When WWALS first paddled from Ichetucknee Springs in January, it happened to be both Ichy Nippy Dip Day and anniversaries of both Ichetucknee State Park and of Florida State Parks.
Here are some pictures from the shore.
We did it again two weeks later, and we’re doing it again in January 2021. Stay tuned.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hahira, GA, August 31, 2020 — WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman zoomed into the annual Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Confluence conference on Saturday, August 29, 2020, so WWALS could receive the statewide Volunteer of the Year award while we were finishing the Twomile Branch Cleanup.
The award is for “Individual has gone beyond the call of duty to improve water quality and meet AAS goals.” We emphasized it was not just one volunteer, but many, in our one-minute award acceptance video. We also thanked Georgia Power again for a grant. We didn’t have time to mention we’re getting testing kits to WWALS testers in Florida, upcoming WWALS water quality testing training, and branching out to the Santa Fe River, but all that is in this post.
Testers shown in the video include Sara Jay, Scotti Jay, Suzy Hall, Alex Chesna, Bobby McKenzie, Jacob Bachrach, and Trudy Cole. Continue reading
Online, so you don’t have to travel, you can ask why SRWMD is proposing reductions in the minimum flows of the Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers:
What is the new, proposed MFL?
A minimum flow and minimum water level (MFL) evaluation was used to determine the quantity of water needed to ensure the safety and health of the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee (LSFI) Rivers and associated springs. The new LSFI MFL evaluation has determined that median Santa Fe River flows should be 91.9%near Ft. White and 91% near US Hwy 441 gaging stations, and that median Ichetucknee River flows should be 97.2% at the US Hwy 27 gaging station.To review the 2019 LSFI Technical Document, visit the LSFI webpage.
How does the new, proposed MFL differ from the 2015 LSFI MFL evaluation? Continue reading
The winner of Within These WWALS number 4 is: Deanna Mericle.
She gets a packet of WWALS picture notecards from the WWALS online store.
The underwater plant is:
Eel grass, Zostera marina.
Nope, not wild rice, Zizania aquatica, which usually sticks up above water.
Florida State Parks does say both occur in the subject stream.
The bird is: Continue reading
Update 2022-11-29: Get your z-fold water trail brochures at any WWALS outing or event, and see the at-water and road signs. This post updated with current images from the WLRWT map and Access web page.
Lately I’ve seen a lot of posts such as “how many miles from Knights Ferry Boat Ramp to Nankin?” That’s 6.65 river miles, or about 3.3 paddle hours, and here’s how you can find out, for the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers, for the Alapaha River, and for the Suwannee, Ichetucknee, and Santa Fe Rivers, plus interactive maps.
The Access Points web page for the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT) lists all the public boat ramps and landings on the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers, with river miles downstream to the next one. Also an estimate of paddling hours, GPS coordinates, icons for amenities, and a link to the most relevant river gauge.
How can you find that web page? Go to Continue reading
Leisurely paddle on the newest river additions to WWALS and Suwannee Riverkeeper, round 2. It was such a great time, we had to do it again, on the Ichetucknee and Santa Fe Rivers. We will also paddle past the notorious Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline.
When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10:30 AM, Saturday, January 4, 2020
Put In: Ichetucknee S.P. North Entrance, 8294 SW Elim Church Rd, Fort White, FL 32038.
GPS: 29.9859, -82.7602
Take Out: Hwy 129 Boat Ramp, William Guy Lemmons Memorial Park Ramp @ 296th St. Ramp, From Branford, travel east on US 27; turn right on US 129; travel south to 296th Street; turn right and William Guy Lemons Memorial Park is on the left, in Suwannee County. 29.912717, -82.860514
Bring: 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.
NOTE: The Ichetucknee is a non-disposable river; do not have any food or drinks in disposable packaging. All liquids and foods should be in reusable type containers. This helps keep litter out of our rivers.
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!
Fee: There is a $5.00 park fee.
![[Boards and boats]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-01-04--ichetucknee-pictures/20200104_110627.jpg)
Photo: John S. Quarterman, Boards and boats, 2020-01-04.
Announcement
WWALS Quarterly Board Meeting
2 to 4 PM, Sunday, 12 January 2020
South Georgia Regional Library, 2906 Julia Dr, Valdosta, GA 31602
Dial-in Number: (712) 770-5505
Meeting ID: 855-676
facebook event
Outings in Santa Fe River subbasin, on the Suwannee, and at Banks Lake, Light Parade, Gear Swap, BIG Little River Paddle Race, finances, budget, membership, water quality monitoring, water trails, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, WWALS Boomerang paddle race, festivals, projects and programs, pipelines, LNG export, titanium mines, phosphate mines, Bill of Rights for Nature, and more.
