Tag Archives: Alapaha River

Videos, Valdosta Wastewater and Flood Prevention 2016-10-27

The crowd was very attentive to every word about wastewater and flood prevention, with officials from the City of Valdosta presenting in the first of a new quarterly WWALS speaker series. If you didn’t come, you can see and hear in these videos Henry Hicks about wastewater, Emily Davenport about flood prevention, Tim Carroll about solar power, and Sementha Mathews about how to get more information from Valdosta. WWALS Treasurer and acting Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman opened and closed the meeting.

Each talk had many small but important stories, so we will probably blog more posts about those. Meanwhile, here are the videos: see for yourself! Continue reading →

Pictures: Alapaha and Dead River Sinks 2016-11-06

A very scenic hike to some of the most unusual geological features in all of Florida: the Alapaha River Sink and the Dead River Sink. We walked over beds of 50-million-year-old fossilized oysters, above all our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer. See many pictures and a few videos of the sights, and a google map of the sites.

Practicing Geologist Dennis Price led us by the scenic route on this hike, explaining the karst geology on display, which underlies all of north Florida and south Georgia, containing our drinking water in the Floridan Aquifer. Dennis and hike organizer Chris Mericle recommend making this very unusual area a state park.

The Alapaha River goes underground here unless it has a lot of water, which usually this time of year and right now it does not.

Don’t fall into the Devil’s Den, 30.5855189, -83.0528064

Update 2022-11-17: The Jennings Gauge read 61.70′ NAVD88.

Until recently nobody knew for sure Continue reading →

WWALS at Alapaha Station Celebration 2016-11-12

WWALS be talking about how Alapaha RIver Water Trail, which starts at Sheboggy Landing on US 82 just east of Alapaha, GA, at the Alapaha Station Celebration. This the third year for WWALS at this festival located in the upper middle section of our watershed near the Willacoochee and Alapaha Rivers.

When: 9AM-5PM Saturday November 12th 2016

Where: 245 NE Railroad St, Alapaha, GA 31622

Events: facebook, meetup.

Some people wonder: what’s the station? It’s Continue reading →

WMA check-in hunt does not count towards Georgia bag limit

A hunter asked about bag limits at the new Alapaha River Wildlife Management Area (WMA) on the Alapaha River in Irwin County betweeen Tifton and Ocilla. It depends on whether you sign in or you check in.

The answer is not in the approved hunting season dates for the Alapaha WMA, found in other Alapaha WMA information. That’s because it’s in the general July 2016-June 2017 hunting regulations for Georgia. On page 34, note the phrase at the end of “Check-In Hunt” that I’ve emphasized below: Continue reading →

Deserter Lake in Alapaha Wildlife Management Area

Update 2016-10-20: WMA check-in hunt does not count towards Georgia bag limit.

WWALS member Patrick Kunes took this video of Deserter Lake in Irwin County on the Alapaha River in the new Alapaha River Wildlife Management Area (WMA) on the Alapaha River betweeen Tifton and Ocilla. You can hear him talking about turkeys he saw, and you can see the lake on the river. He mentions deadfalls, which are a common feature on the upper Alapaha River. The river itself is not really boatable up that far much of the year, but lakes like this one often still have water. Many such lakes do not have public access, but Deserter Lake does now. This lake is upstream from the formal start of the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT), but we’ve included it in the online material about the ARWT because Deserter Lake is in the new Alapaha WMA.

Patrick wrote about this video: Continue reading →

Naylor Boat Ramp bid twice; probably instead in-house by Lowndes County

All bids for the Naylor Boat Ramp were overbudget even though it went out for bids twice, so now Lowndes County is working with GA-DNR on doing most of the work in-house with county personnel, said Project Manager Chad McLeod at Monday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session.

They have to finish it eventually, because it was in the SPLOST VII ballot referendum approved by the voters of Lowndes County.

WWALS has the Naylor Boat Ramp listed on the Alapaha River Water Trail and we’re already Continue reading →

Valdosta wastewater and flood prevention public meeting by WWALS 2016-10-27

Update 2016-10-23: Seen from the air.

Update 2016-10-19: PDF flyer.

Come hear about the $60 million in wastewater fixes Valdosta just finished, what remains to be done, and what they’re doing about flood prevention for the entire Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida. You can ask questions in this first of a new WWALS Quarterly Speaker Series, and the people organizing this work will be there to answer:

Henry Hicks, Utilities Director, about wastewater
Emily Davenport, Assistant Director of Engineering, about flooding, and
Tim Carroll, Valdosta City Council, about solar power for utilities.

When: 6PM Thursday October 27th

Where: Valdosta City Hall Annex
Multipurpose Room
300 N Lee St.
Valdosta, GA 31601 Continue reading →

Nell Patten Roquemore to be honored tonight in Valdosta by Scouts 2016-09 -20

A chance to see a living legend from Lakeland honored tonight in Valdosta.

Dean Poling, VDT, 18 September 2016, Scouts honor Roquemore

VALDOSTA — Nell Patten Roquemore has written two books on Lakeland and Lanier County history.

She spearheaded the project of murals being located throughout her native Lakeland.

And Roquemore has been designated as the first woman to receive the prestigious Distinguished Citizen’s Award given by the Boy Scouts of America South Georgia Council.

Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue is scheduled to speak in her honor Tuesday during the award banquet, according to organizers.

“I am thrilled to be the first woman chosen and I am truly honored by the selection,” Roquemore said in a statement. “There is no finer Continue reading →

WWALS Adopt-A-Stream Cleanup at Berrien Beach Landing (GA 168) –Gretchen Quarterman 2016-09-10

WWALS collected many bags of trash and four mattresses Saturday in the Rivers-Alive Cleanup at Berrien Beach Launch on the Alapaha River.

Thanks to Bret Wagenhorst for organizing this annual cleanup. Special thanks to the three members of Valdosta State’s Students Against Violating the Environment (S.A.V.E.) for joining in, and a student from UGA Tifton!

This outing was also part of the Great Suwannee River Cleanup, and we’ll have some more of those this year. This particular cleanup was at Berrien Beach Landing in Berrien County on the Alapaha River Water Trail. Thanks to Al Browning and the landowner for access to the sands of Berrien Beach in Lanier County.

More WWALS outings:

Continue reading →

Video: #NoDAPL #NoSabalTrail –WWALS 2016-09-10

“WWALS, the Waterkeeper® Affiliate for the upper Suwannee and Withlacoochee Rivers, supports the Standing Rock Sioux against D.A.P.L.”

So say we all about the oil Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota and the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, in this video. You can join us today at 5:30 PM on the Suwannee River in Florida or Saturday morning on the Withlacoochee River in Georgia. News media are invited. We’ll be taking more video for social media: have your say!