Tag Archives: Politics

Okefenokee NWR Minor Acquisition Boundary Expansion approved by USFWS 2025-01-03

Now anyone who wants to sell property within the new boundary to the Refuge can do so.

That includes the coal miners from Alabama who want to strip mine within three miles of the Okefenokee Swamp. Sure, right now they say they don’t want to do that, but things could change.

See also the WWALS support letter for this Minor Expansion, which notes that this action protects not just Trail Ridge, but the entire circumference of the Swamp.
https://wwals.net/?p=66587

Leslie Hull-Ryde, USFWS PR, January 3, 2025, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Finalizes Plan for a Minor Expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge Boundary
Enables voluntary actions to protect hydrological integrity, conserve wetlands and key wildlife habitat, and create fuel reduction zone to help protect neighboring properties

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced its final decision to expand the acquisition boundary of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge by approximately 22,000 acres. The new acquisition boundary includes lands currently held by a variety of owners within a 1-mile fuel reduction zone adjacent to the refuge. Potential conservation actions on the lands within the boundary expansion could strengthen protection of the hydrological integrity of the swamp, provide habitat for the gopher tortoise, mitigate impacts of wildfires, and provide opportunities for longleaf pine restoration to benefit the red-cockaded woodpecker.

The expanded boundary allows the Service to potentially offer priority public uses such as hunting, fishing, wildlife watching, and education to the more than 400,000 annual visitors to the refuge, thereby driving a growing ecotourism economy within the community.

[Okefenokee NWR Minor Expansion of Acquisition Boundary approved 2025-01-05 by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service]
Okefenokee NWR Minor Expansion of Acquisition Boundary approved 2025-01-05 by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Today’s decision follows the Department’s recent announcement that Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge will be nominated to the UNESCO World Heritage List. If designated, the refuge would join the list recognizing 1,223 cultural and natural sites of universal importance, such as the Grand Canyon in Arizona, the Taj Mahal in India, the Great Wall in China, and the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador. Continue reading →

Final Report: Georgia House Study Committee on Navigable Streams 2024-12-01

They decided not to change the 1863 law, and did not chart any clear legislative course forward.

This is better than some courses they could have taken, the Georgia House Study Committee on Navigable Streams and Related Matters.

However, they seem to left the problem for everyone else to navigate in ad hoc partnerships, which could leave paddlers having to negotiate passage among many parties.

[Final Report for little change, maybe privatization of passage 2024-12-01, Georgia House Study Committee on Navigable Streams and Related Matters]
Final Report for little change, maybe privatization of passage 2024-12-01, Georgia House Study Committee on Navigable Streams and Related Matters

Here are the recommendations of the committee from their final report:

  1. Maintain the definition of navigability set forth in O.C.G.A. §44-8-5(a) and the right of passage for navigable streams as found in O.C.G.A. §52-1-31;
  2. Refrain from a statutory delineation of navigable and non-navigable streams;
  3. Incentivize and strengthen tools to foster collaboration and partnerships between landowners, nonprofits, and local/state government that increase opportunities for public access and conservation of Georgia’s waterways;
  4. Preserve the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program;
  5. Urge the Department of Natural Resources to further publicize and fund new technologies that assist in tracking and resolving disputes on waterways; and
  6. Protect Georgia’s fishing, hunting, trapping, and outdoor recreation traditions, as well as those reliant on waterways such as logging and farming, by carefully analyzing the impact of any potential legislation on these sectors.

They paid commendable attention to what the public had to say, including fishers, paddlers, riparian landowners, loggers, farmers, and trappers (who said current law does not permit them to trap on public waters).

Noting pulls in various directions, the committee continued to support the 1863 law that requires a navigable stream to be “capable of transporting boats loaded with freight in the regular course of trade either for the whole or a part of the year,” while the committee also depended on GA-DNR’s opinion: Continue reading →

WWALS comment on Okefenokee NWR Expansion 2024-12-13

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]
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 →

Pictures: Alapaha Station Celebration 2024-11-09

Back at the first festival WWALS ever attended, it was fun. Thanks Jo Ford, Rindy Kennedy, Heather Brasell, and Gretchen Quarterman for helping.

