Agenda: WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting 2024-10-20

WWALS President Sara Squires Jones will preside over the WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting. The public is invited to this regular busineass meeting.

That’s for the entire 10,000 square mile Suwannee River Basin, in Georgia and Florida, including the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Alapahoochee, Little Alapaha, Little times two, New times two, Black, Dead, Sampson, Santa Fe, and Suwannee Rivers, and all their creeks, springs, sinks, ponds, and swamps, such as Grand Bay, Banks Lake and the Okefenokee Swamp.

When: 6 PM, Sunday, October 20, 2024

Where: Online via zoom. Registration required:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAodOivrzMiGNA0VWk3aN246nOzZTliXbwc

Agenda: WWALS Board Meeting, 6-8 PM, Sunday, October 20, 2024

Continue reading →

Clean rivers, dirty Franks Creek 2024-10-17

Update 2024-10-20: Clean Withlacoochee River 2024-10-18.

The Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers tested clean for E. coli.

The weather report is sunny and cool for the next week, although you never know what might blow in off the Gulf or the Atlantic.

Many national, state, and local parks are still closed, especially on rivers. We did not hold the Banks Lake Full Hunters Moon paddle Thursday, because Banks Lake is closed indefinitely due to unstable trees.

The Santa Fe River is in Action Stage upstream and in flood at TREPO, and the Lower Suwannee River is in Action Stage from Rock Bluff to Manatee Springs.

The Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers are all back to paddleable levels.

Happy paddling, motoring, fishing, or swimming this weekend, if you can find a place to put in and take out, and be careful.

Afterwards, there will be plenty of more opportunities for pleasant paddles and chainsaw cleanups.

Clean Little, Withlacoochee, Alapaha Rivers 2024-10-17 Dirty Franks Creek 2024-10-16

No new sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida. by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), or in Georgia by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD).

John S. Quarterman tested three rivers on GA 122. Continue reading →

Proposed Okefenokee NWR expansion to include TiO2 miners’ land and more 2024-10-18

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

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 →

Banks Lake closed indefinitely due to Hurricane Helene damage 2024-10-09

We will not be paddling for the Full Hunters Moon is tomorrow, Thursday, October 17, 2024, because Banks Lake is closed.

Closed indefinitely due to Hurricane Helene Damage 2024-10-09: Banks Lake Outdoors and Banks Lake NWR

Banks Lake Outdoors facebook page, October 9, 2024:

Many of you have seen the massive number of trees down at the lake. Banks Lake Outdoors thankfully made it through Hurricane Helene with minimal damage. Much of the trees have been cleared; however, many upright trees remain unstable. Banks Lake, and the concession, will be closed to visitors until further notice.

Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge:

Refuge CLOSED Due to Hurricane Helene Damage
Banks Lake NWR is CLOSED to all public access due to Hurricane Helene storm damage. Refuge staff have conducted initial inspections and clean up, however, conditions are still unsafe for public access. A date for reopening has not been determined. For more information, please contact refuge staff at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge at 912-496-7836.

We look forward to Banks Lake being reopened, and WWALS offers assistance.

Meanwhile, for other WWALS outings, see:
https://wwals.net/outings/

-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

Clean Alapaha River 2024-10-13

Update 2024-10-18: Clean rivers, dirty Franks Creek 2024-10-17.

WWALS tester Heather Brasell got good water quality for Sunday at two upstream Alapaha River locations.

Valdosta posted, better late than never, its Wednesday results for the Withlacoochee River at GA 133 and US 84, and they were good.

There has been no rain for almost a week, and none is predicted for the next ten days.

The upper and lower Santa Fe River, the lower Suwannee River, and the Alapaha River at Statenville are still in Action Stage (or flood for the Santa Fe at TREPO).

Beware that many parks and public access points are still closed. Avoid getting in the way of ongoing recovery after Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Other than that, happy paddling, motoring, fishing, and swimming this week and the coming weekend.

Clean Alapaha River and no rain 2024-10-16 Valdosta results corroborate clean Withlacoochee River

The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) updates its Sewage Spills Report on weekdays, and the same for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP)’s Public Notice of Pollution (PNP), and neither have reported any new sewage spills since Friday. Continue reading →

Videos: Rachel Grubb, Lake City, FL, First Prize, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2024-09-07

Back again after several years, Rachel Grubb came from Lake City, Florida, with her song, Cruising Down the Suwannee, and won not only Best Americana Indie-Folk Song, but also First Prize, in the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2024.

