Paddle with WWALS down the blackwater Alapaha River over some rapids, with side trip to Turket Creek Waterfall.
![[Jennings Defeat, Turket Creek Waterfall, Statenville Boat Ramp]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-07-09--statenville-sasser-alapaha/many.jpg)
Jennings Defeat, Turket Creek Waterfall, Statenville Boat Ramp
Bring a rope for each end of your boat, for towing and carrying. Shortly after the GA-FL line are the notorious shoals Jennings Defeat, so named because even the founder of Jennings, Florida, portaged around them. Last time WWALS went through there, only three boats paddled through those shoals. Continue reading
This morning the Lowndes County Commission considered and Tuesday evening will vote on letting a subdivision developer replace a detention pond with a built-on lot and some other detention area somewhere unspecified.
![[Map: Little Viking Road to Grand Bay, ARWT]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-03-21--loco-drainage-grand-bay/map-arwt-little-viking-road-grand-bay.jpg)
Map: Little Viking Road to Grand Bay,
in the WWALS
map of the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT).
The detention pond is marked by the red ellipse. The most likely drainage from there is where I drew the cyan line. It appears to go into Grand Bay. See below a closeup of the lot and a larger map of how Grand Bay drains into Grand Bay Creek, the Alapahoochee River, the Alapaha River, and then the Suwannee River on the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Continue reading
Water gaps and water quality: the Georgia Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council meets 10-15 AM to 2 PM, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at Coastal Pines Technical College, 1701 Carswell Ave, Waycross, GA 31503. There is an online method of attendance, unfortunately via Microsoft Teams.
Unlike Florida’s Suwannee River Water Management District, SSRWPC has no paid staff, no budget to speak of, and no taxing, permitting, or fining ability. Its Council is all volunteers, assisted by a few staff from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) and sometimes a consultant or two.
SUWANNEE-SATILLA
REGIONAL WATER PLANNING COUNCIL MEETING
Announcement Date: February 2, 2022
TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS AND PARTIES:
The Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council
will hold a meeting at the following date, time and location:
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Registration: 10:15 A.M. – 10:30 A.M.
Meeting: 10:30 A.M. – 2:00 P.M.
Note: This Meeting may be attended In-Person (with Social Distancing Measures in place) or Virtually via the MS Teams Link with Call-In Information Provided Below
Coastal Pines Technical College
1701
Carswell Ave
Waycross,
GA 31503
If you are planning to attend the meeting in-person please send your RSVP notice to woodsh@cdmsmith.com so we can ensure we do not exceed the venue capacity.
For Virtual Attendance use this link: Continue reading
What books do you know about rivers, swamps, creeks, spings, sinks, or ponds in the Suwannee River Basin? Or movies, TV shows, etc.? Send them in and we’ll add them to the list.
Below is a sampler to start.
Update 2022-07-01: Book: Canoeing and Kayaking Georgia, Third Edition 2022-06-30There are probably more books about the Okefenokee Swamp than about any of the rivers in the Suwannee River Basin, but let’s start with this one.
Update 2023-01-26: Pictures: Many deadfalls, shark teeth, and rapids: Alapachoochee Adventure 2022-07-09.
Bird Chamberlain and others had been suggesting it for years, and we finally did it: the Alapahoochee River from GA 135 to Sasser Landing on the Alapaha River. We paddled over many deadfalls, across the GA-FL line, past the creek of shark teeth, under old abandoned steel Beatty Bridge, through Devil Shoal, right by Turket Creek Waterfall.
![[Banners, Alapahoochee River, Deadfall, Beatty Bridge, Devil Shoal, Turket Creek Waterfall]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-06-05--alapahoochee-pictures/2021-06-05--many.jpg)
Banners, Alapahoochee River, Deadfall, Beatty Bridge, Devil Shoal, Turket Creek Waterfall
Many thanks to Bobby McKenzie for organizing this expedition, to the WWALS Outings Committee for planning it, and to all who paddled, including Suzanne Welander, author of Canoeing and Kayaking Georgia, who came down from Atlanta for this outing. Continue reading
The Lowndes County Commission started the process of taking over two flooded private roads, they adopted a fire department millage rate for all real and personal property in the unincorporated parts of the county, and they discussed how that millage was to aid population growth in the unincorporated areas, apparently including building closer to and perhaps in wetlands that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had recently decided were not Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS). All these actions at their August 24, 2021, Regular Session, at least taken together, would seem to support sprawl.
![[Mud Swamp Road and Swamp Edge Drive adopted by Lowndes County, GA]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-24--mud-swamp-road/map-mud-swamp.jpg)
Mud Swamp Road and Swamp Edge Drive adopted by Lowndes County, GA,
in the lower left corner of this map, between two arms of Mud Swamp Creek,
in the WWALS
map of all public landings in the Suwannee River Basin.
Better would be to build only close in to existing services, instead of sprawling farther out, where no taxes will ever pay enough for sending school buses, Sheriff, and Fire. See this report the County commissioned: The Local Government Fiscal Impacts of Land Use in Lowndes County: Revenue and Expenditure Streams by Land Use Category, Jeffrey H. Dorfman, Ph.D., Dorfman Consulting, December 2007. As Dr. Dorfman summarized in a different presentation,
Continue readingLocal governments must ensure balanced growth, as
sprawling residential growth is a certain ticket to fiscal ruin*
* Or at least big tax increases.
