Tag Archives: Jason Evans

Five Finalists Selected, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2024 2024-08-21

Hahira, GA, August 21, 2024 — The five finalists will play at the Finals of the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, at the WWALS River Revue, Saturday, September 7, 2024, at the Turner Center for the Arts, in Valdosta, Georgia. The audience and the three judges will watch and listen. The judges will award prizes, and the winner will sing again.

[Five Finalists Selected, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2024]
Five Finalists Selected, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2024

This is all after dinner and after Dr. Jason Evans of Stetson University in Florida talks about his long detective work to determine water lettuce is indeed native, and Heather Brasell of the Gaskins Forest Education Center in Georgia talks about the effects of forest management on water. There will also be a silent auction in this fundraiser to benefit WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc.

One entry, a duo, is from Tennessee and Georgia: Robert Thatcher of Signal Mountain, TN, and Tom Brown of Dalton, GA.

Two are from Georgia: David Rodock of Adel, and Bill Berry of Valdosta.

Two are from Florida: Sweet William Ennis of Palatka, and Rachel Grubb of Lake City.

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Speakers and last call for songs for WWALS River Revue

Last call, songwriters: August 14, 2024 is the last day to send in your excellent song about the Suwannee River Basin. We mean it this time. Here’s the entry form:
https://forms.gle/ett6ne6DxMc8Ln897

The Finals for the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest will be at the WWALS River Revue, Saturday, September 7, 2024, at the Turner Center for the Arts, in Valdosta, Georgia.

Songwriters will perform for the audience and the three judges will decide, after the speakers from Florida and Georgia.

[Logo: WWALS River Revue 2024]
Logo: WWALS River Revue 2024

Dr. Jason Evans will speak about his many-year study of water lettuce, which establishes definitively that it is native to Florida. This may mean that the state should not spray to try to get rid of it.

He is Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Studies, Stetson University, DeLand, Florida. Jason Evans is an interdisciplinary systems and landscape ecologist who works in the fields of climate adaptation, land cover change, and water quality improvement within the built environment.

[Dr. Jason M. Evans, Stetson University, Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience, DeLand, Florida, speaking to the Santa Fe Springs Working Group, December 14, 2023]
Dr. Jason M. Evans, Stetson University, Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience, DeLand, Florida, speaking to the Santa Fe Springs Working Group, December 14, 2023

Heather Brasell will speak on the impacts of forest management on water quality.

She is the founder of the Gaskins Forest Education Center, Alapaha, Georgia, where she has won state and national forestry awards. She holds frequent events for adults and children, such as the annual A Day in the Woods, where WWALS always has a booth. She has won state and national forestry awards. She owns several miles of the Alapaha River and has paddled many times with WWALS. She is a former WWALS board member. She is a WWALS water quality tester.

[Heather Brasell, Gaskins Forest Education Center, Alapaha, Georgia]
Heather Brasell, Gaskins Forest Education Center, Alapaha, Georgia

“Musicians, we have some songs, but we also want yours,” said organizing committee chair and WWALS President Sara Jay Jones.

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman said, Continue reading