Tag Archives: Suwannee River Basin

Lowndes County Bird Supper, Atlanta, GA 2025-02-05

Once a year I go to Atlanta to talk to Georgia state legislators about water issues. Also to catch local elected and appointed officials and representatives of various organizations from the most populous county and city in the Suwannee River Basin: Lowndes County and Valdosta, and nearby.

[Lowndes County Bird Supper, Atlanta, GA 2025-02-05, Georgia state legislature, Railroad Freight Depot]
Lowndes County Bird Supper, Atlanta, GA 2025-02-05, Georgia state legislature, Railroad Freight Depot

Lowndes County feeds the legislators quail and grits at the historic Railroad Freight Depot, and they flock to eat.

This year, the next day happened to be Okefenokee Day at the nearby Georgia State Capitol, so I did a two-day trip.

I’m still following up on contacts from both events.

Here’s what the Chairman and the Mayor had to say, Continue reading →

Time to sign the petition: Right to Clean Water in Florida 2025-01-20

The day after Christmas, the Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal rejected a titusville charter amendment approved by 83% of local voters for Right to Clean Water (RTCW).

We recognize the overwhelming support of this charter amendment by the residents of the City of Titusville and the admirable policies of the amendment. However, the Legislature in drafting section 403.412(9)(a) of the Environmental Protection Act has not authorized the types of rights provided for in the charter amendment. As such, an appellate court has no power to change or alter what the Legislature mandated.

A week before, the Montana Supreme Court upheld a youth climate case, based on Montana’s 1972 Environmental Rights Amendment. Florida needs to catch up to Montana and Pennsylvania.

“[Montana’s] constitution does not require that dead fish float on the surface of our state’s rivers and streams before its farsighted environmental protections can be invoked.” —Justice Trieweiler, Montana Supreme Court, MEIC v. Montana DEQ 1999

[Florida Right to Clean Water, Please sign the petition, Join Montana and Pennsylvania]
Florida Right to Clean Water, Please sign the petition, Join Montana and Pennsylvania

Florida needs a Right to Clean Water in the state constitution to reverse that legislative pre-emption and to go farther in protecting Florida’s waters, like Montana and Pennsylvania have already done.

Go here to have your copy of the petition mostly filled out for you: https://bit.ly/FRTCW-petition

[QR Code, Florida RTCW Petition]
QR Code, Florida RTCW Petition

Or do it yourself by getting a copy at
https://floridarighttocleanwater.org

WWALS and many other organizations hand out petitions at festivals and outings.

Montana has a state Environmental Rights Amendment (ERA). Pennsylvania also has an ERA, and its Supreme Court has upheld similar cases.

Amy Beth Hanson, Associated Press, December 18, 2024, Montana Supreme Court upholds state judge’s landmark ruling in youth climate case 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 →

Video: How Native Americans and Early Settlers used Waterways –Chris Adams, WWALS Webinar 2024-09-12

The wide-ranging discussion included crackers as whip-cracking cow-herding illegal immigrants, ferries, bridges, and Old Coffee Road, when well-known local historian and naturalist Chris Adams gave a WWALS Webinar about how people used waterways in the Suwannee River Basin, Native Americans and Early Settlers, by zoom, Thursday, September 12, 2024.

[Video: How Native Americans and, and Early Settlers used Waterways, Featuring Crackers and Old Coffee Road --Chris Adams, WWALS Webinar 2024-09-12]
Video: How Native Americans and, and Early Settlers used Waterways, Featuring Crackers and Old Coffee Road –Chris Adams, WWALS Webinar 2024-09-12

He runs the facebook pages Turtleman Chris Adams
https://www.facebook.com/1GATurtleman/
and Wiregrass Ecological and Cultural Project.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100079482833584

Here is the video:
https://youtu.be/db0H8D0tsmc Continue reading →

Map of Waterkeeper Florida Territories 2024-09-13

This map was compiled by Waterkeepers Florida, which is an umbrella organization consisting of the fourteen Waterkeepers of Florida: Apalachicola Waterkeeper, Calusa Waterkeeper, Collier County Waterkeeper, Emerald Coastkeeper, Kissimmee Waterkeeper, Lake Worth Waterkeeper, Matanzas Riverkeeper, Miami Waterkeeper, Peace Myakka Waterkeeper, St Johns Waterkeeper, St Marys Waterkeeper, Suncoast Waterkeeper, Suwannee Riverkeeper, and Tampa Bay Waterkeeper.

