Tag Archives: SRWT

Videos: Geography of Opportunity, by Vickie Everitte, a WWALS Webinar, 2025-12-11

History Instructor Vickie Everitte conducted a historical exploration of Georgia’s Wiregrass Region and the complex stories of survival, resistance, and adaptation that unfolded there after the 1814 Treaty of Fort Jackson.

WWALS Board Member Janet Martin gave a brief introduction to this WWALS Webinar. Questions and answers were at the end, including a distinguished guest.

[Geography of Opportunity, by Vickie Everitte, a WWALS Webinar, 2025-12-11]
Geography of Opportunity, by Vickie Everitte, a WWALS Webinar, 2025-12-11

Here is a zoom video of this WWALS Webinar:

https://youtu.be/ULUwKQEOh10

Her slides are on the WWALS website in PowerPoint and PDF. Images of each page are below.

Native American and Passageways to Freedom within the Wiregrass Region1

As settlers moved south of the Oconee River, drawn by the land’s economic promise, waves of migration and militia efforts reshaped the landscape—and the lives of the Native American families who called it home. Through rivers, streams, and the vast Okefenokee Swamp, Indigenous people found ways not only to endure but to carve out paths of freedom and self-determination amid the U.S. Indian Removal Policy of the 1830s.

Drawing from original correspondence between settlers, militia, and Georgia’s governors in Milledgeville, this presentation reveals how waterways became corridors of escape and survival. As Everitte reminds us, “Swamps are places on the margins — as much, they are places of transition, opportunity, and challenge.”2

About the Speaker

Continue reading →

Water First North Florida wetland locations: unknown –SRWMD 2025-12-17

Update 2026-01-08: SJRWMD hired a consultant to plan piping treated Jacksonville wastewater into the Suwannee River Basin (Water First North Florida) 2025-11-12.

Update 2026-01-03: Ask Florida statehouse and Water Districts to explain JAX treated wastewater into the Suwannee Basin or to stop it 2026-01-02.

Here’s a bit more about the Water First North Florida (WFNF) billion dollar project to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee River Basin.

The Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) seems to know surprisingly little about this joint project with the St Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD).

They don’t know where the water would go into wetlands to “clean” it up some more, and they don’t know where it would go to infiltrate into the Floridan Aquifer.

They don’t have a pilot study and they don’t have wetland site assessments.

Turns out there are a couple of reasons why SRWMD does not know or have those things. But I have found out a few things.

And I have leads to find out much more.

[Water First North Florida wetland locations: unknown, No Pilot Study or Wetland Assessments, But here is the RFQ --SRWMD]
Water First North Florida wetland locations: unknown, No Pilot Study or Wetland Assessments, But here is the RFQ –SRWMD

Back on July 8, 2025, SRWMD Deputy Executive Director of Water Resources Amy Brown gave her board a Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Project Update. It included a few slides on the WFNF, aka North Florida Regional Recharge Project. Continue reading →

Where does southwest Waycross drain? 2025-11-23

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Suwannee River Basin starts in Waycross, Georgia, around a line south down Gibbs Street, east on Walker Road, south on Gilmore Street, south down Swamp Road, then east along Washington Drive.

[Where does southwest Waycross drain? Through Lees Branch, into Middle Fork, Suwannee River]
Where does southwest Waycross drain? Through Lees Branch, into Middle Fork, Suwannee River

But what about the drainage canal you can see running southwest from Brunel Street across Gibbs Street?

Looks to me like that goes into the Suwannee River Basin.

People who live in Waycross, tell me if I got this right.

[Map: SW from Brunel Street --SRWT 2025-11-23]
Map: SW from Brunel Street on the WWALS map of the Suwannee River Water Trail (SRWT).

North across Washington Street, there is a network of ditches that drains into Caney Branch into the Satilla River. Continue reading →

Chiefland, FL, force main sewer spill 2025-11-12

Here’s a new one: Chiefland, Florida, had a sewage spill.

Somebody drilled into a 6-inch force main downtown. That’s nowhere near any waterway. The nearest is Long Pond, which indirectly ends up in Manatee Spring on the Suwannee River, but it is very unlikely any of this sewage got into any of those waterways.

[Chiefland, Florida, sewage spill 2025-11-12, Levy County, FL, force main break]
Chiefland, Florida, sewage spill 2025-11-12, Levy County, FL, force main break

This report is from the daily-updated Pollution Notice of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).

