And the winner in yesterday’s tower of trash was….
Zacados!
We haven’t decided what the winner’s prize is yet.
Bobby McKenzie and Russell McBride staged one of their almost-weekly cleanups at the Sugar Creek logjam below the Salty Snapper on Gornto Road in Valdosta, and netted (literally) this tower of trash. Continue reading
Update 2021-07-29: Again rescheduled: Hike to Dead River Sink, Alapaha River, Jennings Bluff Launch, 2021-10-TBD.
Rescheduled, to this new date of the last Saturday in July!
Join us for an approximately three-mile hike down the Dead River to the Dead River Sink, where the Alapaha River goes underground much of the year. We will be led by Practicing Geologist Dennis J. Price of Hamilton County, Florida. He will explain the geology, and how unusual this place is: there’s nothing like it in Florida (or Georgia).
This is a hike: no boat is needed.
![[Karst limestone cracks by the Alapaha River, Dead River, Sink, Dennis J. Price]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-07-10--hike-dead-river-sink/many.jpg)
Karst limestone cracks by the Alapaha River, Dead River, Sink, Dennis J. Price
When: Gather 9:00 AM, launch 9:15 AM, end 12:15 PM, Saturday, July 10, 2021
Put In: Jennings Bluff Launch. From Jennings, Hamilton County, FL, travel south on US 41 to NW 25 Lane; turn left; travel east to NW 82 Court and the entrance into the Suwannee River Water Management District’s Jennings Bluff tract; turn left and follow road to canoe launch.
GPS:
30.567183, -83.038911
You’re aiming for the Jennings Bluff Tract entrance.
![[Jennings Bluff Tract sign, 11:42:18, 30.5670965, -83.0388653]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2018-01-27--hike-dead-river-sink/20180127_114218.jpg)
Jennings Bluff Tract sign, 11:42:18, 30.5670965, -83.0388653
Take Out: Jennings Bluff Launch
Bring: drinking water, snacks, 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.
You can pay the $10 at the outing, or online:
https://wwals.net//outings
We recommend you support the work of WWALS by
becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/#join
Event: facebook, meetup Continue reading
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (PDF)
Another Generous Water Quality Testing Grant from Georgia Power to WWALS
Valdosta, GA, June 23, 2021 — “It’s really exciting to receive another generous grant from Georgia Power to help us continue with as well as increase our testing base,” said WWALS Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall. “This is huge towards helping to keep tabs on the water health for this watershed.”
![[Presentation and Play, Alapaha River, Naylor Beach]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/gretchen/2021-06-21--wwals-naylor-ga-power/many.jpg)
WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman receives the envelope from Mary Beth and Elizabeth Brownlee via Hazel, Elleanor and Lindsey Williams; back: Suzy and Abbie Hall, at Naylor Beach on the Alapaha River in Naylor Boat Ramp Park, Lowndes County, Georgia. More pictures here:
https://wwals.net/pictures/gretchen/2021-06-21–wwals-naylor-ga-power/
“The Georgia Power Foundation is committed to environmental stewardship and supports efforts focused on improving waterways, lakes and streams across Georgia,” said Georgia Power Southwest Director Joe Brownlee, “We’ve learned that we can do more when we work together with local organizations where we serve, so we felt that supporting the WWALS efforts to perform quality testing in our local watershed fit perfectly with our goals. I think it goes without saying that we all want clean water to drink, bathe, and occasionally even play in. At Georgia Power, we have an employee volunteer organization called the ‘Citizens of Georgia Power’; one of the projects that they chose to work on this year was a clean-up on the Alapaha River landing in Lakeland. So when WWALS reached out and said they had a clean-up in Naylor it seemed like a great project, and thanks to the testing kits we knew the water was clean, which allowed our treasures (our children) to play a little while we cleaned up.”
“Clean water is a benefit to everyone,” said WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman. “The grant presentation by Elizabeth Brownlee was non-traditional, but most exceptional. The envelope got a little wet as it passed through little hands and got dropped in the water, however, the result was excellent. Funding for a second year for the WWALS water quality testing program is greatly appreciated. Thank you, Georgia Power!”
“We are thrilled that, Continue reading
Update 2021-07-12: Pictures, including Fannie in a boat with a paddle in the rain.
Update 2021-06-17: We’ll actually have the boats at Reed Bingham State Park West Boat Ramp, so go through the park entrance, across the dam, in Colquitt County, Georgia. Macedonia Community Foundation has rented the beach or swimming pavilion, which is on the lake at the west end of the dam.
WWALS will be joining the Macedonia Community Foundation at Reed Bingham State Park on Saturday, June 19, 2021, to help people from Brooks, Cook, and Tift Counties, Georgia, and beyond to celebrate Juneteenth.