She got plaques for both, and a $300 check for First Prize.

Rachel Grubb, Lake City, FL, 2024-09-07, Best Americana Indie-Folk Song, First Prize: Cruising Down the Suwannee, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest

Here are videos of her song and her awards:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKwQ5xfKf-QwHgcxLdwOzUQNJDAj4zEi3&si=S6_kNrttvtPm5nd3 Continue reading →

Audio: GA House Navigable Streams Committee postponed –Suwannee Riverkeeper on WKUB radio 2024-10-10

An old Civil War law in the way of paddling, motoring, fishing, and swimming, on WKUB radio from Blackshear, Pierce County, Georgia, starting at 1:10 in the audio:
https://wwals.net/pictures/2024-10-10–wkub-navigable/2000-thurs-am-news.mp3

A meeting of the Georgia House Navigable Streams Committee scheduled for Friday in Nahunta has been postponed due to the anticipated effects from Hurricane Milton.
It was set to take place at Strickland’s Lodge on the Satilla River in Nahunta.

Georgia House Navigable Streams Committee Postponed 2024-10-10 — Suwannee Riverkeeper on WKUB radio

That committee is currently taking public comment on the legislative efforts to name sections of some of the state’s 64 streams and rivers as navigable and open to the public for boating, fishing, and hunting.

Right now an old Civil War law prohibits a lot of that from happening.

Suwannee Riverkeeper John Quarterman, who was eager to see changes in the present laws, says that postponing the meeting was the right thing to do.

jsq: …which is all sensible, I think. I had thought of asking them, could you, at least, delay this? Because I’ve been asking county commission members and city council members, and naturally they’ve been telling me they’re kind of busy with still doing cleanup, and so this is a good thing, I think.
Continue reading →

Apparently clean Withlacoochee River 2024-10-10

Update 2024-10-16: Clean Alapaha River 2024-10-13.

There has been very little rain since Hurricane Helene. Hurricane Milton brought rain only to the Santa Fe and Suwannee Rivers. By what data we have, the rivers are probably clean.

The weather report is sunny and cool for the next week, although you never know what might blow in off the Gulf or the Atlantic.

Many national, state, and local parks are still closed, especially on rivers.
https://wwals.net/?p=65987

The Santa Fe River is in flood or Action Stage along much of its length, and the Suwannee River is in Action Stage from Branfrod most of the way to the Gulf.

The Withlacoochee River is still in Action Stage at Lee, but below that upstream. The Alapaha River is still in Moderate Flood at Statenville and Jennings, but below Action Stage upstream.

Power is back on most places, but there are still some road obstructions and many put-ins are closed or flooded.

If you paddle, motor, fish, or swim this weekend, be careful.

Afterwards, there will be plenty of more opportunities for pleasant paddles and chainsaw cleanups.

We have a Banks Lake Full Hunters Moon paddle scheduled for this Thursday, but Banks Lake is closed indefinitely due to unstable trees, so we shall see.

Apparently clean Withlacoochee River 2024-10-10 Flooded Santa Fe River and lower Suwannee, Alapaha, and Withlacoochee Rivers

Continue reading →

Video: How Native Americans and Early Settlers used Waterways –Chris Adams, WWALS Webinar 2024-09-12

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.

Video: How Native Americans and, and Early Settlers used Waterways, Featuring Crackers and Old Coffee Road –Chris Adams, WWALS Webinar 2024-09-12

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 →

Videos: David Rodock, Adel, GA, won Best Song from Inside the Suwannee River Basin 2024-09-07

David Rodock, from Adel, Georgia, played his song, “Monlight Echoes,” and won Best Pop Country Folk Song, and Best Song from Inside the Suwannee River Basin, in the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2024.

He got awards for both plaques, and a $100 check for Inside.

David Rodock, Adel, GA, Best Pop Country Folk Song 2024-09-07, Best Song from Inside the Basin, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest /p>

Here are videos of his song and his awards:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKwQ5xfKf-QzKf-RMAMhF8j3OPnpJ62uu&si=7Vs-eNyl88mbwESh

He got written up in his hometown newspaper: Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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