Incident Name: City of Chiefland Force Main Break

Incident Report: On 11/12/2025 at approx. 3:45pm, a fiber boring contractor drilled into our 6-inch force main causing a break. We immediately arrived on scene to assess the situation. We began shutting down lift stations through town as others gathered, pipe, tools, and equipment to repair the break. The wastewater department was assisted by our water department as well. Work began immediately to dig and repair the break. At approx. 5:50pm, a permanent repair was made and stations were being turned back on quickly as personnel watched the repair to ensure no leaks. Once we determined the repair was solid, we lime the hole and partially backfilled to help stabilize the force main through the night. The next morning, fresh fill dirt was hauled in to put the affected area back to normal.

Report Date/Time: 11/14/2025 04:09 PM

Facility Name: Near Huddle House

Continue reading →

Ichetucknee Polar Plunge and Paddle to see SPZ 2026-01-10

Update 2026-01-08: The Park has gotten much more strict about food. You can’t carry any, only one non-breakable water container. Unless you’re diabetic and you ask, then you get one snack. You can, however, take food and any other legal refreshments on the WWALS shuttle to TREPO Point Park and leave them there for after the paddle.

Don’t take the Park shuttle: come on the WWALS Point Park shuttle. Be at North Launch Ichetucknee Springs State Park by 10 AM to drop off your boats, then we take most of our vehicles to Point Park, leave them there, and drive back in as few vehicles as possible.

If you do not have a boat, you can rent one right there at the Launch.

Florida FWC decided against the SPZ on November 10, 2025. But there may be further proposals. Come see what we are all trying to conserve.

Plus this paddle is now free to everyone, due to a newly-discovered park rule.

Update 2025-11-19: Bad news from FWC about the Ichetucknee Springs Protection Zone 2025-11-10.

Come see what the Ichetucknee Springs Protection Zone (SPZ) is about. Swim in the itch head spring. Then join us for a leisurely paddle 4 miles downstream in crystal clear waters with the possibility of seeing manatee, several types of gar and bird species.

Thanks to Linda Dicker, who proposed the SPZ, for leading this expedition, and for arranging takeout at the private TREPO Point Park.

Thanks to WWALS water quality tester Christiaan Ard for assisting leading this outing.

The Ichetucknee River is great paddling in the park. From there down to the Santa Fe River, power boats abound, producing wakes, endangering humans and wildlife, and eroding shorelines. The SPZ would require a No Wake Zone and maybe ban personal watercraft.

You can write to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWC), using this handy form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYFArSQsstOauhRVYTCMoikXYIo0i_gDmkuDlbTC-7OSsgQQ/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=114012348461689332646

When: Gather 9 AM, shuttle 10 AM, launch 11 AM, end 4 PM, Saturday, January 10, 2026

Put In: Dip in Ichetucknee Headspring, then paddle starting at North Launch Ichetucknee Springs State Park, Ichetucknee S.P. North Entrance, 8294 SW Elim Church Rd, Fort White, FL 32038, in Columbia County.

GPS: 29.98292, -82.76053

[Ichetucknee Polar Plunge and River Paddle 2026-01-10, to see SPZ, Springs Protection Zone]
Ichetucknee Polar Plunge and River Paddle 2026-01-10, to see SPZ, Springs Protection Zone

Continue reading →

Pictures: Sugar Cane Festival, White Springs, FL 2025-11-08

It was fun in White Springs, Florida, at a festival of crafts, music, and dancing.

Thanks to Russ Tatum of Hamilton County for helping at the WWALS booth, where we talked to many people and moved some stickers, hats, and an aerial Suwannee River Basin poster.

Many children played the froggy toss and got candy for each beanbag they got in the lily pad hole.

[WWALS Booth at Sugar Cane Festival, White Springs, FL, 2025-11-08]
WWALS Booth at Sugar Cane Festival, White Springs, FL, 2025-11-08

Thanks to Suwannee Hardware & Feed for hosting this event, with demonstrations ranging from glass blowing to sugar cane grinding. Continue reading →

Videos: Okefenokee Swamp by Veronica Kelley-Summers, a WWALS Webinar by Zoom, 2025-09-11

Veronica Kelly-Summers, a dedicated Visitor Services Manager with Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, talked about the Okefenokee Swamp, its history, significance, places to go, things to do, and what’s next, in this largest and best-preserved freshwater wetland in the U.S.

The Swamp is the headwaters of two rivers: the St. Marys that forms the border between Georgia and Florida, and the Suwannee, which flows through Georgia and the Florida state song.