[Alapaha Station Celebration, Alapaha, GA 2024-11-09 Thanks, Rindy, Jo, Heather, and Gretchen]
Alapaha Station Celebration, Alapaha, GA 2024-11-09 Thanks, Rindy, Jo, Heather, and Gretchen

Rindy and Jo moved quite a few kayak raffle tickets, and one small boy insisted on getting one while Heather and I were packing up at the end of the day. That’s only $10 for one or $50 for six tickets. It’s a slightly used Skimmer 128 Hurricane kayak, which lists new for $1,399. The drawing is December 15, so get your tickets now. Continue reading →

Pictures: Suwannee River Basin BMAP meeting in Live Oak 2024-10-30

Update 2025-04-03: BMAP Webinars: Lower and Middle Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers, Silver and Rainbow Springs 2025-04-10.

I got to the Suwannee Basin BMAP meeting late, because I had been at SRWMD HQ talking about water trails. Still, this seemed sparsely attended.

[Suwannee River Basin BMAP meeting in Live Oak 2024-10-30 Much like Santa Fe BMAP and no closer to solutions]
Suwannee River Basin BMAP meeting in Live Oak 2024-10-30 Much like Santa Fe BMAP and no closer to solutions

Other than a few IFAS people, almost everybody there seemed to be the same usual suspects from the Santa Fe BMAP meeting two days before in Lake Butler. So that was an opportunity to talk to many of them without much interruption.

I promised them some comments, which I will send to Chandler B. Keenan <Chandler.B.Keenan@FloridaDEP.gov>

For example, asking why SRWMD made no mention of the Manatee Springs BMAP when issuing an ERP for a road in the area of the big PUD rezoning that Chiefland City Commission approved mostly in flood zones next to Long Pond, in the springshed of Manatee Springs. Continue reading →

Pictures: Santa Fe River BMAP meeting, Lake Butler, FL 2024-10-28

There was better communication than last time, but of course that was a low bar.

You can follow up after that meeting, and the next ones: here are some ideas.
https://wwals.net/?p=66108

The other two BMAP meetings are today (see below).

[Santa Fe River BMAP Meeting, Lake Butler, FL 2024-10-28 Better communication than last time]
Santa Fe River BMAP Meeting, Lake Butler, FL 2024-10-28 Better communication than last time

At the Santa Fe BMAP meeting in Lake Butler, none of the people from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) volunteered an answer to the most basic question: how has the situation improved since the BMAPs started?

Thanks to the graph Ryan Smart of the Florida Springs Council (FSC) brought, showing “Changes in pounds of nitrogen at spring vent”, several of them did agree that in fact the situation has gotten worse. Continue reading →

Help fix the broken BMAPs to clean up Florida waters 2024-10-30

Update 2024-11-05: Pictures: Suwannee River Basin BMAP meeting in Live Oak 2024-10-30.

Update 2024-10-30: Pictures: Santa Fe River BMAP meeting, Lake Butler, FL 2024-10-28.

FDEP has announced rescheduled dates for some BMAP meetings after the hurricanes.
https://floridadep.gov/dear/water-quality-restoration/content/bmap-public-meetings

Please go and say why you think the Basin Management Action Plans (BMAPs) are broken. But don’t stop there, or they will just mark down x number of people came, so public outreach was successful.

Here are more things you can do at the meeting and afterwards.

Wear blue, so we can all be seen together, as recommended by Sarah Younger of the Suwannee-St. Johns Group of Sierra Club Florida.

Ask for metrics for improvement since the BMAPs started, such as how much less nitrate leaching from irrigated fertilizer into springs and rivers.

Turn their poster session format into a grassroots town hall. Video your question and their answer. Post your video on social media with a hashtag: #BMAPSantaFe, #BMAPSuwannee, or #BMAPSilverRainbow (see below).

If they say go look at some obscure website, ask them to tell you the metrics now.

If the FDEP person refuses to answer, video that, and post it.

For the Suwannee BMAP, ask them why SRWMD did not mention the Manatee Springs BMAP when it issued an Environmental Resource Permit (ERP) for a road inside the 2,109-acre rezoning area for a development in floodplain.

For the Rainbow BMAP, ask them why SWFWMD did not mention the Rainbow Springs Springshed when it issued an ERP for the sand mine.

