It was drizzly and it rained on Floyds Island, but everybody enjoyed it anyway.
![[Floyds Island Campout, Okefenokee Swamp 2024-11-10-11, Suwannee River, and Middle Fork]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/gretchen/2024-11-10--floyds-island/fbmany.jpg)
Floyds Island Campout, Okefenokee Swamp 2024-11-10-11, Suwannee River, and Middle Fork
Thanks to Brack Barker for leading this Floyds Island Campout, 9 miles upstream on the Suwannee River in the Okefenokee Swamp.
Thanks to Gretchen Quarterman for these pictures.
Not many gators were visible, but there was a tree full of wood storks. Continue reading
Update 2024-12-09: Virtual public meeting about the minor proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge 2024-12-09.
This is still my bottom line:
“If we’re not going to protect the Okefenokee,” said John S. Quarterman, Suwannee Riverkeeper, “what are we going to protect?”
Joe Hopkins knows how to turn a pithy quote, but people are working on economic development in the counties surrounding the Okefenokee Swamp; see below.
Rose Schnabel, WUFT, November 16, 2024, Georgia’s biggest wildlife refuge is poised for expansion. Here’s why it matters in Florida.
![[What it means to Florida, Okefenokee NWR Expansion, Rose Schnabel, WUFT 2024-11-14]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-11-16--okefenokee-nwr-expansion/fbmany.jpg)
What it means to Florida, Okefenokee NWR Expansion, Rose Schnabel, WUFT 2024-11-14
The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is the largest in Georgia. (Courtesy of Michael Lusk)
Florida’s water levels, rare plants and ancient fish are among the natural resources that could be protected by a proposed expansion to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
The refuge is within the Okefenokee Swamp: a blackwater bog almost half the size of Rhode Island that feeds the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed expansion, announced earlier this month, would extend the refuge’s borders by 22,000 acres. The deadline for public comment is Dec. 9.
Continue reading
Update 2024-12-09: Virtual public meeting about the minor proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge 2024-12-09.
Update 2024-11-16: Why Okefenokee NWR expansion matters in Florida –Rose Schnabel, WUFT 2024-11-16.
Chip Campbell, formerly of Okefenokee Expeditions Adventures, summed it up so everyone could understand, the
proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge:
nobody has to sell land.
According to https://www.fws.gov/refuge/okefenokee, “The public has until November 18, 2024 to submit input via email to Okefenokee@fws.gov”
![[Nobody has to sell land with Okefenokee NWR expansion, Public Meeting, Folkston, GA 2024-11-12]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-11-12--okefenokee-nwr-expansion-meeting/fbmany.jpg)
Nobody has to sell land with Okefenokee NWR expansion, Public Meeting, Folkston, GA 2024-11-12
To paraphrase Chip’s paraphrase: the Refuge expansion is aspirational. With it, if someone wants to sell to the Refuge they can. Without it, they can’t.
The expansion does nothing to affect the strip mine application. The miners could choose to sell or donate the land before any permit. They could mine and later donate or sell the land. Or neither. But without the expansion, there is no mechanism for their land to join the Refuge.
Addressing the dozen or so people from Charlton and the other counties surrounding the Refuge, Chip said they could sell or take out a conservation easement, or not, if they are within the expansion boundary. Nobody is making them do anything. Continue reading
Update 2024-11-13: Pictures: Public Meeting about Okefenokee NWR expansion 2024-11-12.
The Public Meeting for the proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge has been changed to Tuesday, November 12, 2024, still from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Charlton County Annex Auditorium, 68 Kingsland Drive, Folkston, Georgia, according to https://www.fws.gov/refuge/okefenokee
Here’s a facebook event to remind you:
https://www.facebook.com/events/556272616789217/
This part is unchanged: “The public has until November 18, 2024 to submit input via email to Okefenokee@fws.gov”
![[Okefenokee NWR Expansion Public Meeting 2024-11-12, Maybe including proposed TiO2 mine site]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-10-24--okefenokee-nwr-expansion-changes/fbmany.jpg)
Okefenokee NWR Expansion Public Meeting 2024-11-12, Maybe including proposed TiO2 mine site
Also, the same day the proposed expansion was announced, the miners said they had not been contacted.
Russ Bynum, AP, October 18, 2024, Proposed Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge expansion could lead to buyout of mining project, Continue reading
It was busy and fun, one of the few festivals that did not cancel after Hurricane Helene: the Brooks County Skillet Festival in Quitman, Georgia, on Okapilco Creek, which runs into the Withlacoochee River.
![[WWALS Booth at Brooks County Skillet Festival 2024-10-19 Praying Mantis. Stop the Mine (Okefenokee).]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-10-19--brooks-county-skillet-festival-pictures/many.jpg)
WWALS Booth at Brooks County Skillet Festival 2024-10-19 Praying Mantis. Stop the Mine (Okefenokee).
Featuring Gretchen’s Praying Mantis.
Thanks to Michael Bachrach and Gee Edwards for helping.
Honorable Mention to Cindy Vedas for attempting to get there.
