With a sudden break in his schedule, Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson drove to see the parking lot where people park, eat their lunch, and toss their trash next to a creek.
He didn’t like it, and said so. Here’s the problem and how to fix it.
You can help by reporting trash or other problems through Valdosta’s Click ‘n’ Fix app.
![[Mayor, trash, fast food, trash cans at storefronts]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-12-15--st-augustine-rd-hightower-creek-trash-mayor/many.jpg)
Mayor, trash, fast food, trash cans at storefronts
He had not seen this mess before, on St. Augustine Road, next to Hightower Creek. Continue reading
Update 2022-12-23: Videos: Troupville Nature Park and River Camp, Trash, Cleanups –Helen Tapp & Suwannee Riverkeeper @ Scott James Radio 2022-12-15.
Suwannee Riverkeeper will talk trash, parks, creeks, and rivers on Scott James Talk 92.1 FM radio tomorrow morning, Thursday, 8:30 AM.
![[Withlacoochee River cleanup, Radio, Troupville park land purchase, Langdale Park trail clearing]](https://wwals.net/pictures/2022-12-15--scott-james-radio/many.jpg)
Withlacoochee River cleanup, Radio, Troupville park land purchase, Langdale Park trail clearing
Topics discussed will probably include: Continue reading
Much improved, the trash situation in the two-acre cypress swamp the City of Valdosta owns at Barack Obama Blvd. and Ricardo Street; the one with the Pepsi Adopt-A-Spot sign.
I now give Valdosta Stormwater an A- for upkeep of this tract.
Maybe if you report a trash or other problem through Valdosta’s Click ‘n’ Fix, maybe they’ll do something about that problem, too.
With this drought, the swamp is dry enough to walk right through the middle. There is occasional trash. Continue reading
Ken Sulak has more about Peoples Bridge on the Suwannee River, including the church the bridge was built for, and when an alligator ate a man in 1880.
Apparently this was a little-known peril of deer hunting. Of course, alligator attacks on humans are very rare: that’s why this one was news.
![[Alligator story, Oak Grove Baptist Church, Peoples Bridge]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/1880-07-13--alligator-peoples-bridge/many.jpg)
Alligator story, Oak Grove Baptist Church, Peoples Bridge
Continue readingI have contacted the Oak Grove Baptist Church, still in existence continuously from the 1870s. The contact person knew nothing about the long gone People’s Bridge 1.2 mi due West from the church. She referred my inquiry to the pastor, unfortunately very new and from up north. So, he knows nothing about the old history. I was hoping the church maintained an archive, or a birth-death-burial log, or an annotated master bible. No luck on that so far.
Phillip Williams has found and marked more trails and waterways in his continued exploration of Langdale Park on the Withlacoochee River in Lowndes County just west of Valdosta, Georgia. As you can see, the trails are much more usable since Parks and Rec. has been cleaning them up lately. Yay, George Page, Jessica Catlett, and Jeff!
![[Dark Branch, trashjam, canebreak, island, log bridge, waterfall]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-12-12--langdale-park-trails/many.jpg)
Dark Branch, trashjam, canebreak, island, log bridge, waterfall
I’ve updated his material in the WWALS WLRWT map, so you can pan, zoom, and click.
He’s been communicating with the park owner, Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLPRA). He’s updated many of the trail names. For example, the trail south from Langdale Park Boat Ramp by the Withlacoochee River is Trail B. Trail A runs all the way from the Pavillion just south of Hyta Mederer Drive down to Three Mile Branch. Supposedly it then turns right and goes west to the river, but apparently VLPRA hasn’t finished cleaning up that stretch. Continue reading
Update 2022-12-21: Pictures: Another Knights Ferry to Nankin Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2022-12-17.
Come help clean up more trash jams we found last time. It’s going to be cold, so dress warmly in layers and bring a change in a dry bag.
We found a new creek that we’re calling River Bend Plantation Creek because that’s the property it mostly runs through.
Speaking of which, the main big new trash pile is on the edge of River Bend Plantation. Could someone who knows them please ask them to contact WWALS about land access or closer river access?
When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10 AM, end 3 PM, Saturday, December 17, 2022
Put In: Knights Ferry Boat Ramp, 6499 Knights Ferry Rd, Valdosta, GA 31601.