![[Fannie Marie Gibbs, Reed Bingham State Park Lake, WWALS canoes]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-06-19--juneteenth-reed-bingham-sp/many.jpg)
Fannie Marie Gibbs, Reed Bingham State Park Lake, WWALS canoes
Our contribution will be to supply boats and boating assistance for those who want to paddle out on Reed Bingham State Park Lake. For children whose parents do not want to paddle with them, we will have some adults ready to assist, as we did in June 2019 at the Cook County Centennial in the same location. All paddlers with WWALS will need to sign the WWALS event waiver so you will be covered by WWALS insurance; we will have copies of that form there.
We’ll also have the WWALS booth at the pavillion with information about water trails, water quality testing, and advocacy.
When: Noon to 5 PM, Saturday, June 19, 2021
Put In: Reed Bingham State Park East Boat Ramp, 542 Reed Bingham Rd, Adel, GA 31620. Take I-75 Exit 39, turn west on GA 37, right on Evergreen Church Road (CR 99), left on Reed Bingham SP Road (CR 221), in Cook County, Georgia.
GPS: 31.16253, -83.54123
Free: This outing is free.
We recommend you support the work of WWALS by
becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/#join
Event: facebook, meetup. Continue reading
Update 2021-07-07: Rescheduled to the last Saturday in July, July 31, 2021.
Join us for an approximately three-mile hike down the Dead River to the Dead River Sink, where the Alapaha River goes underground much of the year. We will be led by Practicing Geologist Dennis J. Price of Hamilton County, Florida. He will explain the geology, and how unusual this place is: there’s nothing like it in Florida (or Georgia).
This is a hike: no boat is needed.
Karst limestone cracks by the Alapaha River, Dead River, Sink, Dennis J. Price
When: Gather 9:00 AM, launch 9:15 AM, end 12:15 PM, Saturday, July 10, 2021
Put In: Jennings Bluff Launch. From Jennings, Hamilton County, FL, travel south on US 41 to NW 25 Lane; turn left; travel east to NW 82 Court and the entrance into the Suwannee River Water Management District’s Jennings Bluff tract; turn left and follow road to canoe launch.
GPS:
30.567183, -83.038911
You’re aiming for the Jennings Bluff Tract entrance.
Jennings Bluff Tract sign, 11:42:18, 30.5670965, -83.0388653
Take Out: Jennings Bluff Launch
Bring: drinking water, snacks, 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.
You can pay the $10 at the outing, or online:
https://wwals.net//outings
We recommend you support the work of WWALS by
becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/#join
Event: facebook, meetup Continue reading
Update 2021-06-04: Clean Rivers 2021-06-03.
No rain has produced a quite low but clean Withlacoochee River. It’s fortunate WWALS testers sampled Wednesday and Thursday, so it looks like the Withlacoochee River remains about as clean as we’ve ever seen it. Happy boating, fishing, and swimming!
![[Bridges, Withlacoochee River, Swim Guide]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-05-27--wq/many.jpg)
Bridges, Withlacoochee River, Swim Guide
The last results we have from Valdosta are for upstream on Wednesday. They got slightly higher results at US 41 than did WWALS tester Bobby McKenzie, yet lower at GA 133. Continue reading
This one went well. Next year we’ll call it something like the Mayor and Chairman’s paddle. Thanks to everyone who came for supporting WWALS outings and advocacy.
![[Troupville Boat Ramp, WWTP Outfall]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-03-27--vdt-mayors-paddle/many.jpg)
Troupville Boat Ramp, WWTP Outfall; Photos: John S. Quarterman
Down the River: Mayor’s Paddle back on track, Bryce Ethridge, Valdosta Daily Times, 29 March 2021,
VALDOSTA — Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson and 40-plus city and Lowndes County residents gathered Saturday for a three-hour trip down the Withlacoochee River.
The Mayor’s Paddle is a fundraiser and kayaking experience that started in 2020 via a partnership with WWALS Watershed Coalition. “Last year, we formed it just to have a conversation with the cities and municipalities to our south, and to anybody who loved the river here,” Matheson said. “It was our way of saying we’re fully and only committed to keeping this waterway clean and useful for everybody in the area.”
WWALS also partners with Banks Lake Outdoors for free boat rental for the Banks Lake Full Moon paddles.
We partner with Friends of Reed Bingham State Park (FORB) for the BIG Little River Paddle Race, coming up April 24, 2021, at Reed Bingham State Park, between Adel and Moultrie, Georgia, and FORB actually does about half the work on that one.
You could say we partner with the downstream Florida counties in advocating that they should be paid back by Valdosta for the expense they’ve gone to in well and river water quality testing since Valdosta’s December 2019 record sewage spill.
