Tag Archives: Florida

Good water quality, Withlacoochee and Alapaha, but recent rains may change that 2020-06-22

The most recent water quality data we have looks good, for both the Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers, in Georgia and Florida.

But it’s from Monday, June 22, 2020, and there was significant rain on Okapilco Creek Tuesday and Wednesday in Brooks County, and more upstream at Skipper Bridge in Lowndes County, Georgia, on the Withlacoochee River. So conditions may change.

Looks good, but…
For context and links to the WWALS composite spreadsheet and all its sources, see https://wwals.net/issues/testing/.

Here are the recent rain records. Continue reading →

Rum Island absorbed within Columbia County Park Ordinance: BOCC vote 2020-06-18

Update 2020-07-03: As amended and passed, Columbia County, FL, Parks Ordinance, No. 2020-08, 2020-06-18.

Tomorrow, Thursday, June 18, new rules for Rum Island Park will be voted on by the Columbia County BOCC. This park with its public boat ramp is a popular access to the Santa Fe River and its springs.

Cover Sheet

At the previous meeting in which they scheduled this meeting, Columbia County Commissioners were heard complaining about kayak and canoe outfitters being some sort of problem.

The greatly expanded definitions in the ordinance add permits, with a limit of a total of four permits for “regular commercial uses of parks or recreational facilities”. It’s not clear what “uses” means. Does that include dropping off customers at a public boat ramp? Parking outfitter vehicles? Other?

Presumably issuing permits for fees will affect later budgets. Note that the agenda sheet only says “This item has no effect on the current budget.”

You can comment if you attend, or you can send email beforehand; see below.

WWALS has no official position, although we will send a letter asking the BOCC to be sure such permits don’t interfere with Sec. 78-6(C):

“(C) Boats, including human-powered craft and boats of common horsepower motors, shall be allowed.”

So far as I know, Our Santa Fe River (OSFR) also has no official position.

When: 5:30 PM, Thursday, June 18, 2020

Where: Columbia County School Board Administrative Complex Auditorium, 372 West Duval Street, Lake City, Florida 32055

What: Special called meeting of the Columbia County Board of County Commissioners

Purpose: To adopt a Rum Island Park Ordinance within a broad Columbia County Park Ordinance that includes all of the recreational holdings of the county.

To comment: Attend in person. Or send email to:
To: Board Secretary Penny Stanley <penny_stanley@columbiacountyfla.com>
Cc: County Attorney Joel Foreman <jforeman@columbiacountyfla.com>
Subject: Columbia County BOCC Park Ordinance

Thanks to Continue reading →

All eight Withlacoochee River landings green 2020-06-14

Update 2020-06-25: Good water quality, Withlacoochee and Alapaha, but recent rains may change that 2020-06-22.

Good news from Suzy Hall’s Sunday sampling for WWALS at Nankin and State Line Boat Ramps, and Valdosta’s Friday results for US 41, GA 133, and US 84: all green, below the average sample limit of 126 cfu/100 mL E. coli! So I’ve set the rest of the eight Withlacoochee River Swim Guide “beaches” to green, after the Florida beaches already went green Saturday.

Swim Guide Withlacoochee green
For context and links to the WWALS composite spreadsheet and all its sources, see https://wwals.net/issues/testing/.

Maybe we should take the WWALS yellow diamond Caution signs back down at Nankin and State Line Boat Ramps.

Nankin Boat Ramp signs

Here is a picture of Suzy’s water samples. Continue reading →

Intro to Kayak and Canoe Camping at Dowling Park River Camp, Suwannee River, 2020-07-18

As an introduction to Kayak and Canoe camping, we will visit the Dowling Park River Camp on the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail.

Photo: John S. Quarterman, Ramp to bathrooms at Dowling Park River Camp, 2019-06-20.

We will do a short paddle across from Dowling Park Boat Ramp in Suwannee County to the River Camp in Lafayette County. We will check in with the camp host, set up camp and continue our paddle upstream for 1 mile.

We will use Dowling Park Rivercamp as a base camp while having an intimate outing on the Suwannee River. You will have the comfort of having the boat ramp right across the river in case you forgot something or its just not working out.

Dowling Park River Camp is the model for the Troupville River Camp WWALS is proposing at the confluence of the Little River with the Withlacoochee River just west of Valdosta. Come see it for yourself!

Plus, there’s even a rope swing! There 5 are screened in platforms with fan, lighting and electrical outlets as well as multiple primitive camping sites. Along with a communal pavilion, there are also hot and cold showers and air conditioned bathrooms. There is a Camp Host that you can get firewood ($6 a bundle) and ice ($2 bag) to help lighten you load.

