This is not a transcript. Except where I use quotation marks,
it is a paraphrase of what I found to be the important points
of the Monday subcommittee meeting.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. James Burchett (District 176, Waycross)
said he was concerned about people boating on oxbows and creeks onto
private property, so the bill definitely did not include tributaries
as navigable.
He worries that currently the
Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA-DNR)
is in a difficult position of having to decide matters of law.
It’s about time something happened there, where
I videoed Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson in December 2022
saying something needed to be done.
According to Valdosta City ordinances, it is the parking lot owner’s
responsiblity to keep trash from escaping the property,
no matter where it came from.
Thanks to Russell Allen McBride for spotting this digging.
Thanks to Gretchen Quarterman for photographing.
She noted, “Enterprise guy was on parking lot. He knew nothing about it.”
It seems unlikely to be the City of Valdosta, considering how reluctant they are
to do anything on private property.
It’s a good thing we sent to see:
yesterday we found a huge new deadfall completely across the Withlacoochee River,
on the route of the
Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle,
coming up Saturday, March 2, 2024.
This Tuesday, February 20, 2024, we learned of two small Valdosta sewage spills,
each 100 gallons.
That’s not enough to get down the creeks to affect the Withlacoochee River,
but enough to stink up the neighborhood.
One was on Boone Drive at Baytree Road, next to Valdosta State University
and One Mile Branch, which runs into Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River.
The other was at 215 Knob Hill Road on a ditch that runs into Three Mile Branch at the southeast corner of Langdale Park, then into the Withlacoochee River
near the southwest corner of the park.
That’s the same location as the
much larger January 10 spill.
I learned about the Boone Drive spill when I called Valdosta Acting Utilities Director Jason Barnes Tuesday morning about the Knob Hill spill.
Neither of these spills has yet appeared in the
GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report.
Jason Barnes says he already sent a report on the Boone Drive spill to EPD,
and he will send one soon about the new Knob Hill spill. Continue reading →
WWALS charter board member Bret Wagenhorst will guide a tour of the Little River from Red Roberts Landing to Reed Bingham State Park Lake. All reservations online in advance, limited to 20 paddlers.
When: Gather 8 AM, launch 9 AM, end 12 PM, Saturday, April 27, 2024
Put In:Red Roberts Landing,
4727 Rountree Bridge Rd., Adel, GA 31620. River left at Rountree Bridge south of Rountree Bridge Road (CR 251) west of Adel; exit 41 off I-75.
Last year we saw bald cypress, pond cypress, pines, willow, tupelow, river birch, water oak, primrose, fetterbush, sparkleberry, holly, titi, wild grapevines, native wisteria, lichen, resurrection fern, goldenclub, mistletoe, and blooming Spanish moss.
We also saw many turtles, some alligators, and a great blue heron.
Continue reading →
As crossover day approaches in the Georgia legislature, events are moving faster
about the proposed strip mine too near the Okefenokee Swamp.
In addition to a mining prohibition bill that has been in the legislature since last year,
now there is a fine, draft permits, and two new bills, for increased criminal penalties, and for a mining moratorium (with a big catch).
None of these are likely to stop this specific “demonstration” mine,
but some of them could prevent any further such mines.
Crossover day is the day by which a bill has to have been passed by one house
to get into the other house.
It’s February 29 this year, Thursday of next week.
Back in January, I was told by a former state legislator that these miners be very careful to avoid infractions, because they had a lot of money riding on their venture.
A week later, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD)
issued a Consent Order on TPM, saying back in 2018 the miners had drilled soil
samples without a professional geologist or engineer supervising, as required by state law,
and they also failed to provide a letter of credit or a performance bond.
TPM “voluntarily” agreed to pay a tiny fine of $20,000.
For more details, see Russ Bynum, AP, 24 January 2024, Company seeking to mine near Okefenokee will pay $20,000 to settle environmental violation claims.
This is not the first time TPM has been under a Consent Order. Continue reading →
Emily Floore, St. Marys Riverkeeper, will give the third WWALS
Webinar, about the Okefenokee Swamp, which is the headwaters of the
St. Marys and Suwannee Rivers: why we protect it and the proposed
strip mine that threatens it, as well as a recent Conservation Fund
study.
This webinar will be by zoom, noon-1 PM, Thursday, March 21, 2024.
