We collected many bags of trash and four mattresses (not pictured) Saturday in the Rivers-Alive Cleanup at Berrien Beach Launch on the Alapaha River. Special thanks to the three members of Valdosta State’s Students Against Violating the Environment (S.A.V.E.) for joining in!
This weekend, it’s Rivers-Alive Cleanup at Berrien Beach Launch on the Alapaha River, 4PM Saturday September 10th 2016; follow the link for details.
And a group out of Gainesville, Florida, Current Problems, has an annual
Great Suwannee River Cleanup 2016:
It’s time to register for the Great Suwannee River Cleanup! This is number 7! You may schedule your cleanup for anytime in September, October, or November. The first week of December is okay, too. We hope river conditions will be good this year and encourage lots of you to join in. Our goal this year is to pass the 100,000 pound mark. We’re close enough we can do it!
-jsq
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
An easy hike following Alapaha River as it flows into the Dead River
and disappears into the Dead River Sink: you don’t see this just anywhere!.
Update 2016-10-15: Be aware the path does get steep and rough towards the sink, and there are mosquitoes and chiggers.
Bring water, a snack, and bug repellent.
No boat required. Really: you don’t want to try to boat up the Dead River. But you do want to see the Dead River Sink.
When: 10AM Saturday November 6th 2016
Duration: 2-3 hours
Where: Jennings Bluff Landing, 30.579864, -83.039308
This outing is Free! But we encourage you to join WWALS today to support our fun outings and important work: /donations/. Continue reading
8AM Friday morning WWALS will be on Chris Beckham’s drive-time radio show.
WWALS president John S. Quarterman will be talking about
Saturday morning’s Suwannee River paddle outing
and other outings upcoming on the Alapaha and Withlacoochee Rivers,
along with other developments on the
Alapaha River Water Trail and the
Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail,
along with
many other things WWALS does.
Plus what you can do about
the FERC rubberstamp of the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline
drilling under the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers.
When: 8:00 7:30AM Friday September 2nd 2016
Where: Continue reading
Update 2017-04-28:
Sandhills and wildlife at Alapaha WMA
WWALS is gratified that people are contacting us about the WMA,
but we’re just reporting on it, we do not run it.
Contact information for the Alapaha WMA:
Greg Nelms,
Wildlife Biologist, Game Management,
Wildlife Resources Division, GA-DNR
(229) 426-5267 | M: (404) 985-6424
Update 2016-10-20: WMA check-in hunt does not count towards Georgia bag limit.
Update 2016-10-18: Video of Deserter Lake in the Alapaha WMA and hunting dates and bag limits.
Halfway between Tifton and Ocilla on the Alapaha River in Irwin County,
apparently announced only by a public hearing in July about hunting reglations:
the new 7,000-acre Alapaha River Wildlife Management Area (WMA).
There’s an information kiosk off of US 319. , with the sign-in kiosk and campground across the WMA:
from Ocilla take US 319 S, left onto Hawthorn Ln, right onto Palm Rd, right onto Farm Rd.
Update 2016-08-30: According to Greg Nelms, Wildlife Biologist, DNR, the main entrance will be off of US 319; there is already a WMA sign there. It’s not quite open yet; they’re still working on roads. A ribbon cutting is scheduled for September 30th. The first hunting season will be an archery hunt on October 1st; hunters can go in at noon the previous day to set up stands.
Here’s the announcement of the public hearing: GA DNR/Wildlife Resources Division/Game Management, 6 July 2016, Proposed Regulations for Alapaha River WMA; Public Hearing Scheduled,
The new regulations, probably adopted unchanged, and which seem to consist of dates and conditions for hunting seasons for various game animals, are online here.
Several maps are linked in for Continue reading
Sites in WWALS watersheds include Paradise Public Fishing Area (PFA)
at the headwaters of our Withlacoochee River,
Reed Bingham State Park on our Little River,
Grand Bay Wildlife Management Area (WMA) upstream from our Alapaha River,
and
Stephen C. Foster State Park at the headwaters of our Suwannee River in the Okefenokee Swamp,
all on the Anhinga Trek of the
Southern Rivers Birding Trail.
You can buy a license for any of these parks or WMAs from the state, and you can also see anhingas and other fascinating wildlife on our water trails.
Or come along on upcoming WWALS outings: Continue reading
Don’t forget, 8AM tomorrow August 13th 2016, its a WWALS paddle outing
from Roline to Cypress Creek on the iconic Suwannee River.
The water level is looking good.
Follow this link for directions, facebook event, meetup, etc.
If you can’t paddle tomorrow, WWALS holds monthly paddle outings, with the occasional on-land cleanup like next month:
For more outings and events as they are posted, see the WWALS calendar.
-jsq
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
No boat needed! This Rivers-Alive Cleanup is on land,
at GA 168, the launch for Berrien Beach on the Alapaha River.
Bring gloves. Trash bags will be supplied.
When: 4PM Saturday September 10th 2016
Where: Berrien Beach Launch, at GA 168, 31.159076, -83.045554
Directions: 12.9 miles east of Nashville, GA on GA 168; launch access road is on left (north) side of highway west of the river.
Duration: about 1.5 hours.
Responsible party: Bret Wagenhorst
This outing is Free! But we encourage you to join WWALS today Continue reading
Update 2023-05-01: Alapaha Swallets Dye Trace Project 2016-10-01.
Tom Greenhalgh started putting the dye in the Dead River Swallet about 11:06 this morning,
with Harley Means observing in this picture, plus a drone also taking pictures.
See below for where to look for the dye coming back up in the next few days.
If you see it, please take a water sample for SRWMD. Continue reading
Update 2016-06-22: Dye test into the Dead River Sink: it came back up several days later and eighteen river miles south, in the Alapaha River Rise and Holton Bluff Spring, both on the Suwannee River.
The Alapaha River disappears underground in dry seasons,
and nobody has ever known where it comes back up.
Soon, we will know.
Green Publishing, 16 June 2016, Dye test held for river basins,
The Florida Geological Survey will be conducing a dye test for the Suwannee River Water Management District in the Upper Suwannee/Alapaha River basins later this month. They will introduce dye into the Dead River Swallet (swallets are sinkholes that capture flow) and a swallet that is located on privately owned land. They will also have sampling devices setup at Continue reading