Platforms are available for families first until 6 July, 2020. After that platforms will be available to everyone on a first come basis. To maintain physical distancing, we recommend only families or already closely-associated groups stay in a platform. Everyone else, please bring a tent: primitive Camping is open to all. Message us with any questions/reservations and we will help you get setup.

Also there is no shuttle for this trip.

When: Gather 11:30 AM, launch 12 PM, Saturday, July 18, 2020

Put In: Dowling Park Boat Ramp. The boat ramp is on the north side of CR 250 at the Suwannee River, in Suwannee County, Florida.
That’s an hour south of Valdosta, GA, an hour west of Lake City, a little more than an hour east of Tallahassee, and an hour and a half northwest of Gainesville, FL. It’s only about half an hour from Live Oak, Madison, or Mayo.

GPS: 30.244833, -83.249

Take Out: Dowling Park Boat Ramp

Bring: a tent, plus the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup.

Boats: Kayaks and maybe canoes are available to borrow but please let us know at least 2 days prior to the event. Bring your own if you have it.

Free: This outing is free to WWALS members, and $10 (ten dollars) for non-members. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!

Event: facebook, meetup

Photo: John S. Quarterman, Elevated sleeping platform at Dowling Park River Camp, 2019-06-20.

Continue reading →

Additional: Filthy Withlacoochee River Monday after Sunday rain 2020-06-08

Update 2020-06-11: Contamination moving downstream in Florida 2020-06-09.

The E. coli numbers jump up from US 84 to Knights Ferry in additional data from Valdosta for Monday. In between is Okapilco Creek coming out of Brooks County, with many beef and dairy cow pastures upstream.

Additional Valdosta data
For context and links to the WWALS composite spreadsheet and all its sources, see https://wwals.net/issues/testing/.

Valdosta’s 1,600 cfu/100 mL at the state line is nowhere near Madison Health’s 24,196, but still higher than the 1,000 alert limit.

It’s a good guess that Madison and Hamilton County Health Departments are putting up signs in Florida after their Withlacoochee River Advisory of yesterday.

I hope some Florida state agency is testing downstream from FL 6, because by now the contamination may well have moved down that way.

I am heading out to collect samples for WWALS and to put our yellow diamond Caution signs back up at State Line and Nankin Boat Ramps. The Knights Ferry access road is washed out so that one will have to go up later. You can help.

Yesterday I set all eight Withlacoochee River Boat Ramps and Launches in Swim Guide to show red for failed water quality.

Swim Guide red from US 84 to Madison Boat Ramp

Thanks to Valdosta PIO Ashlyn Johnson for Continue reading →

Filthy Withlacoochee River Monday after Sunday rain 2020-06-08

Update 2020-06-10: Additional: Filthy Withlacoochee River Monday after Sunday rain 2020-06-08

Yes, again there’s a Withlacoochee River Advisory from the Hamilton and Madison County, Florida, Health Departments. But it’s not what many people automatically assume.

WWALS is putting its yellow diamond Caution signs back up. All eight Withlacoochee River Boat Ramps and Launces in Swim Guide should shortly show red for failed water quality.

06.09.20-Withlacoochee-River-Advisory-Madison-Hamilton-0001
PDF

Notice the high E. coli at US 41 (North Valdosta Road), twice the high alert limit of 1,000. That is north of almost all of Valdosta. The numbers are still above alert limit but somewhat lower at GA 133 and US 84.

The really high numbers start at GA 31, at State Line Boat Ramp. And 24,196 is extremely high. See What do these numbers mean?

So the main contamination seems to be coming into the Withlacoochee River downstream from US 84. That very likely means down Okapilco Creek from Brooks County, Georgia. Which fits with 4.75 inches of rain at Dixie, GA, in the west of Brooks County and 4.7 inches at the east edge of the county on the Withlacoochee River at US 84. Since that storm, as most do, moved from ~~east to west~~ west to east, we can guess similar amounts of rain fell right across Brooks County. What does that spell? Cows.

Not just from one location; probably from cow pastures all over Brooks County. And maybe upstream, since more than two inches of rain fell on Moultrie.

And of course the higher-than-alert results from US 84 north are not from Brooks County. There are horse farms and cows and hogs up there, too, as well as septic tanks, domsetic pets, and wildlife in the woods. And yes, runoff from city streets. But no sewage spills have been reported. Continue reading →

Statement on Environmental Justice –Suwannee Riverkeeper for WWALS 2020-06-08

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Statement on Environmental Justice
PDF

June 8, 2020
Statement on Environmental Justice
Suwannee Riverkeeper and WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. protect the Suwannee River Basin for the sake of every person who visits or lives here. Clean water is essential to everyone, regardless of their ethnicity, beliefs, politics, or anything else. However, during the course of our work opposing the Sabal Trail methane pipeline and other advocacy, it became clear that minorities and economically disadvantaged people will disproportionately experience negative effects. We continue to work against such environmental injustice across the entire Suwannee River Basin in dozens of counties in Georgia and Florida. Valuing all the watershed’s inhabitants is entirely compatible with having added concern for those facing added danger.

