Tag Archives: conservation

Dragging 235 lbs Uphill Both Ways @ Wild & Scenic Film Fest 2018-05-31

See how one mom engages her children in outdoor activities in “Dragging 235 lbs uphill both ways”.

The next generation is becoming increasingly plugged in to electronics and out of touch with the outdoors. This will have enormous effects on future conservationism. A mother of four kids decides to turn off the screens and make a change. Though challenging, her kids go from fearing and ignoring nature to understanding and loving it.

This short film will be one of many shown at the Wild & Scenic Film Festival:

Tickets: Eventbrite

Trail, Outside

Date and Time: Continue reading

Rain and Levels, Withlacoochee River, US 41 Gauge, Valdosta 2010-2018

The rainiest season in south Georgia and north Florida is the summer, yet that’s when rivers are usually the lowest. Here are seven years of data from the USGS Withlacoochee River Gauge at US 41 (North Valdosta Road) in Valdosta, Georgia. Rain is pretty steady through the year (except when there’s no rain), yet the river level varies wildly, highest in the winter, usually. Unless there are hurricanes in the fall, as happened in 2017 and 2016.

2010-2018, Rain Years
Rain Years 2010-2018

2010-2018, Level Years
Level Years 2010-2018

Why does this happen? Continue reading

Jennings Bluff Spring 2018-05-14

WWALS member Elizabeth Reynolds recently discovered one of our favorite spots, Jennings Bluff Spring, below Jennings Bluff Cemetery on the Alapaha River Water Trail. We’ve been there on several Dead River Sink hikes, and she also went back and this time sent some pictures, posted below with permission.

Pipe, Spring

Pipe, Spring

Continue reading

Deadline extended to June 1, 2018 for Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest

We got more submissions, but we want more, so we’ve extended the deadline!

New Deadline: Friday, June 1, 2018

[Short]

What: You can submit a song in any musical genre or style, as long as it is about one or more of our rivers, creeks, springs, sinks, swamps, ponds, etc. in the Suwannee River Basin.

Prizes: $300 First Prize, $50 winner from within the Suwannee River Basin, $50 winner from elsewhere, and one winner in each musical genre. Finalists must be present to win.

More: Follow this link for all the details.

[Long]
Long

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

Deadline today for Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2018-05-13

Update May 15, 2018: Deadline extended to Friday, June 1, 2018!

Calling all songwriters: today’s the deadline to submit for the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest. There is no age limit; songwriters so far range from 14 to 64.

Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest WWALS, Logo

You can submit in any musical genre, so the committee can select seven finalists, and the judges can pick multiple winners.

Submit your song: entry form

Deadline: Continue reading

Wanted: Missing Sheboggy Signs

If returned, no questions asked.

Don’t wait for the Sheriff to find them.

Right, Missing

You don’t have to steal them: WWALS will sell you a similar smaller metal sign. Those will be $20 each, available by the end of May 2018, and we’ll have an online order form.

Sheboggy Boat Ramp, Berrien County, Sign
Born, April 25, 2018.

Continue reading

National Wetlands Inventory

The National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) provides data on wetlands throughout the country, plus a mapper, from which I’ve pulled these stills of the Suwannee River Basin.

Wide, Basin

I used a topo map as background.

Phosphate Mines

One that already exists, and where another one wants to be.

PCS, Hamilton Co., FL, Phosphate mine

All those straight lines don’t look natural, because Continue reading

Jay Jourden sends song to Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2018-05-07

Update May 15, 2018: Deadline extended to Friday, June 1, 2018!

Jay Jourden says we can say he submitted a song, and you can, too!

ReverbNation Jay “Blue Jay” Jourden, Jacksonville Beach, FL,

Jay “Blue Jay” Jourden Singer/Songwriter/Performer/Activist Producer/Writer/Actor/Film & Video Toronto Pictures/Global Film Studios BMI, a world renowned producer and musical/vocal artist as well as an accomplished concert promoter/performer having worked on and help organize major concerts for The American Indian Movement AIM, Wounded Knee & The Longest Walk, The No Nukes Concert Series, Disaster Relief 96′, The 40th Anniversary of Woodstock 1969-2009 “West Fest”, and many, many, more, is currently signed with Toronto Pictures, a socially active, major international film company, under internationally acclaimed director Bruno Pischiutta and producer Daria Trifu, Toronto Pictures is currently in pre-production of several films in Romania and other parts of the world, addressing important socially significant issues, affecting changes in global thinking, all done without the “Hollywood Standard” gratuitous sex and violence “norm”.

Jay Jourden

We don’t announce which song someone may have submitted, but Continue reading

Phosphate Mine on Bradford BOCC agenda this morning 2018-05-07

The HPS II proponents don’t want to pay for consultant work on future effects of their phosphate mine. Why should the county (the taxpayers) be stuck with all or part of $53,265.00 to consultants about a for-profit mine that would adversely affect the waters on which the whole county depends, not to mention downstream on the New, Santa Fe, and Suwannee Rivers and perhaps beyond in the Floridan Aquifer? Mine proponents also complained that one subconsultant had “articulated a position of opposition to the HPS application”. If the consultants were uniformly in favor of the mine, what would be the point of hiring them at all?

Map: HPS II Mine Site, Packet
A map as clear as mining mud. Legend: Union Project Boundary (5,421.91 Acres); Bradford Project Boundary (5,262.92 Acres)

I sent Chairman Ross Chandler the the Resolution Against Phosphate Mines in Florida by several Waterkeepers across Florida.

Cost

In the agenda sheet for agenda item 4.B. Direction to staff regarding scope-of-work/subconsultants for Onsite Environmental Consultants (OEC) — Review of application for Special Permit for Mining (Section 14.6, LDR): Continue reading