![[WWALS Logo]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-11-21--wwals-logo-santa-fe/WWALS-Logo-Reworded-0001.jpg){kind=logo}
WWALS Logo. Yes, S now stands for both Santa Fe and Suwannee, like A stands for both Alapaha and Alapahoochee, and L stands for both Little Rivers (one flowing into the Withlacoochee, the other into the Suwannee).
Our many rivers include four (Alapaha, Withlacoochee, Santa Fe, and Suwannee Rivers), six (plus New and Little Rivers flowing into the Withlacoochee), ten (plus Willacoochee, Alapahoochee, and Little Alapaha Rivers flowing into the Alapaha, and Dead River flowing out of it), thirteen (Black River, Little River, and Gopher River flowing into the Suwannee River), or fifteen (Ichetucknee and New River flowing into the Santa Fe River). Plus many creeks, swamps, lakes, and ponds, including our entire watersheds. wwals.net/maps/
Invited to attend:
WWALS members, especially committee members, and the general public.
All WWALS Board Members are expected to attend in person or by telephone.
The more done on the board list, the less time we have to spend in this meeting.
See the WWALS website for board members and committees.
The agenda will be available later.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Update 2020-11-02: Pictures from 2020-01-04.
Update 2020-01-11: Redo: Ichetucknee and Sante Fe River Paddle 2020-01-20.
Leisurely paddle on two of the newest additions to WWALS and Suwannee Riverkeeper: the Ichetucknee and Santa Fe Rivers. We will also paddle past the notorious Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline.
When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10:30 AM, Saturday, January 4, 2020
Put In: Ichetucknee S.P. North Entrance, 8294 SW Elim Church Rd, Fort White, FL 32038.
GPS: 29.9859, -82.7602
Take Out: Hwy 129 Boat Ramp, William Guy Lemmons Memorial Park Ramp @ 296th St. Ramp, From Branford, travel east on US 27; turn right on US 129; travel south to 296th Street; turn right and William Guy Lemmons Memorial Park is on the left, in Suwannee County. 29.912717, -82.860514
Bring: 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.
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!
Fee: There is a $5.00 $6.00 park fee.
![[384A3916]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2016-11-23--ichetucknee-santa-fe/384A3916.jpg)
Ichetucknee Confluence with Santa Fe River.
Photo: Beth Gammie for WWALS, Southwings Flight, November 23, 2016.
Please call your Florida state legislators to ask them to oppose a toll expressway across the Suwannee River, and maybe even across the Santa Fe or Ichetucknee Rivers. Instead, let’s do Amtrak passenger trains for better transportation and solar power for jobs and lower energy prices.
Suncoast Connector, Defenders of Wildlife
This boondoogle would come up from Citrus County to Jefferson County. That’s all the bills (SB 7068 or HB 7113) say about the route.
Defenders of Wildlife has a corridor map that shows Suncoast Connector coming from Crystal River in Citrus County, through Gilchrist and maybe Alachua Counties, possibly crossing the Santa Fe River into Columbia County and the Ichetucknee River into Suwannee County. It would have to cross the Suwannee River somewhere, maybe into Dixie or Lafayette or even Madison County, heading on through Taylor County to Monticello in Jefferson County.
Here’s a better way to improve transportation in the Suwannee River Basin: revive Amtrak through Madison and Lake City. The tracks are already there, so Continue reading
The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Mosaic Co., market cap $11.5 billion, just lost to DeSoto County, Florida, annual budget $84.3 million. Maybe this will help Bradford County to do the right thing about phosphate mines.
Craig Pittman, Tampa Bay Times, 26 July 2018, Mosaic spent 20 years planning new phosphate mine. DeSoto County has rejected it,
Mosaic Co., the world’s largest phosphate company, has spent two decades lining up a new mine in DeSoto County as part of a broader effort to move its operations south.
Photo: Jim Tatum on Southwings flight for WWALS, 2016-10-22: W across PCS Phosphate Mine, 30.4429360, -82.7851800But DeSoto County commissioners last week slammed the door in the company’s face, voting 4-1 against rezoning 18,000 acres from agricultural to mining.
A major concern: Continue reading
![[No people yet]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-01-04--ichetucknee-pictures/20200104_091843.jpg)
![[Award and Cleanup]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-07-29--wwals-aas-volunteers/award-cleanup.jpg)
![[Entry]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-06-16--santa-fe-ichetucknee-mfl-meeting/srwmd-calendar.jpg)
![[1 Plant]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-04-27--quiz4/1-plant.jpg)
![[Map: Knights Ferry Boat Ramp]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-04-15--water-trails-online/knights-ferry-map.jpg)