Special Award to Elleanor Williams for being the new poster child
for Stop the Mine too close to the Okefenokee Swamp.
https://wwals.net/issues/titanium-mining
For more events and outings, see:
Continue reading
Update 2024-10-24: The date of the public meeting is now Nov. 12, changed from the originally published date of Oct. 29.
Here’s a facebook event to remind you:
https://www.facebook.com/events/556272616789217/
Update 2024-10-18: Miner president says he was not contacted.
Here’s one answer to who can afford to buy the land from the miners: the U.S. federal government.
![[Okefenokee NWR Expansion 2024-10-18 Including TiO2 Mine site]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-10-18--okefenokee-nwr-expansion/many.jpg)
Okefenokee NWR Expansion 2024-10-18 Including TiO2 Mine site
Leslie Hull-Ryde, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, October 18, 2024, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is Seeking Public Input on Proposal for Minor Expansion of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge Boundary: Proposal designed to enable voluntary actions to protect hydrological integrity, conserve wetlands and key wildlife habitat, and create fuel reduction zone to help protect neighboring properties.
The Southeast Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering a proposal that would expand the boundary of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, adding approximately 22,000 acres adjacent to the existing refuge. The Service is seeking public input on the proposal.
If adopted, the proposed minor boundary expansion would enable the Service to work with willing landowners to explore voluntary conservation actions, including potential acquisition, that would further protect the refuge’s globally significant freshwater wetland system and wildlife habitat.
The proposed expansion includes lands currently held by Twin Pines Minerals, LLC as well as a one-mile fuel reduction zone adjacent to the refuge. Continue reading
The wide-ranging discussion included crackers as whip-cracking cow-herding illegal immigrants, ferries, bridges, and Old Coffee Road, when well-known local historian and naturalist Chris Adams gave a WWALS Webinar about how people used waterways in the Suwannee River Basin, Native Americans and Early Settlers, by zoom, Thursday, September 12, 2024.
He runs the facebook pages
Turtleman Chris Adams
https://www.facebook.com/1GATurtleman/
and Wiregrass Ecological and Cultural Project.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100079482833584
Here is the video:
https://youtu.be/db0H8D0tsmc Continue reading
Many national, state, and local parks and related facilities are closed due to damage from Hurricane Helene. Some were already closed due to Hurricane Debby.
Assume it’s closed unless you have other information.
![[What parks are closed after Hurricane Helene? Many of them. 2024-10-03 Assume closed unless other information.]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-10-03--parks-closed/many.jpg)
What parks are closed after Hurricane Helene? Many of them. 2024-10-03 Assume closed unless other information.
Pictured: damage at Stephen Foster Culture Center State Park in White Springs, Florida. Photo: SFCSSP
Many parks are closed all over Georgia. Here we list only the ones in or near the Suwannee River Basin.
After we asked several weeks for input on water trail signs and rack cards, the WWALS Outings Committee provided many opinions.
Here are the images that went to press Monday, September 30, 2024. That’s 10,000 copies each for the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT) and the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).
They’re the same size as the WWALS z-fold brochures for the same water trails. But rack cards are a single sheet, front and back. They are much less expensive to print, so more appropriate for Interstate highway welcome centers and such.
They each have a QR code and a URL for finding more information.
I especially like the ARWT front. Continue reading
This map was compiled by Waterkeepers Florida, which is an umbrella organization consisting of the fourteen Waterkeepers of Florida: Apalachicola Waterkeeper, Calusa Waterkeeper, Collier County Waterkeeper, Emerald Coastkeeper, Kissimmee Waterkeeper, Lake Worth Waterkeeper, Matanzas Riverkeeper, Miami Waterkeeper, Peace Myakka Waterkeeper, St Johns Waterkeeper, St Marys Waterkeeper, Suncoast Waterkeeper, Suwannee Riverkeeper, and Tampa Bay Waterkeeper.
![[Waterkeepers Florida Territories Map plus FDEP Territories and Disaster Map]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-09-13--wkfl-map/many.jpg)
Waterkeepers Florida Territories Map plus FDEP Territories and Disaster Map
What’s the different between Waterkeeper, Riverkeeper, and Coastkeeper? Nothing, really: all work for fishable, swimmable, drinkable water in their territories. All are trademarks of Waterkeeper Alliance (WKA) and refer to an organization and to a specific individual who is the spokeperson for the waterbody.
WKA is trying to standardize on Waterkeeper for all new ones. We had to argue to get Suwannee Riverkeeper because all the ones surrounding us are Riverkeepers, and that’s the term people hereabouts know.
The WKFL Territories Map is actually a layer in a WKFL Disaster Map. Other layers include Districts of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). Continue reading
![[Video: How Native Americans and, and Early Settlers used Waterways, Featuring Crackers and Old Coffee Road --Chris Adams, WWALS Webinar 2024-09-12]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-09-12--chris-adams-settlers-waterways-wwals-webinar-pictures/fbmany.jpg)
![[Rack Cards for the Alapaha River Water Trail and the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail 2024-09-30]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-09-30--rack-cards/many.jpg)