After the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Refuge staff and others did a lot of work, including much public input, the Interior Department has taken the next step towards getting the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list.
If approved by UNESCO, the Okefenokee will join its nearest neighbors, Everglades and Great Smokey Mountains National Parks in North Carolina and Florida, and Poverty Point Monumental Earthworks in Louisiana. Continue reading
Thanks to WWALS Board Member Janet Massengale for delivering the Skimmer 128 Hurricane kayak to raffle winner Belinda Edwards Herndon in Live Oak, Florida.
It’s slightly-used 12-foot 9-inch sit-on-top kayak with paddle, a Hurricane Skimmer 128. Continue reading
Update 2024-12-27: Sugar Creek still filthy, Alapaha River OK 2024-12-26.
With no rain since last week, Sugar Creek is better, but still has too much E. coli at the WaterGoat near the Withlacoochee River. River water dilutes it below there, and upstream also the Withlacoochee River is clean. The Little and Alapaha Rivers tested clean.
No new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida, but in Georgia, Ashburn had yet another small spill.
No flooding is shown on any river gauge in the Suwannee River Basin. The Santa Fe River at Fort White is actually too low to paddle.
So if you like cold, this weekend seems good to paddle, motor, swim, or fish, as long as you avoid the vicinity of Sugar Creek.
Ashburn reported quickly for once that it had a 2,000-gallon sewage spill into Hat Creek from the usual location of Rockhouse Road and Sylvia Drive. This time the cause was “Equipment failure.” Get a grip, Ashburn! Continue reading
Update 2024-12-22: Raffle Kayak Winner: Belinda Edwards Herndon 2024-12-19.
WWALS Board Member Kim Tanner, assisted by Board Member Janet Martin and other paddlers at Banks Lake, determined the winner of the raffle for the Skimmer 128 Hurricane kayak.
![[Video: Kayak raffle drawing for Skimmer 128 Hurricane kayak, at Banks Lake, by Kim and Ryan Tanner]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2014-12-15--kayak-raffle-drawing/many.jpg)
Video: Kayak raffle drawing for Skimmer 128 Hurricane kayak, at Banks Lake, by Kim and Ryan Tanner
People got their raffle tickets online, at various festivals and outings, at the WWALS River Revue, etc.
Kim shook them all up and Ryan drew the winner.
Here is video:
https://youtu.be/dWrCvjrX7yA
And the winner is… Continue reading
Update 2025-01-05: Okefenokee NWR Minor Acquisition Boundary Expansion approved by USFWS 2025-01-03.
Here is the letter I sent to USFWS yesterday. I have added some images and links for this web publication, plus a few extra paragraph breaks to fit the pictures. See also the PDF.
December 13, 2024
To: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Okefenokee@fws.gov
Re: WWALS comment on Okefenokee NWR Expansion
Dear Fish and Wildlife Service,
Suwannee Riverkeeper for WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS) files these comments in support of the proposed minor expansion of the acquisition boundary for the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR).
I further recommend that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or the Department of Interior, or Congress, provide sufficient funds to make competitive offers to buy land.
![[WWALS Comments 2024-12-13, Proposed Minor Expansion of the Okefenokee, National Wildlife Refuge]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-12-13--wwals-onwr-expansion/fbmany.jpg)
WWALS Comments 2024-12-13, Proposed Minor Expansion of the Okefenokee, National Wildlife Refuge
I sympathize with concerns I have heard expressed by people living near the ONWR, perhaps most basically Continue reading
Update 2024-12-21: Clean Alapaha River, OK Withlacoochee River, Filthy Sugar Creek 2024-12-19.
Update 2024-12-21: Malia Thomas of WTXL TV at closed Gornto Road bridge over Sugar Creek 2024-12-20.
Update 2024-12-18: Where are the sewage spill signs, Valdosta? 2024-12-17.
WWALS testing showed Sugar Creek got even more contaminated after the rains Wednesday. Valdosta Utilities testiong showed Hightower Creek and One Mile Branch were bad again, and the Withlacoochee River too high in E. coli at GA 133.
WWALS tests showed Franks Creek bad, upstream from the Little River.
WWALS water quality results downstream at Holly Point for Wednesday showed the Withlacoochee River clean there. But upstream contamination from the recent rain had not had time to get there.
No new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Florida or Georgia. But this E. coli contamination has to be coming from somewhere.
No flooding is shown on any river gauge in the Suwannee River Basin.
So if you like cold, this weekend seems good to paddle, motor, swim, or fish, as long as you avoid the vicinity of Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River near GA 133, and possibly the Little River downstream of Franks Creek.
Or join us Sunday evening for the Banks Lake Full Cold Moon Paddle, 2024-12-15 and, also at Banks Lake, raffle drawing for the Skimmer 128 Hurricane kayak.
Update 2024-12-16: Video: Kayak raffle drawing for Skimmer 128 Hurricane kayak at Banks Lake 2014-12-15.
