Tag Archives: history

Revised Agenda: Without Suwannee River Visitor Center @ GA-DNR Board of Natural Resources 2026-01-30

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This morning they sent an amended agenda, which removes the item about demolishing the Suwannee River Visitors Center.

I don’t know whether that means they’ll reschedule it for a later meeting.

At least it gives them time to address questions such as:

  • Will the bats be rehomed?
  • How can companies bid on the demolition?
  • What could be built on that site?
  • Can Fargo Boat Ramp get repaired?

[Amended Agenda: Removed, Suwannee River Visitor Center @ GA-DNR Board of Natural Resources, 2026-01-30, St. Simons Island, GA]
Amended Agenda: Removed, Suwannee River Visitor Center @ GA-DNR Board of Natural Resources, 2026-01-30, St. Simons Island, GA

Everything else is the same on the agenda for the GA-DNR Board of Natural Resources as in the previous post.

https://wwals.net/?p=69309

There are interesting items on there, such as

a) Action on the Board of Trustees of the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Fund 2025-2026 Approved Proposal of Projects (Trevor Santos, Deputy Commissioner) (Tab B)

The Board of Natural Resources will meet at the A.W. Jones Heritage Center, 610 Beachview Drive, St. Simons Island, GA 31522, on Friday, January 30, 2026, at 9:00 a.m.

Live Stream Link:

https://usO6web.z0om.us/j/87169233576?pwd=4zEe9sRELWiGCHR8GIRny4d6liSkla.1

Meeting ID: 871 6923 3576
Passcode: 386825

Continue reading →

Packet: Suwannee River Visitor Center unfit for public use or rehabilitation @ DNR Board of Natural Resources 2026-01-30

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Update 2026-01-28: Amended Agenda: Removed Suwannee River Visitor Center @ GA-DNR Board of Natural Resources 2026-01-30.

Here is some more detail on the item to demolish the Suwannee River Visitors Center, on the agenda for the GA-DNR Board of Natural Resources, for this Friday, January 30, 2026, on St. Simons Island and livestreamed.

The Suwannee River Visitor Center has been unoccupied and closed for over a decade. The structure is now extensively deteriorated and occupied by a large colony of bats. The building has been subject to repeated vandalism and structural damage, resulting in unsafe conditions that render it unfit for public use or rehabilitation. Due to these ongoing issues, the facility represents a continuing safety risk and liability to staff, visitors, and the Department.

The Board of Natural Resources will meet at the A.W. Jones Heritage Center, 610 Beachview Drive, St. Simons Island, GA 31522, on Friday, January 30, 2026, at 9:00 a.m.

Live Stream Link:

https://usO6web.z0om.us/j/87169233576?pwd=4zEe9sRELWiGCHR8GIRny4d6liSkla.1

Meeting ID: 871 6923 3576
Passcode: 386825

[Packet: Suwannee River Visitor Center unfit for public use or rehabilitation @ DNR Board of Natural Resources 2026-01-30]
Packet: Suwannee River Visitor Center unfit for public use or rehabilitation @ DNR Board of Natural Resources 2026-01-30

There is nothing in the board packet about rebuilding anything on the site.

The Visitor Center is at the entrance to Fargo Boat Ramp, in Fargo, Georgia, off of US 441. The Ramp would be unaffected, assuming they can contain the demolition debris. Fargo Ramp is the first publicly-owned Suwannee River access downstream

While that building has indeed been in dire straits for a decade or more, very few people seem to have been aware of this proposal to demolish it.

There is nothing about it in the minutes of the previous meeting of the Lands Committee nor of the minutes of the previous meeting of the Board Natural Resources.

This item comes directly from GA-DNR Commissioner Walter Rabon, like the other proposal to demolish, “Requesting approval via Executive Order to demolish the Red Top Mountain State Park well house, Bartow County.”

This is the agenda sheet for the Suwannee item: Continue reading →

Agenda: Demolish the Stephen C. Foster State Park Suwannee River Visitor Center, Clinch County –GA-DNR Board 2026-01-30

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Update 2026-01-28: Amended Agenda: Removed Suwannee River Visitor Center @ GA-DNR Board of Natural Resources 2026-01-30.

Update 2026-01-28: Packet: Suwannee River Visitor Center unfit for public use or rehabilitation @ DNR Board of Natural Resources 2026-01-30.

This is on the agenda for GA-DNR’s Board meeting this Friday:

b) Requesting approval via Executive Order to demolish the Stephen C. Foster State Park Suwannee River Visitor Center, Clinch County.

[Agenda: Demolish the Stephen C. Foster State Park Suwannee River Visitor Center --GA-DNR Board 2026-01-30]
Agenda: Demolish the Stephen C. Foster State Park Suwannee River Visitor Center –GA-DNR Board 2026-01-30

That’s the big building on stilts above Fargo Boat Ramp. Fargo is the second public paddling stop downstream from the Okefenokee Swamp, and the last stop in Georgia before 19 Suwannee River miles to Roline Ramp in Florida.

