WWALS at Alapaha Station Celebration 2017-11-11

Update 2018-11-09: Pictures.

We will have the WWALS festival booth at the Alapaha Station Celebration on Saturday November 11, for the fourth year running. Join us for a fun day of outreach to members of our community.

When: 9AM – 5PM, Saturday, November 11, 2017

Where: Alapaha Station, 245 NE Railroad St, Alapaha, Georgia

Event: facebook, meetup

Miss Alapaha Station Mini Supreme, The winners
Miss Alapaha Station Mini Supreme at the WWALS booth last year.

The station is only a few miles from Continue reading →

Pictures: WWALS at Alapaha Station Celebration 2016-11-12

Last year at Alapaha Station Celebration we met a lot of people ad had a good time. We’ll be back there this Saturday.

Sign up here, WWALS booth

Continue reading →

SRWMD BMAP meeting, Live Oak, FL 2017-11-14

Next Tuesday in Live Oak, the latest on BMAPs.

To: Suwannee River Basin BMAP Stakeholders
From: Terry Hansen, Basin Coordinator

Reminder: A meeting for the Lower and Middle Suwannee River, Withlacoochee River, and associated springs Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) is scheduled for November 14th, 2017. Note that everyone is welcome to attend. The primary purpose of this meeting is to discuss and receive comments on the draft BMAP document. The Department requests that you please submit any comments on the draft document by COB Thursday, November 30th, 2017.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017
6:00 PM,
Suwannee River Water Management District
9225 CR49
Live Oak, FL 32060

BMAP Area Map
Photo: John S. Quarterman, from BMAPs: Agriculture and water at the Suwannee River Basin crossroads 2017-04-13

A meeting agenda Continue reading →

Hamilton Solar Farm by Duke Energy at Sabal Trail pipeline

Irony: Duke Energy is building a 75 megawatt solar farm right next to the Sabal Trail pipeline, of which Duke is a 7.5% owner.

Dust no more! The same place Chris Mericle reported having a dust storm little more than a week ago, last week he discovered Duke Energy is replacing the center pivots with solar panels.

SW 69th Drive and SW 40th Avenue, At Sabal Trail pipeline
SW 69th Drive and SW 40th Avenue, in Sabal Trail path digitized by WWALS.

The little red dot near the center of the above map is where Duke Energy says this solar farm will go. The red line is the Sabal Trail pipeline, next to the power line Duke will be using for the solar electricity. How about turn off the pipeline, Duke, and put solar panels along its right of way? As I computed using Sabal Trail’s own figures three and a half years ago, half that RoW acreage could generate just as much electricity from the sun as that pipeline would ever produce, and solar panel prices have gone down since then.

Duke Energy Florida, unknown date, Hamilton Solar Plant, Continue reading →

Bonus paddle to Spook Bridge on Withlacoochee River, 2017-11-11

After the One Mile Branch Cleanup at VSU, let’s head west on US 84 to the Withlacoochee River and paddle (or hike) downstream to Spook Bridge: if you’ve seen the locally-made movie, come see the bridge! In between we may see the river part of Wade Spring, and we will see the railroad bridge and the old, closed, Blue Springs road bridge, aka Spook Bridge. Then we will paddle (or hike) upstream to the Sabal Trail pipeline crossing, also less than a quarter mile. If you don’t want to do either, we will tell you how to get to Spook Bridge by land to greet us when we get there.

When: 1PM, Saturday, November 11, 2017

Put In: US 84, park between the bridges on the Lowndes County side.
We will climb down the steep rocky embankment between the bridges, seen from the Brooks County side in this picture:

Under US 84 bridge across to Lowndes County
Photo: John S. Quarterman, From Brooks County to Lowndes County, under the US 84 bridge, 85.2 on the Quitman Gauge, May 22, 2017.

Anyone in reasonable shape can climb it.

GPS: 30.793608, -83.451435

Bring: mud boots, plus the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup.

Free: This outing is Free! And we recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!

Event: facebook, meetup Continue reading →