“WWALS and Suwannee Riverkeeper continue our work to protect the
Okefenokee Swamp, 85% of which is in the Suwannee River Basin. We conduct
outings for direct exposure, we have gotten city council and county
commission resolutions passed, and we talk to Georgia state
legislators, while expanding the issue into Florida. But the mine
site is in the St. Marys River watershed. So I am very pleased that,
since she’s been St. Marys Riverkeeper, Emily Floore has taken a
strong position and action to support the Swamp and to oppose the
mine,” said Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman.
Successful boat trials at Action Stage on the Little River!
Videos by John S. Quarterman and Russell Allen McBride for WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS).
Thanks to Laura D’Alisera for transfering the new WWALS 9.9hp Mercury fourstroke 20-inch shaft electric start outboard motor ten miles from West Marine in Jacksonville Beach to a shipping location, where Phil Hubbard received it Saturday.
Thanks to Wild Green Future (WGF) for the generous grant that bought it.
Sunday evening, Russell Allen McBride, Shawn O’Connor, Bobby McKenzie, and I
unboxed it, connected it to its fuel supply, and tried it out.
Thanks to Flint Riverkeeper for the jon boat.
With that outboard, the jon boat will indeed go upriver easily under these conditions.
It took only ten minutes to haul Russell in his kayak up the third of a mile from the Little River Confluence to Troupville Boat Ramp.
Also due to WGF, we received an 85lb-thrust Goplus 8 Speed, 36 inch shaft, trolling motor, two
Power Queen LiFePO4 12.8V 100Ah, lithium-iron-phosphate batteries,
and a Power Queen 14.6V 10A LiFePO4 Battery Charger.
Those we put on the WWALS bass fisher chainsawing boat,
plus the old WWALS 40lb-thrust mounted on the front.
Shawn and I demonstrated that the new motor alone will push that boat upstream
in these conditions, and both motors will troll it upstream at a walking pace.
Which is all we need to get back to the ramp from the Confluence during chainsaw cleanups.
We are awaiting a couple more items via the WGF grant. Stay tuned.
This is more preparation for the
Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, Saturday, March 2, 2024,
starting at Langdale Park.
One hopes that the water level will be well below Sunday’s 148′ NAVD 1988 level, or we may have to reschedule for later.
And also preparation for more chainsaw cleanups on other stretches of this and other rivers.
Next: 9AM Sunday, February 25, 2024, we will take the jon boat from Troupville Boat Ramp
down around the Confluence and up the Withlacoochee River to Langdale Park,
chainsawing any remaining paddle obstacles along the way.
That one will be a bit hard to participate in by paddling.
![[Rep. James Burchett, Navigability in HB 1397 in GA House Natural Resources & Environment Quality Subcommittee 2024-02-26]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-26--ga-hnre-hb1398/many.jpg)
![[Digging in the Stafford parking lot, St. Augustine Road at Hightower Creek 2024-02-27]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-27--st-augustine-road-parking-lot-hightower-creek/igmany.jpg)
![[Navigable stream additions to GA HB 1397 --WWALS 2024-02-27]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-27--ga-hb-1397-navigable-stream-additions/many.jpg)
![[Big new deadfall, chainsaw, trolling motor, outboard 2024-02-25]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-25--pictures-chainsaw-cleanup-troupville-up-to-sugar-creek-and-back/igmany.jpg)
![[Tifton Golden Road 7,000-gallon sewage spill into Little River 2024-02-12]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-12--tifton-golden-road-sewage-spill/igmany.jpg)
![[803 Golden Road, Tifton, Spill of 2024-02-12 in GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report 2024-02-19]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-12--tifton-golden-road-sewage-spill/2024-02-12--tifton-golden-road-spill-2024-02-19-ga-epd.jpg)
![[Map, Boone Drive & Knob Hill 100-gallon sewer spills, Valdosta, GA, 2024-02-20]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-20--valdosta-small-spills/igmany.jpg)
![[BIG Little River Paddle Event, Red Roberts Landing, 2024-04-27, led by Dr. Bret Wagenhorst to Reed Bingham State Park]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-04-27--blrpe/igmany.jpg)
![[Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge: 15 miles]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-21--okefenokee-bills/igmany.jpg)
![[Okefenokee Swamp over proposed strip mine --Emily Floore, WWALS Webinar]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-03-21--wwals-webinar-st-marys-riverkeeper-okefenokee-swamp/igmany.jpg)
![[9.9hp outboard and 86lb thrust trolling motor (thanks, Wild Green Future) and jon boat (thanks, Flint Riverkeeper) and Bass Fisher (WWALS)]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-18--boat-motor-tryouts/igmany.jpg)