The Third Edition of Canoeing and Kayaking Georgia. is finally out, after perhaps-perfectionist Suzanne Welander worked on it seemingly forever, and it is worth the wait.
It is even more thorough than previous editions, with some new put-ins added Continue reading
Update 2022-07-01: Valdosta Press Release about Gornto Road sewage spill 2022-07-01.
The major sewage spill at the Gornto Road Pump Station slowed down around 6:18 PM and was stopped about 8:15 PM, according to witnesses at the site. It apparently started some time around 5 PM.
Following up on the previous report, Scotti Jay, observing from outside the fence:
Continue reading6:13 PM. It’s actually shooting into the air. No pump trucks.
Update 2022-07-12: Nic Cole has emergency work, but Elizabeth Brunner has agreed to lead this paddle.
Leisurely Sunset and Full Moon Paddle, probably with bats.
When: Gather 7:30 PM, launch 8 PM, moonrise 9:06 PM, sunset 8:38 PM, end 9:30 PM, Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Put In: Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635, in Lanier County, on the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT).
Take Out: Banks Lake Boat Ramp
Bring: 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. Mosquitoes can be bad at dusk so come prepared.
Safety: Each person in a boat, no matter how young or old, must wear a PFD. You must have a light for your boat or some type of light to have on yourself (glow sticks work well, or head lamp, flashlight, etc.) so other boaters can see you in the dark. It will be totally dark after sunset. A whistle is not required, but it’s a good idea in the dark.
Boats:
Bring your own if you have it.
Thanks to Banks Lake Outdoors for free boat rental for these WWALS Full Moon Paddles.
Please ask for boats at least 2 days prior to the event:
on the web form on
https://wwals.net/outings,
or on the facebook event, the meetup,
or call 850-290-2350.
Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members.
You can pay the $10 at the outing, or online:
https://wwals.net/outings
We recommend you support the work of WWALS by
becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations
![[Moon boats]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-07-23--banks-lake-full-moon-pictures/20210723_211200.jpg)
Moon boats 2021-07-23
Update 2022-07-01: Sewage spill decreased and stopped at Gornto Road Pump Station, Valdosta, GA 2022-06-30.
There’s a major sewage spill going on right now at Valdosta’s Gornto Road Pump Station, next to the YMCA on Gornto Road. This is according to Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson, who called me at 5:18 PM today.
He told me he thinks it will probably be a 100,000 gallon spill. For reference, 10,000 gallons is a major spill.
The cause was apparently a steel pipe that broke.
The spill has been reported to GA-EPD, I’m guessing by telephone.
The Mayor said they tried rerouting to the Remer Lane Pump Station, but that one fills up, and the sewage comes back. They have thought of a more permanent fix, but that will require some rebuilding.
Meanwhile, numerous city and contractor personnel are en route to the site.
I thank the Mayor for calling WWALS.
WWALS member Bobby McKenzie noticed it at 5PM when he picked up his children from the Y, and he sent the picture. Continue reading
Update 2022-07-05: Click ‘n’ Fix of uncleaned Sugar Creek WaterGoat 2022-06-30.
Substantial trash washed into the new WaterGoat trash boom on Sugar Creek in Valdosta after only 1.5 inches of rain yesterday.
Since then, upstream gauges recorded more than 2 inches, and some gauges around Lowndes County measured 3 and even 4 inches.
Valdosta needs to come up with a plan for cleaning out that trash boom, before that trash washes on down into the Withlacoochee River.. And get more trash booms and do something about upstream trash.
In good news, the Zacadoos on Ashley Street now has trash cans in its parking lot. Since we have often found Zacadoos discarded cups in the creeks, that’s really good. Yay, Zacadoos! Continue reading
Update 2022-08-06: Pictures: Chainsaw Cleanup, Sugar Creek to Troupville, Withlacoochee River 2022-07-30.
Five of us with five or six chainsaws cleared more than three log jams out of the Withlacoochee River above the Little River Confluence, and collected some trash, in the Chainsaw cleanup, Troupville Boat Ramp to Withlacoochee River 2022-06-25.
![[banners, boats, sandbars, and saws]](https://wwals.net/pictures/2022-06-25--chainsaw-cleanup-pictures/many.jpg)
banners, boats, sandbars, and saws
We’ll be back at it after about six weeks, i.e., probably in August. The current goal is to clear the stretches from Langdale Park Boat Ramp past Sugar Creek, and on around to Troupville Boat Ramp. Fortunately there are no log jams on the Little River from the ramp to the Confluence, but there are plenty left on the Withlacoochee River. Stay tuned. Continue reading
Well, that did not take long. Only three weeks after an Assistant Secretary of the Army told the Army Corps it had to resume oversight of the proposed titanium-dioxide strip mine site too near the Okefenokee Swamp, the miners have sued the Corps. They still want to strip mine for white paint materials within three miles of the Okefenokee Swamp, an economic engine for southeast Georgia and northeast Florida, and an irreplaceable refuge for numerous land, water, and bird species. That Swamp is the headwaters of the St Marys and Suwannee Rivers, and above the Floridan Aquifer, from which we all drink in south Georgia and north Florida, including for agriculture and industry. There must be better sources of jobs for Charlton County, Georgia.
