Tag Archives: St Marys River

Okefenokee Bills, city and county resolutions, GA House Committee 2025-02-27

Update 2025-03-01: Georgia House Committee meeting on Okefenokee Bills Monday 1PM 2025-03-03.

Many local governments support Georgia legislation to prevent mining near the Okefenokee Swamp, and you can, too.

Please ask your Georgia Statehouse Representative to support the two bills now in the Georgia House.

More about those bills here:
https://wwals.net/?p=67055

Here are all the Georgia State Representatives whose districts include any part of the Suwannee River Basin:
https://wwals.net/about/elected-officials/georgia-house/

Find your legislator:
http://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/

[Okefenokee Bills, city & county resolutions, GA House Committee, Natural Resources & Environment]
Okefenokee Bills, city & county resolutions, GA House Committee, Natural Resources & Environment

Floridians, please ask your Georgia friends and relatives to do that. And you can contact those Representatives directly. Part of the Okefenokee Swamp is in Florida, and all of it is upstream from Florida, on the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers.

Soon these bills will be heard in the House Committee on Natural Resources and the Environment (HNRE). Not this afternoon, despite an earlier rumor. Maybe as early as Monday. Continue reading →

Two Georgia House bills introduced to protect the Okefenokee Swamp 2025-02-20

Update 2025-02-27: Okefenokee Bills, city and county resolutions, GA House Committee 2025-02-26.

Bipartisan sponsors have introduced two Georgia House bills to protect the Okefenokee Swamp:

These bills will not stop the current mining application before the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD). But they can stop further applications for expansion, which will make the current application much less valuable. And they can stop other mining applications, including by other companies using other mining methods.

The focus of these bills is Trail Ridge east of the Okefenokee Swamp, which is in the St. Marys River Basin. But there is no dam in the Swamp between that Basin and the watershed of the Suwannee River, which drains about 85% of the Swamp.

Please contact your Georgia House Representative and ask them to support these bills.
https://wwals.net/about/elected-officials/georgia-house/

Floridians, please urge your Georgia friends and family to do so. And you can call or write the Georgia State Representatives yourself. Remember: this is all upstream from Florida.

[Two Georgia House bills introduced to protect the Okefenokee Swamp, February 20, 2025]
Two Georgia House bills introduced to protect the Okefenokee Swamp, February 20, 2025

The experienced mining company Chemours spilled 230,000 gallons of process water into the Suwannee River Basin in Florida a week ago.

The company that proposes to strip mine too near the Okefenokee Swamp for titanium dioxide, which is primarily used for white paint, is still under a Florida Consent Order for violations it caused when it was processing tailings at one of Chemours’ Florida mines.

So please ask your Georgia State Representatives to support these bills, and other methods of preventing mining near the Okefenokee Swamp. Continue reading →

St. Juan River in Map of East and West Florida, 1763

Can you spot the Suwannee River on this old map?

At least The Great Swamp called Owaquaphenogaw is pretty obvious: the Okefenokee Swamp.

Since the only river that is shown running south from the swamp is the one under the E in East Florida, which goes by a town called S. Juan, that looks like a good bet. But maybe not.

[Where is the Suwannee River? Map of East and West Florida, An account ...natural history of Florida, by William Roberts, 1763]
Where is the Suwannee River? Map of East and West Florida, An account …natural history of Florida, by William Roberts, 1763

Back in 1920 somebody tried to make sense of this map, in The Old Spanish Trail, A Historical Sketch, by G. M. West, 1920, Panama City Publishing Co., Panama City, Fla., online by St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas. Continue reading →

Virtual public meeting about the minor proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge 2024-12-09

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_WkU0QlELZg

[Virtual public meeting, minor proposed expansion, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, 2024-12-09, 6-8 PM]
Virtual public meeting, minor proposed expansion, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, 2024-12-09, 6-8 PM

In 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 →

EPA EnviroAtlas, Suwannee River Basin 2024-11-29

Here are maps of the Suwannee River Basin in the EPA EnviroAtlas, with shadings and boundaries for Hydrologic Unit Codes (HUCs). HUC-8 (eight digits) is big river basins; in this case Little, Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Santa Fe, Upper Suwannee, and Lower Suwannee. HUC-12 is more local.

[HUC 8 and 12 150%]
HUC 8 and 12 150%

What are the odd HUC-12s that are not shaded in? At least some of them, such as around Lake Octahatchee are endorheic basins. Continue reading →

Why Okefenokee NWR expansion matters in Florida –Rose Schnabel, WUFT 2024-11-16

Update 2024-12-09: Virtual public meeting about the minor proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge 2024-12-09.

This is still my bottom line:

“If we’re not going to protect the Okefenokee,” said John S. Quarterman, Suwannee Riverkeeper, “what are we going to protect?”

Joe Hopkins knows how to turn a pithy quote, but people are working on economic development in the counties surrounding the Okefenokee Swamp; see below.

Rose Schnabel, WUFT, November 16, 2024, Georgia’s biggest wildlife refuge is poised for expansion. Here’s why it matters in Florida.

[What it means to Florida, Okefenokee NWR Expansion, Rose Schnabel, WUFT 2024-11-14]
What it means to Florida, Okefenokee NWR Expansion, Rose Schnabel, WUFT 2024-11-14
The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is the largest in Georgia. (Courtesy of Michael Lusk)

Florida’s water levels, rare plants and ancient fish are among the natural resources that could be protected by a proposed expansion to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

The refuge is within the Okefenokee Swamp: a blackwater bog almost half the size of Rhode Island that feeds the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed expansion, announced earlier this month, would extend the refuge’s borders by 22,000 acres. The deadline for public comment is Dec. 9.