Update 2024-12-13: The raffle drawing will still be on Sunday, December 15, 2024. However, it will be later in the day, at 4:45 PM, and at Banks Lake Boat Ramp, 307 Georgia 122, Lakeland, GA 31635, in Lanier County, on the Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT). You have until noon Sunday to get your tickets.
WWALS is raffling this slightly-used 12-foot 9-inch sit-on-top kayak with paddle, a Hurricane Skimmer 128.
New, it lists for $1,399.
The suggested donation is $10 for one ticket or $50 for six tickets.
Tickets are available online in person at WWALS events, or online with small fees.
A single ticket is $10 + $1 fee:
https://wwalswatershed.square.site/product/2024-kayak-raffle-hurricane-skimmer/49?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false
Six tickets online are $50 + $1.50 fee:
https://wwalswatershed.square.site/product/2024-kayak-raffle-bundle-hurricane-skimmer/51?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false
![[Raffle: Hurricane Skimmer 128 Sit-On-Top Kayak with Paddle]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-05-24--skimmer-128-hurricane-kayak/fbmany.jpg)
Raffle: Hurricane Skimmer 128 Sit-On-Top Kayak with Paddle
Proceeds go to support the advocacy and activities of WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc., and IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational charity.
https://wwals.net/donations/ Continue reading
Update 2024-12-13: Filthy Sugar Creek, dirty Franks Creek, bad upstream Withlacoochee River, clean downstream 2024-12-12.
I got part of what I asked for in an open records request to the City of Valdosta: “All sewage spill reports sent to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) on or after November 6, 2024, through December 2, 2024”. Those provide some extra detail, and some hints of fixes being planed for these problems.
![[Valdosta sewage spill reports to GA-EPD, from November 7 through December 3, 2024]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-12-03--vld-orr-sewage-spill-reports/many.jpg)
Valdosta sewage spill reports to GA-EPD, from November 7 through December 3, 2024
I did not get the rest of it: “together with all associated correspondence between the City of Valdosta, GA-EPD, and other parties including state agencies in Georgia and Florida and relevant landowners.”
Let’s look at the most recent spill in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report, and compare that to what Valdosta Utilities sent to GA-EPD. Continue reading
Ferris Robinson, The Lookout Mountain Mirror, December 2024, Pages 18-19, Thatcher Keeps the Music Coming,
Lookout Mountain native and longtime Signal Mountain resident Robert Thatcher has always loved writing, poetry in particular. Coming from a very musical family, he probably learned to play the guitar before he learned to ride a bike. Those were always two separate activities, and Robert wrote poem after poem in various notebooks and on scrap sheets of paper and whatever was handy when the words came to him. And he has played guitar for a lifetime, strumming other folks’ songs.
His uncle is the late legendary Fletcher Bright of The Dismembered Tennesseans fame, and his cousin is Frank Bright, a great musician and songwriter. Both encouraged Robert’s music, but Frank planted the seed that Robert might want to try writing some tunes on his own, something that simmered for a while on the back burner.
But then things changed when he went to college. Continue reading
Update 2024-12-14: WWALS comment on Okefenokee NWR Expansion 2024-12-13.
According to a press release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS):
A virtual meeting has been scheduled for Dec. 9, from 6-8 p.m., for the public to learn more about the minor proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Registration for the virtual meeting is required.
https://empsi.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sJwkU7wZRKW_WkU0QlELZgIn addition, the public comment period has been extended to Dec. 13. Input may now be submitted until Dec. 13, 2024 via email to Okefenokee@fws.gov.
Additionally, a public meeting was held Nov. 12, 2024, from 6:30 – 8 p.m. at the Charlton County Annex Auditorium, 68 Kingsland Drive, Folkston, Georgia.
Here are some
pictures from that November 12 meeting.
https://wwals.net/2024/11/13/pictures-public-meeting-about-okefenokee-nwr-expansion-2024-11-12/
Remember, nobody has to sell their land or get a conservation easement. Expansion of the acquisition boundary merely makes it easier for USFWS to acquire such land if somebody wants to sell. Continue reading
![[Okefenokee NWR Nominated as UNESCO World Heritage Site, U.S. Department of the Interior, December 20, 2024]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-12-20--onwr-unesco-us-interior/fbmany.jpg)
![[Winner Belinda Edwards Herndon with WWALS raffle kayak 2024-12-19, Delivered to Live Oak, FL by Board Member Janet Massengale]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-12-19--raffle-kayak-winner/fbmany.jpg)
![[Clean Alapaha, Little Rivers, OK Withlacoochee River 2024-12-19 Avoid Filthy Sugar Creek; Good paddling this weekend]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-12-19--wq/many.jpg)
![[Filthy Sugar Creek 2024-12-12, dirty Franks Creek 2024-12-11, bad upstream Withlacoochee River, clean downstream 2024-12-11]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-12-12--wq/many.jpg)
![[Robert Thatcher and Tom Brown profiled in hometown paper, After winning prize in Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-09-07--songwriting-awards/fbmany.jpg)
![[Virtual public meeting, minor proposed expansion, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, 2024-12-09, 6-8 PM]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-12-09--public-meeting-onwr-expansion/fbmany.jpg)