Tag Archives: Gretchen Quarterman

Florida Folk Festival, Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, Suwannee River, 2023-05-26-28

Update 2023-05-25: Ready for Florida Folk Festival 2023-05-25.

WWALS will have a booth at the Florida Folk Festival on Memorial Day Weekend in White Springs at the Stephen Foster State Park.

The festival is a three-day celebration of the music, dance, stories, crafts and food that make Florida unique.

We need volunteers for this three day event. The event requires that we submit the names of our volunteers by May 15th. If you are interested in helping at this fun event, please let me know ASAP so that I can get you on the list. Plan on a 4-6 hour shift of hanging around and talking to people about clean water. When not volunteering, you may attend the festival events.

When: 6:30 PM, Friday, May 26, through 6 PM Sunday, May 28, 2023

Put In: Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, White Springs, Florida, on the banks of the Suwannee River.

GPS: 30.332884, -82.769513

[WWALS Booth at a previous Florida Folk Festival and Carrillon at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park]
WWALS Booth at a previous Florida Folk Festival and Carrillon at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park

Continue reading →

Clean WIthlacoochee River 2023-04-20

Update 2023-04-29: Nankin filthy, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-27.

WWALS tests were clean for Thursday on the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers.

Rain is predicted, but not much.

No new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

Happy boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend!

[Chart, River, Swim Guide Map]
Chart, River, Swim Guide Map

The most recent results we have from Valdosta are for Monday upstream and Wednesday week before last downstream. They generally Continue reading →

Videos: US 84 to Mayday, Alapaha River 2016-05-07

Here are some previously-unpublished videos of a string of rapids on the Alapaha River between US 84 and Mayday.

[River Bend Rapids, Overhanging branch dunk, Cow Shoals, Cow Creek, Fallers Award at Mayday, Alapaha River, 7 May 2016]
River Bend Rapids, Overhanging branch dunk, Cow Shoals, Cow Creek, Fallers Award at Mayday, Alapaha River, 7 May 2016

They include Continue reading →

Agenda: WWALS Quarterly Board meeting 2023-04-16

The public is invited:

6:00 PM – 8:00 PM, Sunday, 16 April 2023
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89308028204?pwd=VmwyMzVTMVR6WGJxbUFUSlFXWFRWQT09
One tap mobile: +13092053325,,89308028204#,,,,*392346#

WWALS President Sara Jay will preside over the WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting. The public is invited.

[Spook Bridge, Agenda 2023-04-16]
PDF of the agenda

We will be discussing the BIG Little River Paddle Event, the WWALS Gala including the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, and other outings and cleanups: see https://wwals.net/outings. As well as trash, sewage, water quality testing, opposition to mines (titanium and phosphate), water withdrawals, coal ash, pellet plants, and LNG export, as well as promotion of water trails and solar power: see https://wwals.net/issues/ And of course finances. New WWALS Development Director Veronica Oakler will report.

That’s for the Continue reading →

Clean Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers 2023-04-13

Update 2023-04-21: Clean WIthlacoochee River 2023-04-20.

Update 2023-04-18: Naylor Beach and Boat Ramp in Swim Guide 2023-04-18.

Happy swimming, fishing, and boating this weekend!

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-04-13]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-04-13

All WWALS water quality test results for Thursday show clean from E. coli for the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers. Crawford Branch at Skipper Bridge Road was a bit higher, but well within the 410 one-time test limit.

No new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

Rain is predicted for Sunday morning, but probably not enough to wash much contamination into the rivers. Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee River 2023-04-06

Update 2023-04-15: Clean Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers 2023-04-13.

According to all the recent test results we have, the Withlacoochee River is pretty clean from E. coli. However, it’s raining upstream now, and predictions are for more rain tomorrow.

I’m still planning to paddle on Yet Another Cleanup Knights Ferry to Nankin, Withlacoochee River, 2023-04-08. If we’re quick, we may be finished before more than a drizzle falls.

If you want to paddle, swim, or fish this weekend, I’d recommend do it Saturday morning before the rain has much time to wash contamination out of creeks.

[Chart, River, Swim Guide Map 2023-04-06]
Chart, River, Swim Guide Map 2023-04-06

No new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida since the tiny inland High Springs spill Thursday a week ago.

There is the matter of Valdosta’s followup testing after their February sewage spills, but the only bad results from that were Wednesday and Thursday a week ago, and that was in the Alapaha River basin. Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee River 2023-03-30

Update 2023-04-07: Clean Withlacoochee River 2023-04-06.

Best to paddle, swim, and fish tomorrow morning. Rains are predicted tomorrow.

But until then, all the water quality tests we have are good, for the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide map 2023-03-30]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide map 2023-03-30

No new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia in the past week.

But High Springs had a 150-gallon spill. That small an amount and apparently inland should have no effect on the Santa Fe River or its springs.

Thanks to WWALS tester Continue reading →

Notice: WWALS Quarterly Board meeting 2023-04-16

Update 2023-04-16: Agenda and zoom parameters.

Update 2023-03-30: The correct date is Sunday, April 16.

WWALS President Sara Jay will preside over the WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting. The public is invited.

We will be discussing the BIG Little River Paddle Event, the WWALS Gala including the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, and other outings and cleanups: see https://wwals.net/outings. As well as trash, sewage, water quality testing, opposition to mines (titanium and phosphate), water withdrawals, coal ash, pellet plants, and LNG export, as well as promotion of water trails and solar power: see https://wwals.net/issues/ And of course finances. New WWALS Development Director Veronica Oakler will report.

That’s for the entire 10,000 square mile Suwannee River Basin, in Georgia and Florida, including the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Alapahoochee, Little Alapaha, Little times two, New times two, Black, Dead, Sampson, Santa Fe, and Suwannee Rivers, and all their creeks, springs, sinks, ponds, and swamps, such as Grand Bay, Banks Lake and the Okefenokee Swamp.

When: 6 PM to 8 PM, Sunday, April 16, 2023

Where: Online via zoom, so you don’t even have to go anywhere. The zoom parameters will follow, as will an agenda.

[Square WWALS and Suwannee Riverkeeper logos] Continue reading →

Clean Rivers 2023-03-16

Update 2023-03-24: Clean Withlacoochee River 2023-03-22.

The Withlacoochee and Little Rivers tested clean from Thursday samples.

Beware rain is expected tomorrow evening.

So if you want to boat, fish, or swim this weekend, Saturday morning would be best.

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide 2023-03-16]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide 2023-03-16

Tifton spilled 30,000 gallons of sewage Saturday, March 11, 2023, into a creek that runs into the New River, then the Withlacoochee. That was probably diluted before it got far downstream. Or was it? Valdosta got very high E. coli that Monday, March 13th. There was much rain in between, so something else may have also been washed into the river. See other post. Continue reading →

Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle in Valdosta Daily Times

Good article; thanks VDT. Although it looks like WWALS will need to display a large banner saying: WWALS Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, on the Withlacoochee and Little Rivers, one of our many monthly paddles.

[Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson, WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman, Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter --GQ]
Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson, WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman, Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter –GQ

Brittanye Blake, valdosta Daily Times, March 5, 2023, Up the River: Paddle focuses on clean waters

See also the WWALS video of what the Mayor and Chairman said.

VALDOSTA — Mayor Scott James Matheson and Lowndes County Commission Chairman Bill Slaughter led the Fourth Annual Withlacoochee River paddle last weekend.

Continue reading →