Tickets are on sale now, $10 online; they will be $12 at the door.
https://wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21–songwriting/
VIP tables seating six in front of the stage are $150; inquire to song@suwanneeriverkeeper.org.
The Finals will be a fun festival for the whole family, Saturday, August 21, 2021, at the Turner Center Art Park, 605 North Patterson Street, Valdosta, Georgia, 31601.
We are taking every pandemic precaution recommended by the CDC and local doctors.
We ask you to help by wearing your mask when closer than six feet to anybody not in your party. And please stay home if you are sick in any way.
If you want to watch and listen without physically going there, we offer two livestreams.
But please buy a ticket: it’s a fundraiser.
All about the Contest is here:
https://wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21–songwriting/
About WWALS: Continue reading
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hahira, Georgia, August 19, 2021 — “We regret to say that Dirty Bird and the Flu will not be one of our Headliners this Saturday, because two of their band members have caught COVID-19,” said Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman. “But Scott Perkins and his band, Little Perks in Paradise, are coming from Atlanta to play as a Headliner.”
Tickets are on sale now, $10 online; they will be $12 at the door.
https://wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21–songwriting/
VIP tables seating six in front of the stage are $150; inquire to song@suwanneeriverkeeper.org.
The Finals will be a fun festival for the whole family, 7-11 PM, Saturday, August 21, 2021, at the Turner Center Art Park, 605 North Patterson Street, Valdosta, Georgia, 31601.
“Yes, the show will go on, with all pandemic precautions, ” said organizing Committee Chair and WWALS President Tom H. Johnson, Jr. “There will be plenty of music: all nine songwriters will be Finalists! Their songs are all so good, the WWALS Songwriting Contest Committee couldn’t bring itself to omit any of them.”
Continue readingFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hahira, Georgia, August 2, 2021 — All nine songwriters will be Finalists! “Their songs are all so good, the WWALS Songwriting Contest Committee couldn’t bring itself to omit any of them,” said Committee Chair Tom H. Johnson Jr.
![[Nine Songwriters, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2021]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21--songwriting/bannersongs.jpg)
In alphabetical order, they are:
“We’re still starting at 7 PM, but we may run a little later than 11 PM to fit them all in,” said Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman. “The Finals will be a fun festival for the whole family, Saturday, August 21, 2021, at the Turner Center Art Park, 605 North Patterson Street, Valdosta, Georgia, 31601.”
Tickets are on sale now, $10 online; they will be $12 at the door.
https://wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21–songwriting/
VIP tables in front of the stage are $150; inquire to song@suwanneeriverkeeper.org.
“The public online voting helped, but we still couldn’t leave out any of these good new songs about our rivers, swamps, springs, and sinks,” said Laura D’Alisera, who won First Prize the first year and has been on the WWALS Songwriting Contest Committee ever since.
Because of the surge in the COVID-19 virus pandemic, we will test temperatures at the entrance with an infrared thermometer. Tables will be spaced for distancing. Masks will be required when people are close to other people not in their party.
“We have two headliners this year,” said Committee Member Angela Duncan. “Last year’s winner Continue reading
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hahira, Georgia, August 2, 2021 — “I am very excited and honored to be the Master of Ceremonies for this year’s Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriters Contest,” said Big Country Wes James, of WAAC FM Rivers Radio. “I can’t wait to hear all the great songs that have been submitted and to find out who this year’s winner will be.”
“We’re just as pleased that Big Country agreed to be Master of Ceremonies at the Contest!” said Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman.
Photo: John S. Quarterman for WWALS of Wes James on WAAC FM Rivers Radio 2021-04-20
Tickets are on sale now, $10 online; they will be $12 at the door.
https://wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21–songwriting/
VIP tables in front of the stage are $150; inquire to song@suwanneeriverkeeper.org.
“Florida and Georgia songwriters sent many good new songs about our rivers, swamps, springs, and sinks, ranging through folk, country, blues, soul, and jazz,” said Laura D’Alisera, who won First Prize the first year and has been on the WWALS Songwriting Contest Committee ever since. “Public online voting is finished, and the Committee will announce its decision for Finalists this Wednesday, August 4, 2021.”
“The Finals will be a fun festival for the whole family,” said Contest Committee Chair Tom H. Johnson Jr., who is also WWALS Board President. “That’s 7-11 PM, Saturday, August 21, 2021, at the Turner Center Art Park, 605 North Patterson Street, Valdosta, Georgia, 31601.”
Because of the surge in the COVID-19 virus pandemic, we will test temperatures at the entrance with an infrared thermometer. Tables will be spaced for distancing. Masks will be required when people are close to other people not in their party.
“We have two headliners this year,” said Committee Member Angela Duncan. “Last year’s winner Scott Perkins and his band Little Perks in Paradise from Atlanta, and Valdosta’s own Dirty Bird and the Flu.”
“Thanks to Georgia Beer Company for being our top-tier sponsor again!” said WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman. “And thanks to all the other sponsors, including Continue reading
![[Region, Public Notice]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-03-09--ssrwpc/many.jpg)
![[Some books]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-01-31--basin-bookstore/2022-01-31--books.jpg)
![[Cover and inside]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-06-30--welander-book/many.jpg)
![[Banner]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21--songwriting/banner.jpg)
![[Flyer]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21--songwriting/Flyer-2021-SuwRK-Songwriting-Contest-0001.jpg)