[Okefenokee Swamp by Veronica Kelley-Summers, a WWALS Webinar by Zoom, 2025-09-11]
Okefenokee Swamp by Veronica Kelley-Summers, a WWALS Webinar by Zoom, 2025-09-11

Here is the WWALS video of Veronica’s webinar, from noon-1 PM, Thursday, September 11, 2025:
https://youtu.be/pvLU8wPLsZc

The WWALS campout at Floyd’s Island in the middle of the Okefenokee Swamp has unfortunately been cancelled due to low water. So you can watch Veronica’s presentation instead.

WWALS Board Member Janet Martin gave a brief introduction. In questions and answers at the end, Veronica elaborated on what it means for the Okefenokee NWR to become a World Heritage Site: more visibility, more visitors, but no additional federal funding.

Veronica Kelly-Summers is a dedicated Visitor Services Manager with over 15 years of experience in protecting natural resources and connecting people with nature. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in forestry from Southern Illinois University with a focus on forest recreation and wildlife habitat management. Her career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has taken her to eight national wildlife refuges from the woods and swamps of southern Illinois to the Loess Bluffs of Iowa and Missouri, the Florida Everglades, and she’s now stationed at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia. She works closely with staff and partners to provide leadership and strategic direction for the Visitor Services program including managing visitor facilities and recreational opportunities for camping, boating, interpretation, environmental education, special events, outreach, hunting, fishing, managing volunteers, and much more. When not at work, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Jacob, and their pets, a yellow lab named Charlie and a spicy tuxedo cat named Tino.

Continue reading →

Geography of Opportunity, by Vickie Everitte, a WWALS Webinar, 2025-12-11

Update 2025-12-26: Video: Geography of Opportunity, by Vickie Everitte, a WWALS Webinar 2025-12-11.

Join us for a fascinating historical exploration of Georgia’s Wiregrass Region and the complex stories of survival, resistance, and adaptation that unfolded there after the 1814 Treaty of Fort Jackson.

When: 12-1 PM, Thursday, December 11, 2025

Register to join with Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/XHeXy9xUSCOKIPvYpMNtcQ
WWALS Board Member Janet Martin will give a brief introduction.
Questions and answers will be at the end.

[Geography of Opportunity in Georgia's Wiregrass Region, by History Instructor Vickie Everitte, a WWALS Webinar, Noon-1 PM by zoom, 2025-12-11]
Geography of Opportunity in Georgia’s Wiregrass Region, by History Instructor Vickie Everitte, a WWALS Webinar, Noon-1 PM by zoom, 2025-12-11

Native American and Passageways to Freedom within the Wiregrass Region1

As settlers moved south of the Oconee River, drawn by the land’s economic promise, waves of migration and militia efforts reshaped the landscape—and the lives of the Native American families who called it home. Through rivers, streams, and the vast Okefenokee Swamp, Indigenous people found ways not only to endure but to carve out paths of freedom and self-determination amid the U.S. Indian Removal Policy of the 1830s.

Drawing from original correspondence between settlers, militia, and Georgia’s governors in Milledgeville, this presentation reveals how waterways became corridors of escape and survival. As Everitte reminds us, “Swamps are places on the margins — as much, they are places of transition, opportunity, and challenge.”2

About the Speaker

Continue reading →

WWALS Day of Giving #GAGIVES 2025

This is a nonprofit fundraiser supporting WWALS Watershed Coalition Inc.

It’s for the whole month of November 2025.

You can donate here:
https://www.gagives.org/story/WWALS-GAGIVES-2025

[WWALS Day of Giving, #GAGIVES 2025, All Month, November 2025]

WWALS Mission

WWALS advocates for conservation and stewardship of the surface waters and groundwater of the Suwannee River Basin and Estuary, in south Georgia and north Florida, among them the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Little, Santa Fe, and Suwannee River watersheds, through education, awareness, environmental monitoring, and citizen activities.

Advocacy

Many other organizations already promote paddling, swimming, fishing, birding, and other water-related activities hereabouts, as does WWALS for fun and education. WWALS exists to assist positive changes and to resist invasive problems, using strategies such as environmental monitoring and tactics such as outings and events in that advocacy.

Conservation

Continue reading →

WWALS Booth at Sugar Cane Festival, White Springs, FL 2025-11-08

Come on down to White Springs, Florida, for a festival of crafts, music, and dancing.

Suwannee Hardware & Feed is hosting this event. WWALS will be there with the usual booth, with Russ Tatum of Hamilton County leading.

When: 9 AM-4 PM, Saturday, November 8, 2025

Put In: Suwannee Hardware & Feed, 10572 Bridge Street, White Springs, FL 32096

[WWALS Booth at Sugar Cane Festival, White Springs, FL, 2025-11-08]
WWALS Booth at Sugar Cane Festival, White Springs, FL, 2025-11-08

Continue reading →