About 35 paddlers saw bats as the sun set over Banks Lake.
![[Bobby McKenzie, WWALS Outings Committee Chair, this expedition leader]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-06-05--banks-lake-full-moon-pictures/20200605_194927.jpg)
Bobby McKenzie, WWALS Outings Committee Chair, this expedition leader
Thanks to WWALS Outings Committee Chair and Board Member Bobby McKenzie, for organizing and leading this outing.
The moon hid behind clouds, but some of us saw a little gator as we started out. I think Helen Crowley spotted it. Continue reading
First, remember the fifth Within These WWALS contest is still in progress,
and you have until midnight tonight, May 9, 2020, to answer, to win a set of WWALS picture notecards from that waterbody:
https://forms.gle/Nidt7HnxS91fCPWQ6
Jennifer Harris, of Parrott, Terrell County, Georgia.
She lives in the Flint River watershed, but she answered all the questions correctly before anybody else did.
She got a set of Withlacoochee and Little Rivers note cards, sent to her by WWALS charter board member emeritus Bret Wagenhorst. You can get your own from the WWALS online stor for $10.00.
Plant: Wild Azalea, Rhododendron canescens.
Blooms February to April, with a sweet jasmine scent. No, not honeysuckle: Continue reading
What Georgia streams are not impaired?
![[Georgia impaired waters, map]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-04-03--public-notice-ga-epd-waterbodies/ga-impaired.jpg)
Georgia impaired waters, map
Map: GECAP.
Very few, apparently.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) has drafted the “Georgia 2020 305(b)/303(d) draft list of waters was prepared in accordance with Sections 305(b) and 303(d) of the Federal Clean Water Act and guidance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”
There’s an online public meeting 1PM, Wednesday, May 20, 2020 for questions and comments.
Comments may also be emailed on or before 4:30 PM June 4, 2020, to Continue reading
Third quiz! Please answer by Saturday, through this google form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf7q9TdVJ0t4m8g4Pwh5XrIuan9ieYD92O_Rj-DW2Q9iP_UFw/viewform
![[Four images]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-04-21--quiz3/square.jpg)
Four images for the
third quiz.
Shelby Miller did facebook livestream from Banks Lake last night.
In this still, you can see Bobby McKenzie in the raffle kayak, Continue reading
Shelby Miller will go live on the facebook event at 7:15 PM tonight. She’ll be streaming for an hour through sunset at 7:51 PM. She will have to miss moonrise in order to be out well before the 9PM Lanier County curfew.
![[Sunset spire (MM)]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-02-09--banks-lake-full-moon/86266798_10217939016239312_2122588741947097088_o.jpg)
Photo: Monica McKenzie, Sunset spire (MM), Banks Lake, 2020-02-09.
Bobby McKenzie will be on Banks Lake with Shelby, paddling the raffle kayak, and also taking video for later publication. Continue reading
Update 2020-04-08: Shelby Miller will be livestreaming on the facebook event at 7:15 PM for an hour. Bobby McKenzie will be there in the raffle kayak. You can stay home and watch.
Due to the virus pandemic, WWALS is cancelling the next Full Moon Paddle at Banks Lake, formerly scheduled for sunset, Wednesday, April 8, 2020, with that lunar-monthly series to resume later.
But we have livestreams, videos, and online events, as well as outings and events planned for months from now, while WWALS advocacy continues. You can help.
Shelby Miller will livestream from Banks Lake at the originally-scheduled date and time for the Banks Lake Full Pink Moon Paddle, so you can see as if you were there.
![[Sunset behind paddlers]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-02-09--banks-lake-full-moon/83343222_3003771079635074_2187311012879794176_o.jpg)
Photo: Gretchen Quarterman, Sunset behind paddlers,
Banks Lake, 2020-02-09
It probably would be possible to hold this Full Moon Paddle, since there is no shuttle so no cramming into vehicles, people could put their boats in one by one, and on the lake everybody is far apart, but we’re not going to do that.
Lakeland and Lanier County have declared a 9PM curfew, as I believe have Nashville and Adel, Georgia, in Berrien and Cook Counties, and there is a case confirmed in Clinch County. Lowndes County and all its cities have issued a “voluntary” stay-home order prohibiting gatherings of 10 or more people, as has the state of Georgia. Madison County, Florida, similarly is trying for no groups of 10 or more. While some of these orders currently expire on April 6, don’t be surprised if they get extended.
WWALS does not want to provide any opportunity for anybody to violate any of those things.
So, please stay home and help stop the spread of the novel Coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease it causes.
We’re not postponing this outing: we’re cancelling. Whenever the curfews and the like are clear enough, we will resume our series of lunar-monthly WWALS Full Moon Paddles on Banks Lake.
While you’re home, please post your pictures and videos of your outings on lakes, rivers, creeks, swamps, springs, etc. Here are some from the Full Storm Moon Paddle on Banks Lake, February 9, 2020.
Feel free to get a ticket to the WWALS kayak raffle of an Emotion Stealth 11 Sit-On-Top Kayak with Carlisle Paddle.
You can attend some of our virtual events, such as Continue reading
Due to the pandemic of the novel Coronavirus, and to help prevent the spread of the virus-caused disease COVID-19, WWALS and FORB are postponing the Eighth Annual BIG Little River Paddle Race (BLRPR), until a date to be announced later.
Anyone who has bought a BLRPR ticket and wants a refund, let us know. Otherwise, all tickets will remain valid at the eventual rescheduled date and time.
If Georgia state parks are open at the originally scheduled date and race start time of 9:30 AM, Saturday, April 25, 2020, one or two WWALS members will livestream from the BLRPR site and race course; six feet apart, of course. Stay tuned for details.
For more Continue reading
Due to the many health considerations of our volunteers and their families, WWALS, exercising an abundance of caution, will not send the information booth to festivals for the rest of March 2020.
This means we are cancelling our appearances at:
While we are sorry to have to do that, the risk is beyond simple infection of our booth volunteers, which would be bad enough. The novel coronavirus is airborne, causes a disease that Continue reading
Sent to the media Wednesday (see also PDF):
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Gear Swap at Banks Lake: find a new boat, maybe try it out, or get rid of an old one
Lakeland, Georgia, February 26, 2020 — Here’s something new: a fun-filled day of promoting paddle activities and trying various boat designs, at Banks Lake on the first Saturday of March. This new event by WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) should help paddlers find a new boat or get rid of an old one. If the owner permits, you can try out a boat right there on Banks Lake. This should help get everyone ready to kick off a new paddling season in the great Suwannee River Basin.
![[Bret Miller, NWXpeditions, outfitting a paddler]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-02-09--banks-lake-full-moon/83720544_3003771582968357_4082578358599155712_o.jpg)
Photo: Gretchen Quarterman, of Bret Miller of NWXpeditions, 2020-02-09
WWALS Outings Chair Bobby McKenzie, who thought up this Gear Swap, says, “Many thanks to Continue reading
![[Bobby staying dry]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-04-09--banks-lake-full-moon-livestream/bobby-staying-dry.jpg)
![[Paddlers golden in sunset]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-02-09--banks-lake-full-moon/84086310_3003771112968404_2601747611455062016_o.jpg)
![[Closer]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/gretchen/2019-04-27--wwals-blrpr/42-closer-bib-13.jpg)
![[2020-02-26--gear-swap-pr-0001]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-03-07--gear-swap/2020-02-26--gear-swap-pr-0001.jpg)