![[Twin Pines Minerals equipment on proposed mine site 2022-02-12]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-02-13--tpm-eq-site/20200212_161515.jpg)
Photo: John S. Quarterman for WWALS, Twin Pines Minerals equipment on proposed mine site 2020-02-12,
30.52081, -82.1261
Mary Landers, The Current, June 27, 2022, Mining company sues Army Corps over project near Okefenokee: Twin Pines claims agency erred in overturning decision and seeking Muscogee Nation’s input.
Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals filed suit against the Army Corps of Engineers last week, claiming the federal agency erred when it bowed to “stakeholder pressure” earlier this month and made it harder for the company to get permits to mine near the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
…In its filing, Twin Pines maintains “The Twin Pines Approved Jurisdictional Determinations were issued in compliance with all laws, regulations, and policies — including the tribal consultation policy — in effect when they were issued.”
More specifically, the company contends Continue reading
Last Thursday, Kate Ellison posted on her facebook page the news that HPS II had dropped its lawsuit against Union County, Florida, which had been going on since 2019.
The miners were attempting to overturn Union County’s rejection of their phosphate mining permit applicaiton, and Union County’s changed land development regulations that prohibited such mining except in a small area. This is big news, although there may be more to come, and there are implications as far away as the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia.
![[Union County Times, Nutrien Phosphate Mine]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-06-23--hps-ii-drops-union-county-lawsuit/many.jpg)
Union County Times, Nutrien Phosphate Mine
Suwannee Riverkeeper has opposed this mine since 2017, because it is uphill from the New River which flows into the Santa Fe River and then the Suwannee River, and above the Floridan Aquifer. Our Santa Fe River (OSFR) has been in the middle of this opposition all along, so, not surprisingly, OSFR has posted an extensive review, see below, naming many of the other people involved.
I’d also like to mention that, Continue reading
Fixing Valdosta’s trash problem would cost far less than a single sewer line. Thanks for starting by putting in one trash boom; thanks especially to Council Andy Gibbs and Mayor Scott James, who have come and helped clean up on Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River.
Now what’s the plan to clean that one out? When will we see the other two or more trash booms? And where’s the plan to get businesses to stop trash upstream at the source?
![[Valdosta Mayor and Council, trash boom, Holly Street]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-06-23--vcc/many.jpg)
Valdosta Mayor and Council, trash boom, Holly Street
At their meeting last Thursday, I thanked Valdosta Mayor and Council Continue reading
Update 2023-01-26: Pictures: Many deadfalls, shark teeth, and rapids: Alapachoochee Adventure 2022-07-09.
A rugged adventure on a 3-mile obstacle course, not for beginners.
There is plenty of deadfall to pull over, under, and around, but this narrow stretche of the Alapahoochee River is knee-to-hip deep so getting in and out of boats isn’t difficult. Each boat needs a rope. There are 2 sets of low rapids that will require a rope to lower your kayak down. The water is too low to paddle through. Wear sturdy shoes for climbing through wet rocks. Bring your lightest and shortest boat.
You will be rewarded with beautiful scenery, a chance to find shark’s teeth in a side creek, paddle under one of the oldest surviving truss bridges in Florida, scramble down rapids, and cool off with a swim at Turket Falls.
When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10 AM, end 2 PM, Saturday, July 9, 2022
Put In: GA 135 Alapahoochee Landing. North side of road, left bank, 3/4 mile upstream of the GA-FL line and west of Pear Tree Lane, between Jennings and Statenville, in Echols County, Georgia.
GPS: 30.62845, -83.0893
Take Out: Sasser Landing on the Alapaha River.
Bring: short boat, rope, sturdy shoes, and 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 to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members.
You can pay the $10 at the outing, or online:
https://wwals.net/outings
We recommend you support the work of WWALS by
becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations
![[Photo: Shirley Kokidko, Devil Shoal, 2022:06:23 12:29:43, 30.6106917, -83.0754861]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-07-09--alapahoochee-adventure/1190F394-09C7-4B5F-AEA2-8DABCE45C5B9.jpg)
Photo: Shirley Kokidko, Devil Shoal, 2022:06:23 12:29:43, 30.6106917, -83.0754861
![[Cover and inside]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-06-30--welander-book/many.jpg)
![[Gate, sewage, people]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-06-30--valdosta-gornto-pump-station-spill-update/many.jpg)
![[Gornto Pump Station, Map]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-06-30--valdosta-gornto-pump-station-spill/many.jpg)
![[Trash composite]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-06-29--sugar-creek-trash-boom/many.jpg)