

WWALS will never have the direct economic effect that many of the other projects described to the five Georgia State Senators this week. But many of our activities require very little economic input, such as water trails, outings, and even the future Troupville Nature Park and River Camp.

And some solutions for things we oppose would have outsized effects.

Video: Senate Study Committee on Georgia Tourism, meeting in Valdosta, 2025-10-15

What does an area need for tourism? A good reputation.

What’s the opposite of that? Stigma, as in:

A strip mine near the Okefenokee Swamp.
Or a long-outdated legal definition of navigability, impeding river passage.
Or sewage and trash in creeks and rivers.

Continue reading →

Florida Men Canoe Entire 240-Mile Suwannee River in 48 Hours 2025-10-02

Chemours to blame for flooding rural Santa Fe River Basin? –Grist 2025-09-04

Update 2025-09-05: Clean Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers 2025-09-04.

What is overflowing in that floodwater from those five Chemours mines on Trail Ridge at the top of the Santa Fe River Basin?

“If I lived near Chemours, I’d be paranoid too,” said John Quarterman, who serves as the Suwannee Riverkeeper, a staff position for an organization of the same name that advocates for conservation of the numerous watersheds within the Suwannee River Basin. “Some of the stuff they’re paranoid about is probably actually happening, but it’s hard to document which of it is and which of it isn’t.”

Until the Florida Department of Environmental Protection takes frequent measurements up and down the state’s rivers, Quarterman said, it will be difficult to pin down the impact of Chemours’ activities. And without such studies, he said, it’s difficult to identify bad actors — let alone hold them accountable.

WWALS has a volunteer water quality monitoring program, and two recently-trained testers may start testing in the Santa Fe River Basin soon.
https://wwals.net/issues/testing

Is Chemours to blame for flooding rural Santa Fe River Basin? –Grist 2025-09-04

Sachi Kitajima Mulkey, Ayurella Horn-Muller, Grist, September 4, 2025, Waterlogged and contaminated: In rural Florida, locals suspect a mining company is to blame for their flooding troubles: Residents are trying to connect the dots between hurricanes, high radium levels, and a mineral mining giant next door.

The storm had passed, but the water kept rising. In September 2017, Hurricane Irma slammed into Florida, causing tides to surge and dumping about a foot of water across much of the state. A few days later, Jane Blais stood on a bridge with her neighbors near her High Springs ranch, watching the Santa Fe River below swell higher and higher.

“We had zero notice,” Blais said, Continue reading →

Okefenokee Business Idea Bootcamp 2025-08-22

This is a free, full-day event (9 AM–4 PM) designed to equip aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs with the tools, confidence, and connections they need to launch and grow their business ideas. Through hands-on activities and practical guidance, participants will leave with a clearer vision and tangible next steps.

Okefenokee Business Idea Bootcamp, Waycross City Hall, 2025-08-22, Okefenokee Partnership, ecotourism, hospitality, retail, entertainment

When: Friday, August 22nd, 2025, 9 AM-4 PM

Where: Waycross City Hall, 417 Pendleton St. Waycross, GA

Food: Lunch will be provided

Free tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/idea-bootcamp-waycross-tickets-1493380454139 Continue reading →

Explore the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Veronica Kelly-Summers, a WWALS Webinar by Zoom, 2025-09-11

Discover all that Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge has to offer in our upcoming presentation focused on things to see and do around the 407,000-acre national wildlife refuge. From camping under the stars to paddling scenic water trails, the refuge is a haven for outdoor enthusiasts. Learn about wildlife watching ethics, areas for hiking and biking, guided boat tours, overnight excursions, hunting and fishing opportunities, and so much more. Whether you’re seeking outdoor adventure or a peaceful connection with nature, this presentation will showcase how Okefenokee has something for everyone.

When: 12 PM, Thursday, September 11, 2025

Put In: Register to join with Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tUE8DKI4QJqDpfgYiuiFmw
WWALS Board Member Janet Martin will give a brief introduction.
Questions and answers will be at the end.

Explore the Okefenokee NWR, Veronica Kelley-Summers, a WWALS Webinar by Zoom, Thursday, September 11, noon-1 PM

Veronica Kelly-Summers is a dedicated Visitor Services Manager with over 15 years of experience in protecting natural resources and connecting people with nature. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in forestry from Southern Illinois University with a focus on forest recreation and wildlife habitat management. Her career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has taken her to eight national wildlife refuges from the woods and swamps of southern Illinois to the Loess Bluffs of Iowa and Missouri, the Florida Everglades, and she’s now stationed at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia. She works closely with staff and partners to provide leadership and strategic direction for the Visitor Services program including managing visitor facilities and recreational opportunities for camping, boating, interpretation, environmental education, special events, outreach, hunting, fishing, managing volunteers, and much more. When not at work, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Jacob, and their pets, a yellow lab named Charlie and a spicy tuxedo cat name Tino.

Continue reading →

Georgia needs better economic solutions for forestry and rural south Georgia 2025-06-26

I’m going to agree with something a supporter of the now bought-out mine said: we need better economic solutions for south Georgia forest owners. And beyond that, for south Georgia. So counties and cities won’t be tempted by jobs promised by mines, landfills, private prisons, and pellet plants.

