After the
week of sewage spills after the recent rains,
WWALS found Sugar Creek dirty and Spring Branch filthy, but four rivers clean: Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Ichetucknee, and Santa Fe.
That’s right, while Spring Branch was filthy (7 times the alert limit for E. coli) right next to Valdosta’s Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) that spilled 6.7 million gallons Friday through Sunday,
the Withlacoochee River tested clean at five locations.
We can only guess that the massive flow of the river from the rains
diluted or washed the contamination downstream.
You still might want to think twice before boating, fishing, or swimming
in the rivers, since they are all
in flood or at least Action Stage.
We have no new Valdosta results since last week,
because Valdosta only tests once a week on Wednesday,
and while they probably did sample yesterday, they have not posted their results.
Shawn O’Connor and I tried out the 25hp Mercury outboard motor,
paid for by a generous grant by Wild Green Future (WGF).
Works great! Electric start: push the button and it starts.
Doesn’t even have a manual choke.
Electric trim, i.e., tilt.
Very useful for adjusting trim for going fast,
as well as raising up in low water.
We also chainsawed some limbs that were obstructing passage downstream
on the Withlacoochee River and upstream on the Little River.
Shawn used my EGO 16″ electric chainsaw, but in case of larger limbs
we had with us the 24″ Husqvarna chainsaw paid for by WGF.
Also just in case, the 86lb thrust trolling motor and lithium batteries paid for by WGF.
Thanks, WGF!
Fast: Shawn’s GPS speedometer clocked it at 23 mph going upriver,
against a 3-5 mph current.
Not clear when we need to go that fast, but we can if we have to. Continue reading →
Hahira, Georgia, March 29, 2024 —
On April First, really, no fooling, submissions are open for
the 2024 Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest.
WWALS President Sara Jay Jones said, “Musicians, don’t wait
until the deadline to send in your song. Also, we could use more
volunteers to help at the show and committee members to help plan
it.”
The Seventh Annual Finals will be held at the WWALS River Revue, an
indoor fundraising dinner to benefit WWALS Watershed Coalition, with
an evening of food, drink, and entertainment. That’s 5-8 PM,
Saturday, September 7, 2024, at the Turner Center for the Arts in
Valdosta, Georgia.
Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman said, “Your ticket or
sponsorship helps support everything WWALS does, from water quality
tests, paddle outings and swimming & boating lessons, to
chainsaw cleanups, and beyond to advocacy to stop trash at its
sources, strip mines, and pipelines. We work for water trails, solar
power, and Right to Clean Water, with growing engagement for youth
and marginalized communities.”
Bobby McKenzie was right to be worried about the Crowe Deadfall,
a big oak seen for years across the Withlacoochee River between I-75 and GA 133.
Yesterday evening we cleared that and two other deadfalls.
By cleared, I mean at the Crowe Deadfall stay way left:
there’s a narrow passage for the
Fifth Annual Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle.
See you at Langdale Park Boat Ramp this morning.
Thanks to Georgia Power for the grant that makes tickets to this paddle free.
Thanks to Flint Riverkeeper Gordon Rogers for the jon boat.
Thanks to Wild Green Future (WGF) for the grant that bought the 9.9hp outboard,
the 86lb-thrust trolling motor, the batteries, and some other gear.
Hahira, GA, June 7, 2024 — “WWALS will provide stunt adults to paddle with children whose parents don’t want to get in a boat,” said Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman.
WWALS will also provide boats for new paddlers at this gathering of people from Brooks, Cook, and Tift Counties, Georgia, and beyond in celebration of Juneteenth.
Food and activities for children will be provided by Fannie Gibbs and Macedonia Community Foundation.
When: 11 AM – 3 PM, Saturday, June 22, 2024
Put In:Reed Bingham State Park Beach,
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 through the gate and across the dam, and the beach is on your right, in Colquitt County.
We think even Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson can paddle up Sugar Creek now.
Phil made the last cut using the Husqvarna 460 Rancher 24-inch chainsaw paid for by Wild Green Future (WGF).
The same WGF grant paid for the trolling motor and batteries we used with the WWALS Bass Fisher boat.
It’s a good thing we sent to see:
yesterday we found a huge new deadfall completely across the Withlacoochee River,
on the route of the
Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle,
coming up Saturday, March 2, 2024.
Successful boat trials at Action Stage on the Little River!
Videos by John S. Quarterman and Russell Allen McBride for WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS).
Thanks to Laura D’Alisera for transfering the new WWALS 9.9hp Mercury fourstroke 20-inch shaft electric start outboard motor ten miles from West Marine in Jacksonville Beach to a shipping location, where Phil Hubbard received it Saturday.