Continue reading →

Pictures: Public Meeting about Okefenokee NWR expansion 2024-11-12

Update 2024-12-09: Virtual public meeting about the minor proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge 2024-12-09.

Update 2024-11-16: Why Okefenokee NWR expansion matters in Florida –Rose Schnabel, WUFT 2024-11-16.

Chip Campbell, formerly of Okefenokee Expeditions Adventures, summed it up so everyone could understand, the proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge: nobody has to sell land.

According to https://www.fws.gov/refuge/okefenokee, “The public has until November 18, 2024 to submit input via email to Okefenokee@fws.gov”

[Nobody has to sell land with Okefenokee NWR expansion, Public Meeting, Folkston, GA 2024-11-12]
Nobody has to sell land with Okefenokee NWR expansion, Public Meeting, Folkston, GA 2024-11-12

To paraphrase Chip’s paraphrase: the Refuge expansion is aspirational. With it, if someone wants to sell to the Refuge they can. Without it, they can’t.

The expansion does nothing to affect the strip mine application. The miners could choose to sell or donate the land before any permit. They could mine and later donate or sell the land. Or neither. But without the expansion, there is no mechanism for their land to join the Refuge.

Addressing the dozen or so people from Charlton and the other counties surrounding the Refuge, Chip said they could sell or take out a conservation easement, or not, if they are within the expansion boundary. Nobody is making them do anything. Continue reading →

Date change for Public Meeting about Okefenokee NWR expansion 2024-10-24

Update 2024-11-13: Pictures: Public Meeting about Okefenokee NWR expansion 2024-11-12.

The Public Meeting for the proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge has been changed to Tuesday, November 12, 2024, still from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Charlton County Annex Auditorium, 68 Kingsland Drive, Folkston, Georgia, according to https://www.fws.gov/refuge/okefenokee

Here’s a facebook event to remind you:
https://www.facebook.com/events/556272616789217/

This part is unchanged: “The public has until November 18, 2024 to submit input via email to Okefenokee@fws.gov”

[Okefenokee NWR Expansion Public Meeting 2024-11-12, Maybe including proposed TiO2 mine site]
Okefenokee NWR Expansion Public Meeting 2024-11-12, Maybe including proposed TiO2 mine site

Also, the same day the proposed expansion was announced, the miners said they had not been contacted.

Russ Bynum, AP, October 18, 2024, Proposed Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge expansion could lead to buyout of mining project, Continue reading →

Proposed Okefenokee NWR expansion to include TiO2 miners’ land and more 2024-10-18

Update 2024-10-24: The date of the public meeting is now Nov. 12, changed from the originally published date of Oct. 29.

Here’s a facebook event to remind you:
https://www.facebook.com/events/556272616789217/

Update 2024-10-18: Miner president says he was not contacted.

Here’s one answer to who can afford to buy the land from the miners: the U.S. federal government.

[Okefenokee NWR Expansion 2024-10-18 Including TiO2 Mine site]
Okefenokee NWR Expansion 2024-10-18 Including TiO2 Mine site

Leslie Hull-Ryde, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, October 18, 2024, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is Seeking Public Input on Proposal for Minor Expansion of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge Boundary: Proposal designed to enable voluntary actions to protect hydrological integrity, conserve wetlands and key wildlife habitat, and create fuel reduction zone to help protect neighboring properties.

The Southeast Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering a proposal that would expand the boundary of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, adding approximately 22,000 acres adjacent to the existing refuge. The Service is seeking public input on the proposal.

If adopted, the proposed minor boundary expansion would enable the Service to work with willing landowners to explore voluntary conservation actions, including potential acquisition, that would further protect the refuge’s globally significant freshwater wetland system and wildlife habitat.

The proposed expansion includes lands currently held by Twin Pines Minerals, LLC as well as a one-mile fuel reduction zone adjacent to the refuge. Continue reading →

If you can’t beat the mines, buy the land –Dwight Davis 2024-04-23

Update 2024-10-18: Proposed Okefenokee NWR expansion to include TiO2 miners’ land and more 2024-10-18.

There is one slight catch: buying the land will be very expensive. There is probably only one organization that can afford it.

Although the lawsuits likely to ensue as soon as the permits are issued may reduce the price.

Nonetheless, merely buying the land would encourage more mining permit applications. There needs to be legislation to prohibit such mines anywhere near the Okefenokee Swamp.

Also, I don’t know what questioning he is referring to.

Dwight Davis, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 23, 2024, If you can’t beat the mines, buy the land,

The mining permit for Trail Ridge near the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge has evolved into a contentious debate. Though initially a civil discourse on ecological preservation, recent opposition has taken a harsh tone, unfairly questioning the integrity of state officials involved in the decision-making process. Amid this, crucial facts have been overlooked.

[If you can't beat the mines, buy the land --Dwight Davis, Okefenokee Swamp, GA-EPD, GA-DNR]
If you can’t beat the mines, buy the land –Dwight Davis, Okefenokee Swamp, GA-EPD, GA-DNR

Having served on the board of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources for 14 years, including as its past chairman, I’ve engaged with various stakeholders, including environmental groups, local elected officials and the mining company, Twin Pines, that is seeking permits to mine for minerals near the treasured Okefenokee swamp. Despite the board having no direct influence over the permit decision, we closely monitored the process.

Opponents of mining proudly claim they want to save the Okefenokee, but so does the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, which is Continue reading →