The Suwannee River Visitor Center was opened in 2004, after $2 million investment. This was before the Eco-Lodge, inland up US 441.

https://wwals.net/?p=60538

Unfortunately, it didn’t get many visitors. Maybe 5 or 6 a week, not counting local fishermen who came in to use the bathroom.

It closed in 2011, due to budgeting concerns. Attempts to get an outfitter to run it, or to move Fargo City Hall into it, did not work.

https://wwals.net/?p=60567

A year or so ago there was a rumor that private deep pockets had been found to fix it up. But the bats and guano in the building apparently would cost too much to fix.

So this Friday the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Board will vote to demolish the Suwannee River Visitors Center.

https://gadnr.org/sites/default/files/dnr/pdf/AMENDED%20AGENDA_0.pdf

Here it is in a low-water video by WWALS member Shirley Kokidko that has gotten more than 400,000 views on facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1946665392780126 Continue reading →

Videos: Geography of Opportunity, by Vickie Everitte, a WWALS Webinar, 2025-12-11

History Instructor Vickie Everitte conducted a historical exploration of Georgia’s Wiregrass Region and the complex stories of survival, resistance, and adaptation that unfolded there after the 1814 Treaty of Fort Jackson.

WWALS Board Member Janet Martin gave a brief introduction to this WWALS Webinar. Questions and answers were at the end, including a distinguished guest.

[Geography of Opportunity, by Vickie Everitte, a WWALS Webinar, 2025-12-11]
Geography of Opportunity, by Vickie Everitte, a WWALS Webinar, 2025-12-11

Here is a zoom video of this WWALS Webinar:

https://youtu.be/ULUwKQEOh10

Her slides are on the WWALS website in PowerPoint and PDF. Images of each page are below.

Native American and Passageways to Freedom within the Wiregrass Region1

As settlers moved south of the Oconee River, drawn by the land’s economic promise, waves of migration and militia efforts reshaped the landscape—and the lives of the Native American families who called it home. Through rivers, streams, and the vast Okefenokee Swamp, Indigenous people found ways not only to endure but to carve out paths of freedom and self-determination amid the U.S. Indian Removal Policy of the 1830s.

Drawing from original correspondence between settlers, militia, and Georgia’s governors in Milledgeville, this presentation reveals how waterways became corridors of escape and survival. As Everitte reminds us, “Swamps are places on the margins — as much, they are places of transition, opportunity, and challenge.”2

About the Speaker

Continue reading →

Ellaville Hike, Withlacoochee River 2026-02-07

Hike to the Drew Mansion Site, the Historic Hillman Bridge across the Suwannee River, Suwannacoochee Spring, and maybe up the Withlacoochee River a bit just to take a look.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 1 PM, Saturday, February 7, 2026

Put In: Town of Ellaville site, 596 NE Drew Way, Lee, FL 32059

GPS: 30.386812, -83.175257

[Ellaville Hike, Withlacoochee River, Drew Mansion 2026-02-07, Historic Hillman Bridge, Suwannacoochee Spring]
Ellaville Hike, Withlacoochee River, Drew Mansion 2026-02-07, Historic Hillman Bridge, Suwannacoochee Spring

Continue reading →

Drought Workshop Presentation –SRWMD 2025-12-09

Update 2026-01-08: Water Shortage Advisory Order on agenda @ SRWMD 2026-01-13.

Update 2026-01-03: Ask Florida statehouse and Water Districts to explain JAX treated wastewater into the Suwannee Basin or to stop it 2026-01-02.

Update 2025-12-18: Water First North Florida wetland locations: unknown –SRWMD 2025-12-17.

In their Drought Conditions Workshop on December 9, 2025, SRWMD talked about starting an outreach campaign, “highlighting the water deficit that we are in, and our drought, and the need for efficiency, and here are some possible measures that you could implement, from a voluntary standpoint.”

But they are not yet willing to declare even the statutory Water Shortage Warning or Advisory, which has only voluntary measures.

[Drought Workshop Presentation --SRWMD 2025-12-09, No water withdrawal limits yet, Maybe an outreach campaign soon]
Drought Workshop Presentation –SRWMD 2025-12-09, No water withdrawal limits yet, Maybe an outreach campaign soon

If the current drought is not severe enough to warrant even a statutory Warning, why are SRWMD and SJRWMD forging ahead with their billion-dollar Water First North Florida project to pipe treated Jacksonville wastewater into the Suwannee River Basin to recharge the Floridan Aquifer here? And what is being done to remove the PFAS, drugs, and articifical sweeteners that typically pass right through wastewater treatment?

Thanks to SRWMD Board members Charles Keith, Larry Sessions, and William Lloyd, they did talk about possibly instituing limits on water withdrawals, considering that the past 10 years have been the hottest on record.

The presenter, Amy Brown, Deputy Executive Director, Water Resources, was clear that they have not even advised voluntary limits for the biggest group of users, which are in agriculture.

Her slides, received from SRWMD in response to a WWALS public records request, are on the WWALS website, with images below in this post.

SRWMD Executive Director Hugh Thomas did note that the water withdrawal permits SRWMD issues have standard conditions that can require limits on water withdrawals. But “it’s never fun to engage with the permittee and say, hey, you’re going to have to cut back because we’re in a water shortage period.”

