Video: Drawing for WWALS raffle kayak 2021-12-11

WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman mixed up all the raffle tickets since June, Outings, from Juneteenth, from the WWALS Boomerang paddle race and the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, from the Hahira Honeybee festival, gotten from WWALS Board members, or online.

Yesterday she transcribed all the online tickets onto paper so they would be the same as all the others.

Then she shook them all up.

And drew a winner.

The winner of the Vibe 120 Yellowfin Sit-On-Top Kayak with Paddle, $950 value, is…

[Delivery]
Delivery

Kristin Kuntz, of Lancaster, New York.

Gretchen called her up, and the winner was thrilled!

They agreed to figure out delivery later.

So, who wants to donate another another kayak for another raffle?

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Kayak Raffle Drawing high noon today 2021-12-11

Update 2021-12-11: And the winner is….

The raffle tickets are in, and at noon today WWALS will draw one ticket for the winner of a Vibe 120 Yellowfin Sit-On-Top Kayak with Paddle, $950 value.

[Kayak Raffle Drawing 2021-12-11]
Kayak Raffle Drawing 2021-12-11

WWALS Watershed Coalition is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Kayak Raffle Drawing
Time: Dec 11, 2021 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84329170582?pwd=anRLaXp2c0ZVVldhQ2RkVFppc0xXZz09 Continue reading →

Resolutions for Okefenokee Swamp, against strip mine –Suwannee Riverkeeper @ SGRC 2021-12-09

Yesterday I asked members of the Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC) to pass resolutions supporting the Okefenokee Swamp and the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers against a proposed titanium strip mine. SGRC’s members include 18 counties, which is almost all the Georgia Suwannee River Basin counties, and 45 municipalities. Some of them have already passed such resolutions: Valdosta, Waycross and Ware County, Homeland, Kingsland, and St. Marys.

You can ask your local city or county government to pass a similar resolution. The previous resolutions are on the WWALS website:
https://wwals.net/pictures/okefenokee-resolutions/

Update 2024-03-14: Atkinson County.

Update 2024-02-29: And Hamilton County, Florida, making four counties downstream on the Suwannee River from the Okefenokee Swamp: Ware, Clinch, and Echols Counties, Georgia, and Hamilton County, Florida.

Update 2024-02-06: And Berrien County.

Update 2024-02-01: and Nashville 2024-01-08.

Update 2024-02-01: Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) supports HB 71, Okefenokee Protection Act, January 5, 2024

Update 2024-01-25: and Savannah.

Update 2023-10-24: and DeKalb County.

Update 2023-09-12: and Clinch County.

Update 2023-08-07: and Echols County.

[Suwannee Riverkeeper; Okefenokee Swamp, mine site]
Suwannee Riverkeeper; Okefenokee Swamp, mine site

You can also ask GA-EPD for a moratorium on mining permits, or to deny the permits, or at the very least to examine them very thoroughly and produce the equivalent of the Environmental Impact Statement that the Army Corps should have been working on.
https://wwals.net/?p=55092

You can also use Protect Georgia form to end a message to your Georgia statehouse delegation.

Floridians, this mine site is upstream from Florida, and you can also use these forms.

Thanks to SGRC Council Chair Joyce Evans and Assistant Director Chris Strom for inviting me to come speak to SGRC.

See also Continue reading →

Weird upstream, clean downstream, Withlacoochee River 2021-12-09

Update 2021-12-18 Good up and down water quality, Withlacoochee River 2021-12-16.

Odd bad results upstream, at GA 133 on the Withlacoochee River, and at Folsom Bridge (GA 122) on the Little River Clean downstream, though. Last time we saw high Valdosta results for GA 133, they never showed up downstream.

So I’d swim, fish, or boat on the Withlacoochee River this weekend, although not at GA 133, and I’d avoid Folsom Bridge on the Little River.

[Chart, Rivers, Map]
Chart, Rivers, Map

Valdosta’s Wednesday results for GA 133 are way too high, and Fecal coliform was also high for US 41.