Georgia needs better economics, for forestry & rural south Georgia, Drew Jones, Charlton Co. Commission, Okefenokee Swamp & blackwater rivers

Drew Jones wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution today, June 26, 2025, Okefenokee deal exposed how Georgia’s forest policy is flawed and needs reform, Continue reading →

Miners bought out near Okefenokee Swamp 2025-06-20

Very good news today! The coal miners from Alabama have been bought out, ending mining on their specific property. First, the thanks. Then the rest of the story.

Many thanks to The Conservation Fund for buying out Twin Pines Minerals, LLC (TPM), and to the James M. Cox Foundation and the Holdfast Collective (Patagonia) for helping fund that acquisition. Thanks to everyone who helped, and to everyone who has opposed this bad mining proposal since at least 2019.

There is a direct path to adding this land into the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR), since the Okefenokee NWR Minor Acquisition Boundary Expansion was approved by USFWS 2025-01-03. Although given the current chaotic state of the federal government, keeping that land in private hands for now might be prudent.

Miners bought out near Okefenokee Swamp 2025-06-20, Twin Pines Minerals, by The Conservation Fund

We should all celebrate!

But this land acquisition is not the end of the mining story. There is much more we can do to protect the entire Okefenokee Swamp, the blackwater rivers of south Georgia, and to pass a constitutional amendment for Right to Clean Water, Air, and Soil.

Directly to the north of TPM’s parcels is much more land, Continue reading →

Mercury found in Okefenokee alligators 2025-06-12

The problem: “Alligators in the Okefenokee Swamp had mercury levels that were eight times higher than the other two research sites.” The other locations were Jekyll Island near Brunswick, GA, and Yawkey Wildlife Center, near Georgetown, SC. See Savannah Peat, UGA Today, June 12, 2025, New study shows alligators aren’t all that’s lurking in Georgia’s swamps,

Why this matters: “The presence of mercury in these waters not only impacts the health of the alligator but could have dangerous health effects on the other creatures relying on these waterways for food, including humans.”

Plus mercury comes down from the air not only into the waters where alligators live, but also onto nearby land, such as where the coal miners from Alabama want to strip mine for titanium dioxide (TiO2) too near the Okefenokee Swamp. Such mining could stir up mercury from the soil and get it into water or back into the air. You can still tell the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) that it should deny the miners’ permit applications:
twinpines.comment@dnr.ga.gov

And also probably where Chemours wants to expand its Trail Ridge South TiO2 mine onto land owned by the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD). The official comment period has expired, but you can still write to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) about the Chemours permit applications:
https://wwals.net/?p=67629

High levels of mercury found in alligators, Okefenokee Swamp, UGA 2025-06-12

Where does the mercury come from? “For instance, precipitation is the dominant source of environmental mercury deposition in other systems, and the hydrology of OS is dominated by precipitation and runoff with an average annual rainfall of 132.23 cm (Brook and Hyatt 1985, Wang et al., 2019, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge 1945–2021). Okefenokee is also in close proximity to several industrialized power plants, which have the potential to contribute to atmospheric Hg deposition (Porter 2000, Sherman et al., 2012).”

The actual power plants are not named in that paper or its sources, but we know the main culprit: Georgia Power’s Coal Plant Scherer, near Macon, Georgia, Continue reading →

Alabama miners failed to post bond to mine near Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia 2025-06-06

The future looks cloudy for the Alabama miners.

You can ask GA-EPD to end the suspense by denying their permit application:
twinpines.comment@dnr.ga.gov

Dylan Jackson, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 6, 2025, Controversial Okefenokee mine project delayed as company fails to post required funds: Georgia EPD says Twin Pines Minerals has not provided the $2 million in collateral required to obtain a permit.

Alabama miners failed to post bond to mine near Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia –AJC, June 6, 2025
AJC posted a picture captioned in part:
“Twin Pines began storing equipment at this site in Charlton County near the Okefenokee Swamp.”
They’ve been doing that since at least 2019, as this WWALS picture shows.

Twin Pines Minerals has not produced the $2 million bond or other collateral required to receive its permit to mine titanium near the Okefenokee Swamp, a delay that comes as the company and its affiliates continue to show signs of financial distress.

Georgia Environmental Protection Division spokeswoman Sara Lips confirmed on Wednesday that Twin Pines has yet to submit the financial assurance required for permit approval. The agency requested a bond or other collateral from the company in February 2024, shortly after draft permits were released.
Continue reading →

Okefenokee Gateway Getaway at The Farm at Okefenokee 2023-10-26

It was quite a do, at The Farm at Okefenokee.

Okefenokee Gateway Getaway, The Farm at Okefenokee, Next to Okefenokee NWR, October 26, 2023

The Okefenokee Gateway Getaway was put on by Charlton, Clinch, and Ware Counties, whose leaders “collaboratively strive to harness the potential of our region’s crowning jewel – the Okefenokee Swamp and Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.” It was apparently the first-ever collaborative venture of those three Georgia counties. Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.