We didn’t have many participants from Florida or elsewhere this time. Maybe we’ll have to do another paddle downstream in Florida for that.
Meanwhile, thanks to The Langdale Company for access at Spook Bridge and at the lunch stop. Continue reading
A textbook case: “We present our three-minute, passionate oration about the risk to community health, but in the end, nothing we say must be taken into account by the state in issuing the permit.” Common Sense: Community Rights Organizing, by CELDF; thanks to Karma Norjin Lhamo for the reminder.
About 30 speakers gave impassioned orations for denial, after which the Suwannee River Water Management District Board unanimously approved the Nestlé permit as fast as the roll could be called.
![[SRWMD Board: Larry Thompson, Lower Suwannee Basin; Charles Keith, At Large; Virginia H. Johns, Chair, At Large; Virginia Sanchez, At Large; Charles Schwab, Coastal Rivers Basin; Harry Smith, At Large; Larry Sessions, Upper Suwannee Basin]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-02-23--srwmd-nestle-pictures/srwmd-board.jpg)
SRWMD Board: Larry Thompson, Lower Suwannee Basin; Charles Keith, At Large; Virginia H. Johns, Chair, At Large; Virginia Sanchez, At Large; Charles Schwab, Coastal Rivers Basin; Harry Smith, At Large; Larry Sessions, Upper Suwannee Basin.
Notice nobody on the SRWMD Board representing the Santa Fe River Basin.
Water taxation without representation.
As one prominent local activist said afterwards, “Two years out of my life I’ll never get back! I don’t know if I’ll ever come back here.”
Sure, voting in a governor who would appoint better WMD board members would help, and into the legislature, too. New legislators would help pass what is really needed: a Bill of Rights for Nature.
That is a way out of the Regulatory Fallacy Box. Continue reading
Update 2024-07-22: And again: Allen Ramp to SRSP, Withlacoochee River 2024-08-01.
Update 2022-11-25: We’re doing it again 2023-02-04
Two photographers, three cameras, one outing: Allen Ramp to Suwannee River State Park, past Double Window Spring, Morgan Spring Run, Powerline Spring, Corbett Spring, Withlacoochee River, Suwannee River, and Suwanacoochee Spring, plus that chair on the old road bridge buttress, and let’s not forget Battery Shoals, Wipe-Out Shoals, Deer Shoals, Deer Shoals, and Melvin Shoals, where 1/3 of our paddlers (starting with me) fell in. Thanks, Shirley Kokidko for leading us from Allen Ramp to Suwannee River State Park, June 1, 2019.
![[Left: Allen Ramp, Corbett Spring; Right: Melvin Shoals, Suwanacoochee Spring]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/gretchen/2019-06-01--wwals-withlacoochee/many.jpg)
Left: Allen Ramp, Corbett Spring; Right: Melvin Shoals, Suwanacoochee Spring
We started at Allen Ramp. All pictures are by Gretchen Quarterman, except where marked jsq, when I took them. Click on any small picture for a bigger one. All the pictures are also on the WWALS website. Continue reading
Update 2021-02-11: Advisory lifted, Withlacoochee River, but big rains Tuesday 2021-02-09.
The Withlacoochee River tested clean at sites forty miles from US 41 to the state line on Thursday, February 4, 2021, in WWALS tests. We have no new data downstream, but chances are it was clean there, too. Plus the Little River at Troupville Boat Ramp was clean. The rains predicted for yesterday and today have been underwhelming, so chances are the Withlacoochee was clean into Florida, too. So according to the data we have, the Withlacoochee River is good for boating, swimming, and fishing at least from US 41 in Valdosta, Georgia, to CR 15 in Florida. Which serves us right, after we rescheduled the big paddle for today until February 27. It’s cold out there, though, and rain is still predicted.
However, the bacterial advisory by Madison and Hamilton Health has not been lifted. We now have four clean test results at State Line: WWALS, Valdosta, Madison Health, and WWALS again. But they probably won’t lift the Florida advisory until they get two successive clean test results themselves. Since more rain is predicted most of the coming week, don’t be surprised if they either don’t lift it for more than another week, or lift it and then issue another a few days later.
Thanks to WWALS testers Michael and Jacob Bachrach, who got zero E. coli at Knights Ferry Boat Ramp, 33 at Nankin, and 133 at State Line Boat Ramp. Only that last one is above the 126 average test limit, and still well below the 410 one-time test limit. Continue reading
![[Tower of Trash]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-07-10--sugar-creek-cleanup/many.jpg)
![[Mermaid, Suwannee Riverkeeper, OSFR, Regulatory Fallacy, Charles Keith, Attorneys, Motion to Permit, unanimous SRWMD Board]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-02-23--srwmd-nestle-pictures/many.jpg)
![[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-02-04--wq/many.jpg)