Thanks to Wild Green Future (WGF) for the generous grant that bought it.
Sunday evening, Russell Allen McBride, Shawn O’Connor, Bobby McKenzie, and I
unboxed it, connected it to its fuel supply, and tried it out.
Thanks to Flint Riverkeeper for the jon boat.
With that outboard, the jon boat will indeed go upriver easily under these conditions.
It took only ten minutes to haul Russell in his kayak up the third of a mile from the Little River Confluence to Troupville Boat Ramp.
Also due to WGF, we received an 85lb-thrust Goplus 8 Speed, 36 inch shaft, trolling motor, two
Power Queen LiFePO4 12.8V 100Ah, lithium-iron-phosphate batteries,
and a Power Queen 14.6V 10A LiFePO4 Battery Charger.
Those we put on the WWALS bass fisher chainsawing boat,
plus the old WWALS 40lb-thrust mounted on the front.
Shawn and I demonstrated that the new motor alone will push that boat upstream
in these conditions, and both motors will troll it upstream at a walking pace.
Which is all we need to get back to the ramp from the Confluence during chainsaw cleanups.
We are awaiting a couple more items via the WGF grant. Stay tuned.
This is more preparation for the
Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, Saturday, March 2, 2024,
starting at Langdale Park.
One hopes that the water level will be well below Sunday’s 148′ NAVD 1988 level, or we may have to reschedule for later.
And also preparation for more chainsaw cleanups on other stretches of this and other rivers.
Next: 9AM Sunday, February 25, 2024, we will take the jon boat from Troupville Boat Ramp
down around the Confluence and up the Withlacoochee River to Langdale Park,
chainsawing any remaining paddle obstacles along the way.
That one will be a bit hard to participate in by paddling.
Three of us cleared boating passage between the Sugar Creek WaterGoat
on the Withlacoochee River
behind the Valdosta YMCA and Wood Valley,
around the future Troupville Nature Park and River Camp,
past the Little River Confluence, then upstream on the Little River to Troupville Boat Ramp.
Thanks to Phil Hubbard for leading, and his Stihl chainsaw and electric chainsaw,
to Shawn O’Connor for using his polesaw.
I brought the new Husqvarna 460 Rancher 24-inch chainsaw,
paid for through a generous grant by Wild Green Future.
That grant also paid for some other things you will see in the near future.
Today at Troupville Boat Ramp, at 4:30 PM, we will be trying out some of those things.
The big deadfall between GA 133 and I-75 was underwater,
but there were plenty more to work on.
“However, if you want to support the advocacy and activities of WWALS,
there is also a paid ticket through eventbrite. Or become a member or sponsor. Anyway, come down and paddle, see the sights, and have fun!”
![[After heavy thunderstorms and sewage spill week, dirty creeks, but clean rivers 2024-04-17]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-04-17--wq/many.jpg)
![[Trying 25hp outboard, Troupville Boat Ramp, Little and Withlacoochee Rivers, Chainsaw Outing 2024-04-07]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-04-07--troupville-boat-ramp-jon-boat-25hp-outboard/fbmany.jpg)
![[Song Submissions Open, No Fooling, April 1, 2024, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, Finals: Turner Arts Center, Valdosta, GA]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-03-29--song-submissions-pr/fbmany.jpg)
![[Three deadfalls cleared between Troupville and I-75 2024-03-01]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-03-01--crowe-deadfall-chainsaw-cleanup/igmany.jpg)
![[Boating and family fun at Juneteenth 2021]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-06-22--juneteenth/fbmany.jpg)
![[Sunset chainsaw, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River 2024-02-28]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-28--sugar-creek-chainsaw-cleanup-pictures/many.jpg)
![[Big new deadfall, chainsaw, trolling motor, outboard 2024-02-25]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-25--pictures-chainsaw-cleanup-troupville-up-to-sugar-creek-and-back/igmany.jpg)
![[9.9hp outboard and 86lb thrust trolling motor (thanks, Wild Green Future) and jon boat (thanks, Flint Riverkeeper) and Bass Fisher (WWALS)]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-18--boat-motor-tryouts/igmany.jpg)
![[Sawing Hurricane and other deadfalls, Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River, Troupville Boat Ramp 2024-02-11]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-02-11--sugar-creek-troupville-chainsaw-cleanup-pictures/igmany.jpg)
![[Paddlers, Mayor, Chairman 2023-03-04]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-03-02--mayor-paddle-pr-sponsored/igfree.jpg)