You can see Amy Brown, Deputy Executive Director, Water Resources, present these slides to the SRWMD Board in their own video of their December 9, 2025, Workshop, at 1:45:58:

https://www.youtube.com/live/6LDIIdFqxaY?si=LnRZUqNL0imphDJz&t=6358

What about reducing water withdrawals?

At 2:14:10, you can hear Charles Keith asking about increasing drought. Continue reading →

Old Stagecoach Road Bridge at Suwannee Springs 2025-12-12

This is not the historic bridge you can see today at Suwannee Springs.

It’s the one before that. The clue is the columns holding it up. Also the spring wall holding water.

[Site of Stagecoach Road Bridge at Suwannee Springs 2025-12-12, Upstream from Historic 1931 Graffiti Bridge]
Site of Stagecoach Road Bridge at Suwannee Springs 2025-12-12, Upstream from Historic 1931 Graffiti Bridge

The Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) posted this picture December 12, 2025. Continue reading →

Suwannee River Sill and Mixons Hammock –Shirley Kokidko 2025-11-26

Here’s what the second and third gates in the Suwannee River Sill looked like a week after Shirley Kokidko’s Low water at the first gate, Suwannee River Sill, Okefenokee Swamp 2025-11-20. Plus a gator ambling down to the river, and Mixon’s Hammock, upstream towards Stephen C. Foster State Park.

[Suwannee River Sill, Okefenokee Swamp --Shirley Kokidko, Alligator, Second and Third Gates, and Mixons Hammock 2025-11-26]
Suwannee River Sill, Okefenokee Swamp –Shirley Kokidko, Alligator, Second and Third Gates, and Mixons Hammock 2025-11-26

Here are a few videos:

Remember, despite the Florida myth, the gates in the Suwannee River Sill are always open, since about 2001.

The third gate isn’t even a gate: it’s just a breach in that 4.5-mile earthen dam, so the North Fork of the Suwannee River can get through. The Sill was meant to keep water levels up in the Swamp to prevent wildfires, but it did not succeed. Also, it turns out wildfires are necessary for the Swamp’s vegetation to regenerate itself. So after a study starting in 1998 and a two-year trial period, the gates have always been open.

The current low water in the Swamp and in the Suwannee River is because we’re in a drought.

It rained a bit the last day or so, and more is predicted. But so far that has made almost no difference in the level of the Suwannee River at Fargo, GA.

Other rivers in the Suwannee River Basin also show almost no change. See Current River and Lake Levels by Florida’s Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD).
http://www.mysuwanneeriver.org/realtime/river-levels.php

There is a gauge at the Sill, but Continue reading →

Low water at the first gate, Suwannee River Sill, Okefenokee Swamp 2025-11-20

Looks like you could paddle through the Suwannee River Sill, but it’s not clear how far you would get through the Narrows below Stephen C. Foster State Park Ramp before you got to the Sill.

[Low water, first gate, Suwannee River Sill, Okefenokee Swamp, Thursday, November 20, 2025]
Low water, first gate, Suwannee River Sill, Okefenokee Swamp, Thursday, November 20, 2025

Yesterday Shirley Kokidko checked on water levels in the Suwannee River in the Okefenokee Swamp. She says there is enough water to paddle to Billys Island or Minnies Lake.

Until we get some rain to break this drought, paddling from SCFSP to Griffis Fish Camp will be doubtful.

Here is a video Shirley sent from the First Gate at the Suwannee River Sill, the 4.5-mile-long earthen dam that was supposed to keep water levels up in the Okefenokee Swamp to prevent fires, but did not work.

https://www.facebook.com/Wwalswatershed/videos/854041060433085

https://youtu.be/xrNMTGZtws0 Continue reading →

Open the Okefenokee Gates 2025-11-15

Update 2025-11-21: Low water at the first gate, Suwannee River Sill, Okefenokee Swamp 2025-11-20.

Actually, the Suwannee River Sill Gates are always open.

This was a facebook comment yesterday, “Open the dam in the swamp.”

It was on this WWALS facebook post: Very low water, Fargo Ramp, Suwannee River 2025-11-12 Video by Shirley Kokidko for WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS):
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1946665392780126

See also:
https://www.facebook.com/Wwalswatershed/posts/pfbid02p1mXs1UZK6ZhGQe4BeEdAa54E1Ws2Dk5AQmKmRsbqKPc3ATi6SxVyZjXL1U54dHRl
https://wwals.net/?p=68851

I’ve also heard from otherwise very knowledgeable Floridians: “When there are big rains, Georgia opens the Okefenokee gates and floods Florida!”

Nope, that doesn’t happen, either.

[Open the Okefenokee Gates, Suwannee River Sill, Actually always open, Since around 2000]
Open the Okefenokee Gates, Suwannee River Sill, Actually always open, Since around 2000

The Sill itself was an experiment in fire prevention that did not work, and also turned out to be a bad idea, because the Okefenokee Swamp needs fire to regenerate itself.

Here’s video and pictures of the Second and First Gates through the Suwannee River Sill, December 9, 2025 2023 [date corrected]
https://youtube.com/shorts/8LA_PLDqXA0 Continue reading →