Elizabeth Brunner’s Thursday results for Folsom Bridge on the Little River were above the 410 one-time E. coli limit, which is very unusual for that location. But her other two GA 122 sites, at Hagan Bridge on the Withlacoochee River and at Lakeland Boat Ramp on the Alapaha River, were well within limits.

Downstream, Jacob and Michael Bachrach got good Thursday results at Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramps, and Gus Cleary the same for Wednesday at Cleary Bluff below Allen Ramp, all on the Withlacoochee River. Gus also tested last Friday, and got nothing out of the ordinary, after Valdosta last saw high results at GA 133 for Wednesday a week ago. Continue reading →

More water questions from GA-EPD about TPM strip mine too near Okefenokee Swamp 2021-12-07

Since September, GA-EPD has twice more asked the miners for more information on their permit applications to strip mine for titanium dioxide too near the Okefenokee Swamp. We have more questions beyond those. You can ask GA-EPD questions, and to deny the mining permit applications.

On October 20, 2021, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) asked more questions about water: retention, disposal, reclamation. The miners’ answer on November 19th apparently was not satisfactory, because on December 7, 2021, GA-EPD asked more water questions.

[TPM Ponds and Another GA-EPD Letter]
TPM Ponds and Another GA-EPD Letter

I’ve got another: how can Twin Pines Minerals (TPM) with a straight face promise “zero discharge of wastewater” and in the next paragraph say “Overflow from the process water primary overflow pond may occur due to heavy rain events.” That’s exactly what happened after Hurricane Irma at three north Florida Chemours mine sites where TPM was processing tailings, resulting in TPM still being under a Florida Consent Order. What if wastewater overflows into the Okefenokee Swamp during a hurricane or other “heavy rain event”? What stops wastewater even in TPM’s proposed retention ponds from seeping down into the Floridan Aquifer, from which we all drink?

And another: TPM still shows piezometers for water monitoring on property it does not own, with a disclaimer that it has no access to. So how will TPM monitor that area, which is downhill towards the Okefenokee Swamp, which is the headwaters of the St. Marys and Suwannee Rivers?

You can ask GA-EPD for a moratorium on mining permits, or to deny the permits, or at the very least to examine them very thoroughly and produce the equivalent of the Environmental Impact Statement that the Army Corps should have been working on.
https://wwals.net/?p=55092

You can also use Protect Georgia form to end a message to your Georgia statehouse delegation.

Floridians, this mine site is upstream from Florida, and you can also use these forms.

All of this GA-EPD correspondence with the miners and the permit applications is Continue reading →

Last stretch of Alapaha River, US 41 to Gibson Park 2022-02-05

Update 2022-02-06: Pictures: last stretch of the Alapaha River 2022-02-05.

Update 2022-02-01: Expedition leader Shirley Kokidko paddled this stretch, and reports back: “There is limited room for vehicles at the put-in so everyone needs to park up by the highway and carry kayaks down to the river. It is muddy and slippery at the launch. I would not recommend this outing for beginners due to alot of strainers and deadfall in the river with a good current also pushing you along. The water is cold and it is predicted to be a cool day so bring a change of clothes, just in case. Today we saw an eagle, feral hogs, turtles and a lot of ducks.”

Update 2021-12-15: History of Alapaha River Bridges, US 41 to Nobles Ferry –Ken Sulak 2021-12-08.

Paddle it while there’s water; much of the year the Alapaha River is dry down here, at the bottom of the Alapaha River Water Trail.

We’ll also paddle slightly upstream on the Suwannee River to the Alapaha River Rise, which is where the water comes back up from the Dead River Sink when the riverbed is dry in between.

We are dependant on the kindness of the winter wet season. If the Alapaha is dry at this date, we will reschedule until it has water.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10 AM, end 3 PM, Saturday, February 5, 2022

Put In: US 41 Alapaha River Landing. South side of the road, under the power line, between Jennings and Jasper, FL, in Hamilton County.

GPS: 30.528956, -83.039627

Take Out: Gibson Park Boat Ramp, 6844 SW CR 751, Jasper, FL 32052. Right bank, west side of the Suwannee River. From Jasper, Hamilton County, FL, travel southwest on SW CR 249 to SW CR 751; turn left and boat ramp is on the right in Gibson Park, in Hamilton County.

