Here’s the
outing announcement,
here is Bret’s summary of the outing, and below are Bret’s pictures. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Alapahoochee River
Valdosta spilled into Alapaha as well as Withlacoochee watersheds in February
Spilling sewage into the Withlacoochee River apparently wasn’t enough
for Valdosta: in February it also spilled three times into the
Alapaha River watershed.
At least once this was due to rains directly on Valdosta,
for which
the
levee proposed by the Army Corps of Engineers on Sugar Creek
at the Withlacoochee River wouldn’t help.
It’s time for Valdosta to move along with fixing its wastewater problems.
More transparency from Valdosta would also help.
And I, for one, would like to see that promised Corps flooding study
of the entire Suwannee River Basin.
In three different reports in February, Valdosta mentioned sewage overflows into either Knights Creek or Dukes Bay Canal, without mentioning that those flow into Mud Swamp Creek, which joins with Grand Bay Creek to form the Alapahoochee River, which joins the Alapaha River, which flows into the Suwannee River. The Florida Department of Health apparently didn’t know that, since it didn’t mention the Alapaha River in its advisories for counties downstream. But Valdosta should know, according to its own SWMP Update Phase 1 Final Report, Section 2 Methodology, 2011-01-14, that about half of Valdosta is drained by Knights Creek and Dukes Bay Canal: Continue reading
Statenville to Sasser Landing on the Alapaha River, WWALS Outing, 2015-02-15
Expert Paddle on the Alapaha River Sunday, February,15th 12:00pm. facebook event
Update 2015-03-06: Summary and pictures.
| Launch site: | Statenville boat ramp on HWY 94 just west of Statenville, GA, 30°42’15.3″N 83°01’57.9″W 30.704260, -83.032750. |
| Take out: | Alapahoochee boat ramp (Sasser Landing) HWY 150 a few miles east of Jennings, FL, 30°36’02.6″N 83°04’23.7″W 30.600710, -83.073260. |
Picture by Michael Rivera,
used with permission.
This event is FREE! All we ask is that Continue reading
Old Bridge over Alapahoochee River
Nice to look at, but not for driving. Chris Mericle reports:
Here are some photos of an old bridge across the Alapahoochee River that Deanna and I came across while out exploring the other day.
Driving or even walking across this bridge probably shouldn’t be recommended. Continue reading
Bill Gates in Lowndes County in the Alapaha River watershed
The east side of Lake Park and east of Naylor:
acreage bought by a shell of a shell of a shell of Bill Gates’ investment company in the past two years.
170.57 acres in Parcel 0224 003 just east of Lake Park, plus another 126 acres in adjoining parcels inside and outside of Lake Park, which is most of the blue acreage on this map, all in the Alapahoochee River watershed, owned by Lakeland Sands according to the Lowndes County Tax Assessors database. Continue reading
Alapahoochee River @ GA 135/141
We were out towards Jennings Sept. 1st and stopped at the Alapahoochee River @ Hwy 135/141.
-April Huntley
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- 720×960 Sign, in Alapahoochee River, by April Huntley, 1 September 2014, Alapahoochee River 9/1/14 @ Hwy 135/141 https://www.facebook.com/Wwalswatershed/posts/562756823851052
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- 960×720 Narrow, in Alapahoochee River, by April Huntley, 1 September 2014, Alapahoochee River 9/1/14 @ Hwy 135/141 https://www.facebook.com/Wwalswatershed/posts/562756823851052
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- 960×720 Closer, in Alapahoochee River, by April Huntley, 1 September 2014, Alapahoochee River 9/1/14 @ Hwy 135/141 https://www.facebook.com/Wwalswatershed/posts/562756823851052
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- 960×720 Red, in Alapahoochee River, by April Huntley, 1 September 2014, Alapahoochee River 9/1/14 @ Hwy 135/141 https://www.facebook.com/Wwalswatershed/posts/562756823851052
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- 960×720 Muddy?, in Alapahoochee River, by April Huntley, 1 September 2014, Alapahoochee River 9/1/14 @ Hwy 135/141 https://www.facebook.com/Wwalswatershed/posts/562756823851052
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- 960×720 Very Red, in Alapahoochee River, by April Huntley, 1 September 2014, Alapahoochee River 9/1/14 @ Hwy 135/141 https://www.facebook.com/Wwalswatershed/posts/562756823851052
Alapahoochee Watershed Area Map by SGRC
The South Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC)
produced this interesting map of the Alapahoochee River Watershed
I saw on the counter while visiting the USDA FSA office in Valdosta about something unrelated.
Curiously, it doesn’t show the actual river nor its tributaries
Mud Creek and Grand Bay Creek.
But it does show that this watershed includes much of Valdosta,
half of Dasher, and all of Lake Park. Continue reading
How Many Trees Does It Take to Protect a Stream?
Stroud Water Center wrote in their Upstream Newsletter, VOL. 2014, ISSUE 1, February 2014,
Scientists Set Buffer Width Minimum Standard.
A strip of forest along a stream channel, also called a riparian forest buffer, has been proposed and used for decades as a best management practice to protect streams by filtering out contaminants from agriculture and other land uses before they can enter them.Their benefits are many, but one benefit has dominated social and political conversations, and that is their role in preventing contaminants from entering streams.
A few years ago, Stroud Water Research Center proposed that riparian forest buffers also play another important role by Continue reading
Alapahoochee River
Proposed for the WWALS January 2014 outing:
the river most people know nothing about,
from the convergence of Mud Swamp Creek where Grand Bay Creek forms the border
between Lowndes County and Echols County in Georgia east of Valdosta,
about 14 miles through Echols County between Lake Park and Statenville,
to the Alapaha River in Hamilton County, Florida east of Jennings:
the Alapahoochee River.
It has a waterfall, limestone caves, and boat ramps, all pictured by South Georgia Kayak Fishing 3 September 2011 in Alapahoochee convergence at Alapaha River – Jennings, FL.
Here’s a brief day paddle description,
Florida whitewater, Alapahoochee River Grand Bay Canal),
by
riverfacts.com:
Echols / Hamilton county, GA SR 135 to FL SR 150 on Alapaha section whitewater kayaking, rafting, and paddling information.
This stretch of Alapahoochee River Grand Bay Canal) in Echols / Hamilton County is 4.5 miles long and is according to American Whitewater a class II section of whitewater.
They include a map.
Entering Floridan Aquifer Recharge Zone
Maybe we need signs like that around here to remind
people that what goes into the ground comes out in our
drinking water.
For example,
San Antonio has its
Edwards Aquifer Protection Program.
Maybe our local governments need to have
Floridan Aquifer Protection Programs.
Georgia state law seems to indicate they should.
GA Secretary of State has GA Code §391-3-16-.02 Criteria For Protection of Groundwater Recharge Areas. (more legible copy on GA EPD website),
(1) Background. Variable levels of recharge area protection can be based upon the State’s hydrogeology (e.g., areas such as the Dougherty Plain where a major aquifer crops out would receive a relatively high degree of protection whereas other areas, such as the shale hills of northwest Georgia, would receive a lower degree of protection). Recharge area protection within the significant recharge areas would be further refined, based upon the local susceptibility or vulnerability to human induced pollution (e.g., high, medium, or low). The significant recharge areas have already been identified and mapped (about 22-23% of the State). Pollution susceptibility mapping is ongoing. Existing statutes are adequate for protecting the remaining recharge areas (about 77-78% of the State).
[…]
(2)(f)3. In the Coastal Plain, the significant recharge areas are Continue reading