The killing of George Floyd and many other recent tragedies suffered by people of color show that even if we strive to love our neighbors equally, the threats and injustices they face are not equal. As professionals and volunteers we fight for the human right of clean water. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote from a Birmingham jail, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” It appears to us that the economic forces that drive unnecessary pipelines under rivers and through disadvantaged neighborhoods and that have made it so difficult to oppose pipelines and mines are the same forces that have resulted in so many recent tragedies with little justice. We have always stood for nonviolent advocacy, but we cannot condemn the few who have used other means without also pointing to the large corporations that benefit from subsidies, tax breaks, and legal advantages while so many get nothing.

We seek to listen and learn from our colleagues and neighbors. We do not pretend to be experts on racial issues. Nevertheless, we promote clean water to ensure healthy communities, and we are concerned about all members of those communities: especially the most vulnerable. We stand against racism and injustice in any form.

As one small step, we plan to offer swimming and boating lessons especially to minorities and economically disadvantaged people; please contact us about that.

Meanwhile, an election is in progress. Please look at what each candidate says about environmental issues. If a candidate will not stand up to protect rivers and swamps, you may want to look more closely at their promises about people.

Link to this statement: https://wwals.net/2020/06/08/statement-on-environmental-justice-suwannee-riverkeeper-for-wwals-2020-06-08
For the rivers and the aquifer,
John S. Quarterman
Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
229-242-0102
contact@suwanneeriverkeeper.org

Please ask your elected officials to stop strip mine near Okefenokee Swamp –Suwannee Riverkeeper on WKUB 105.1 FM

Are 60,000 comments over two comment periods enough to stop a titanium dioxide strip mine within miles of the Okefenokee Swamp? We don’t know. So please ask your elected officials, local, state, and national, to stop the mine, or at the very least to demand an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Follow this link for how.

Heavy Mineral Mining In The Atlantic Coastal Plain-0006

Here’s the rest of the interview of Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman by Brian Blount of WKUB 105.1 out of Blackshear, Pierce County, Georgia, north of Waycross and the Swamp.

If you have any trouble listening to it, you can download it from the WWALS website.

See the first Suwannee Riverkeeper comment to the Corps for more about slimes and hydrology.

For much more about this bad strip mine idea, see
https://wwals.net/issues/titanium-mining

-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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

Okefenokee Swamp more important than a titanium mine –Suwannee Riverkeeper on WKUB 105.1 FM

Update 2020-06-08: Part 2, Please ask your elected officials to stop strip mine near Okefenokee Swamp –Suwannee Riverkeeper on WKUB 105.1 FM.

The Okefenokee Swamp is a gem, locally, nationally, and internationally, too important to risk for profit by a few miners for paint. This is in a radio interview of Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman by Brian Blount of WKUB 105.1 out of Blackshear, Pierce County, Georgia, north of Waycross and the Swamp.

WKUB 105.1 FM

Here is an introduction by Wade Scott, and my request for people to ask the Army Corps to deny the permit application by Twin Pines Minerals, LLC, or at least to require an Environmental Impact Statement broad enough to cover the whole Swamp and the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers, as well as the existing titanium mines in north Florida and south Georgia, plus the phosphate mines current and proposed in north Florida. Continue reading →

Toll Roads webinars are illegal: ask Florida Governor to repurpose funds to pandemic relief 2020-05-28

There’s no point in attending the toll roads webinars: instead ask Florida governor DeSantis to use the toll road funds for pandemic relief.

FDOT didn’t listen to First Amendment Foundation: “All portions of the Sunshine Law continue to apply even during this horrible pandemic. No part of the Law has been suspended or modified as applied to state agencies. As a result, I respectfully request that FDOT exercise patience, cancel any and all M-CORES Task Force meetings, and reschedule the meetings only when members of the Task Force and Florida citizens can fully participate in-person and by all feasible means.

Instead, FDOT scheduled more bogus webinars this week, starting tomorrow.

FAF to FDOT (1 of 3)

Better: please ask Florida governor DeSantis to repurpose toll road funds to pandemic relief.

Thanks to the No Roads to Ruin (NRTR) steering committee, here is the FAF letter to FDOT (PDF).

News coverage: Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.