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.

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/#join

Event: facebook, meetup

[Bridge, Alapaha River, US 41]
Bridge, Alapaha River, US 41. Photos: Bobby McKenzie, 2021-05-07.

Continue reading →

Northern Turnpike Extension Kick-Off meetings 2021-12-07

SB 100 didn’t stop one of the M-CORES projects: a toll road up US 19 across the Suwannee River to Jefferson County connecting to Thomasville, Georgia.

Starting tonight are three meetings about the current incarnation, which aims to run from FL 19 at Wildwood through the horse country of Marion County past Dunnellon into Levy County past Chiefland, stopping (for now) just short of the Suwannee River. That’s already a sizeable swath of the springs heartland of Florida.

But don’t expect it to stop there: SB 100 authorized it to go “to a logical and appropriate terminus as determined by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT)”

So please attend online or by telephone or in person. Otherwise, they’ll say nobody objected.

[Map and Meetings]
Map and Meetings

Tuesday Dec 7, 2021, 5:30-7:30 pm, FDOT Public Kickoff Meeting Continue reading →

Video: Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest (all of it) 2021-08-21

We livestreamed the Fourth Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest over facebook live and zoom. This is the zoom video, for those who want to see how the whole thing went.

[Musicians, others, and winners]
Musicians, others, and winners

Yep, this is the whole thing, from soundcheck to teardown. In between, headliner Little Perks in Paradise plays, three judges perform as a band, then nine finalists perform for the judges, the judges pick winners, and the First Prize winner, Sweet William Billy Ennis, sings again.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Good Withlacoochee River water quality except GA 133 2021-12-02

Update 2021-12-10: Weird upstream, clean downstream, Withlacoochee River 2021-12-09.

All clear again, except something got into the Withlacoochee River at GA 133 Wednesday, according to Valdosta water quality data. Whatever it was hadn’t reached Knights Ferry, Nankin, or State Line Boat Ramps by Thursday, according to WWALS data by Michael and Jacob Bachrach. No sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida. According to Gus Cleary’s three tests in seven days at Cleary Bluff, downstream of Allen Ramp, all is good even at the river bottom (the Saturday November 27th test). Whatever the GA 133 contamination is, experience indicates it will get diluted or at least it will go by swiftly. Looks like the old GA 133 mystery is back. Somebody is going to catch whoever it is sooner or later.

Meanwhile, happy swimming, fishing, and boating on the Withlacoochee River.

[Chart, river, map]
Chart, river, map

Oh, yes: and please stop shooting up and taking our signs for the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail. Those things cost money and time to replace, and people do use them to plan paddling on the river.

You may have noticed there was no water quality post last week. That was because the skeleton crew over the Thanksgiving holiday got down to just Gus, who got clean results. Plus with no rain, there was no reason to expect contamination. Valdosta’s data, now available thanks to Valdosta PIO Ashlyn Becton, shows the Withlacoochee River was indeed clean last week. November 24th looks odd, because Valdosta’s downstream contractor tested that day, while their in-house tester tested on the 23rd. It’s all in the WWALS composite spreadsheet. Continue reading →

We do not need endanger the aquifer recharge zone with a subdivision. –Gretchen Quarterman for WWALS @ GLPC 2021-11-29

Update 2022-01-02: Withdrawn but will return: subdivision in aquifer recharge zone near Little River, Lowndes County, GA @ LCC 2021-12-14

When the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) held a Public Hearing Monday for a rezoning for a subdivision in an aquifer recharge zone, WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman spoke against it. Three hundred other people opposed the rezoning. The Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend denying it.

But GLPC does not decide: the Lowndes County Commission will do that on December 14, 2021. And the County Commissioners can, if they choose, change the lot size or approve the rezoning as proposed.

This is what to watch for on that upcoming agenda: REZ-2021-28 Windy Hill S/D, 7532 Miller Bridge Rd., 0010 022, 34 ac., Community well & septic, EA to R1.

[Gretchen, speakers, aquifer recharge zone]
Gretchen, speakers, aquifer recharge zone

Here is the LAKE video of Gretchen speaking, at 19:56. Continue reading →