GPS: 30.71205, -83.45554
![[Trash on land and river]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-12-17--kf-nankin-cleanup/many.jpg)
Trash on land and river 2022-12-03; Photos: John S. Quarterman
Update 2022-12-12: Videos: Dollar General rezoning legally must be tabled, Troupville land purchase is for a park @ LCC 2022-12-12.
Lowndes County tomorrow will take a big step and buy 77.14 acres down to the Little River Confluence with the Withlacoochee River, adjoining the 49.36 acres including Troupville Boat Ramp already owned south of GA 133 by Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLPRA).
The idea is to combine the two tracts into a 126.5-acre Troupville Nature Park, the dream of landowner Helen Tapp, with trails, signage, and an educational pavilion. It will include a Troupville River Camp on the Withlacoochee just upstream from the Confluence. The project still needs ongoing maintenance funds, but this purchase clears a big hurdle after four years of preparation.
That’s 5:30 PM, Tuesday, December 13, 2023, at 327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor, Valdosta, Georgia, 31601.
The price of $121,500 is dirt cheap at $1,575 per acre, because it’s all flood plain, and there was also some discount from the tax-appraised value of $127,347 because of the conservation easement.
Many thanks to landowner Helen Tapp for organizing the conservation easement and for being willing to sell at such a price. This purchase ensures the land won’t turn into a shooting range or some other inappropriate facility. (There already is a shooting range slightly upstream on the Little River.) Continue reading
Update 2022-12-13: Alligator, Church, Peoples Bridge, Suwannee River –Ken Sulak 1880-07-13.
Ken Sulak remarked, “I also want to visit the ‘Peoples Bridge’ site on the Suwannee a few miles downstream of the Cone Bridge. This was a wooden foot and wagon bridge possibly built by the congregation of the Oak Grove Church around 1870 so folks on the Hamilton side could attend church on the Columbia side.
“The double row of old cutoff timber pilings emerges at low water.”
The pilings are supposed to be visible when the White Springs Gauge is below 51.0 feet.
![[Emerged tops of cutoff pilings of the People's Bridge. --Ken Sulak]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-11-27--peoples-bridge-suwannee-river/1669569958222blob.jpg)
Emerged tops of cutoff pilings of the People’s Bridge. –Ken Sulak
Does anybody know the whereabouts or history of this Oak Grove Church?
Continue readingQuite a few happy boaters, on a balmy weekday at an early start time, saw the sun set and the moon already rising, on the Banks Lake Full Cold Moon Paddle.
Thanks to Shirley Kokidko for leading it.
![[Banners, Kayak Raffle Winner, Sunset, Moonrise, Banks Lake 2022-12-07]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-12-07--banks-lake-full-cold-moon-pictures/many.jpg)
Banners, Kayak Raffle Winner, Sunset, Moonrise, Banks Lake 2022-12-07
The next one is Friday, January 6, 2023.
Please make your boat reservations in advance. If we know more boats are wanted than the limited number at Banks Lake Outdoors, we can bring more, but not if we don’t know.
And please get there before the safety lecture. If you show up after that, we don’t like to, but we will turn you away. Gather time and paddle time are posted for each paddle outing. The safety lecture is before we paddle. Continue reading
Thanks to Valdosta Utilities for speedily fixing a sewage smell issue that someone reported anonymously and vaguely through Click ‘n’ Fix. .
Once Valdosta Utilities addressed Click ‘n’ Fix report 13713615, they found the manhole that was open and put its cover on.
There is room for improvement. The report was on a Friday, and there was no response until Monday. It could have been an actual sewer spill, continuing all weekend. But it wasn’t.
And although Utilities asked for better location information, they found the problem anyway and fixed it.
They didn’t say it was somebody else’s problem.
They didn’t blame the person who reported it.
They didn’t ask for volunteers to clean it up.
They got out there and did their job in one day. Continue reading
![[Collage 202-12-01]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-12-01--obama-ricardo-pictures/many.jpg)
![[Agenda item, map]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-12-13--lcc-purchase-troupville/many.jpg)
![[Report and fix in Seeclickfix]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-11-18--valdosta-sewer-smell/many.jpg)