Ask them what the BMAPs are doing to get farmers to convert from Monsanto-seed Glysophate-spraying over-fertilized water-sucking over-irrigated agriculture to methods more friendly to Florida’s waters.

Be polite. The specific FDEP employees there are probably just trying to do their job. The problem comes from higher up. See below for what to do about that after the meeting.

[Help fix Florida BMAPs to fix Florida polluted waters 2024-10-28-30]
Help fix Florida BMAPs to fix Florida polluted waters 2024-10-28-30

Three meetings are of particular interest. Continue reading →

Audio: GA House Navigable Streams Committee postponed –Suwannee Riverkeeper on WKUB radio 2024-10-10

An old Civil War law in the way of paddling, motoring, fishing, and swimming, on WKUB radio from Blackshear, Pierce County, Georgia, starting at 1:10 in the audio:
https://wwals.net/pictures/2024-10-10–wkub-navigable/2000-thurs-am-news.mp3

A meeting of the Georgia House Navigable Streams Committee scheduled for Friday in Nahunta has been postponed due to the anticipated effects from Hurricane Milton.

It was set to take place at Strickland’s Lodge on the Satilla River in Nahunta.

[Georgia House Navigable Streams Committee Postponed 2024-10-10 -- Suwannee Riverkeeper on WKUB radio]
Georgia House Navigable Streams Committee Postponed 2024-10-10 — Suwannee Riverkeeper on WKUB radio

That committee is currently taking public comment on the legislative efforts to name sections of some of the state’s 64 streams and rivers as navigable and open to the public for boating, fishing, and hunting.

Right now an old Civil War law prohibits a lot of that from happening.

Suwannee Riverkeeper John Quarterman, who was eager to see changes in the present laws, says that postponing the meeting was the right thing to do.

jsq: …which is all sensible, I think. I had thought of asking them, could you, at least, delay this? Because I’ve been asking county commission members and city council members, and naturally they’ve been telling me they’re kind of busy with still doing cleanup, and so this is a good thing, I think.

Continue reading →

Plug pulled on parks plan: protect Florida Parks from golf courses and hotels 2024-08-29

First they postponed the meetings for the attempt to put golf courses or pickleball courts in state parks.

And day before yesterday the Florida governor said “back to the drawing board.”

[Plug Pulled on Park Plan, DeSantis claimed it leaked, Back to the drawing board, How about a bill to prevent it?]
Plug Pulled on Park Plan, DeSantis claimed it leaked, Back to the drawing board, How about a bill to prevent it?
Photo: DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD, Tampa Bay Times,
https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2024/08/28/florida-desantis-state-parks-golf-course-hotel-pickleball-plan/

But don’t trust them. The same or different developers behind this attempt will be back again.

Since state legislators of both parties were opposed to this bad idea, there is talk of a bill to stop this from happening again.

That’s good, and how about a constitutional amendment for Right to Clean Water?
https://www.floridarighttocleanwater.org

None of the nine parks proposed this time are in the Suwannee River Basin. But if they happened, how long before somebody wants to put a golf course or a lodge at Suwannee River State Park, or Manatee Springs, or Ichetucknee Springs?

Alex Harris and Ana Ceballos, Miami Herald, August 29, 2024, DeSantis pulls plug on controversial state parks plan after public, political backlash, Continue reading →

Postponed: golf courses and hotels at Florida State Parks 2024-08-23

Well, that didn’t take long! Today, Florida Parks postponed their proposal to commercialize state parks, “due to overwhelming interest.”

Keep showing them your interest in this bad plan not happening. Don’t wait for the meetings; go ahead and tell them.

Follow this link for a handy form by Waterkeepers Florida to tell your statehouse delegation you don’t want these developments on top of vulnerable habitat and next to our waterways:
https://waterkeepersflorida.good.do/protectourparks/Email_State_Officials/

None of the current proposals are for parks in the Suwannee River Basin. But if these get implemented, they won’t stop.

[Protect Florida Parks from Golf Courses, Hotels, apartments, Pickleball courts]
Protect Florida Parks from Golf Courses, Hotels, apartments, Pickleball courts

According to Rachel Tucker, wfla.com, today, Meetings over controversial Florida state park plans rescheduled due to demand, Continue reading →