[Waterkeepers Florida Territories Map plus FDEP Territories and Disaster Map]
Waterkeepers Florida Territories Map plus FDEP Territories and Disaster Map

What’s the different between Waterkeeper, Riverkeeper, and Coastkeeper? Nothing, really: all work for fishable, swimmable, drinkable water in their territories. All are trademarks of Waterkeeper Alliance (WKA) and refer to an organization and to a specific individual who is the spokeperson for the waterbody.

WKA is trying to standardize on Waterkeeper for all new ones. We had to argue to get Suwannee Riverkeeper because all the ones surrounding us are Riverkeepers, and that’s the term people hereabouts know.

The WKFL Territories Map is actually a layer in a WKFL Disaster Map. Other layers include Districts of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). Continue reading →

How Native Americans and Early Settlers used Waterways –Chris Adams, WWALS Webinar 2024-09-12

Update 2024-10-10: Video: How Native Americans and Early Settlers used Waterways –Chris Adams, WWALS Webinar 2024-09-12 2024-09-12.

Well-known local historian and naturalist Chris Adams will give a WWALS Webinar about how people used waterways in the Suwannee River Basin, Native Americans and Early Settlers.

That will be by zoom, noon to 1 PM, Thursday, September 12, 2024.

[Now Native Americans and Settlers used Waterways, Chris Adams, WWALS Webinar 2024-09-12]
Now Native Americans and Settlers used Waterways, Chris Adams, WWALS Webinar 2024-09-12

Register in advance with zoom for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIudOGprToqHNPuxvmCdnt8v3o55Qc3NF_n

WWALS Board President Sara Jay Jones will give a brief introduction, Chris Adams will speak for about 45 minutes, and we will have questions and answers. Continue reading →

Georgia House Navigable Streams Study Committee 2024-08-15

Update 2024-09-25: Georgia House Navigable Streams Committee in Nahunta 2024-10-11.

Update 2024-08-15: The livestream is here:
https://www.legis.ga.gov/schedule/house/AQIARgAAAxpEc5CqZhHNm8gAqgAvxFoJAGeQLC1kSDdIixjC7EHFmfIAAAJaYAAAANZQGGA2fqFiaHBHrewZqJ2eET4ABFxyjiQAAAAuAAADGkRzkKpmEc2byACqACGGA2fEWgMAZ5AsLWRIN0iLGMLsQcWZ8gAAAlpgAAAA

A new Georgia House Study Committee was established March 28, 2024, on the fraught issue of navigability of waterways: HOUSE STUDY COMMITTEE ON NAVIGABLE STREAMS AND RELATED MATTERS.

Maybe you’d like to contact your statehouse member before the meeting, since there seems to be no opportunity for public input during the meeting.

[New Navigable Streams Georgia House Studay Committee 2024-08-15: Ownership, Property Rights, Recreation, Economy]
New Navigable Streams Georgia House Studay Committee 2024-08-15: Ownership, Property Rights, Recreation, Economy

About the House Study Committee on Navigable Streams and Related Matters

Continue reading →

Hurricane Debby State of Emergency in Florida and Georgia 2024-08-03

Hurricane Debby has made landfall near Steinhatchee, following the same path as Hurricane Idalia, right up the Suwannee River Basin. Fortunately, Debby is only a Category 1, but that’s plenty. Wind, rain, and flooding are happening.

In case you haven’t heard from your local emergency management agency, stay inside if you can, and I hope you already stocked up. The power is out where I am, and maybe where you are. Best to stay out of the way of the line crews.

[State of Emergency, Georgia & Florida 2024-08-03, Hurricane Debby, Wind, Rain, Flooding]
State of Emergency, Georgia & Florida 2024-08-03, Hurricane Debby, Wind, Rain, Flooding

On Thursday, Florida declared a state of emergency (SOE), when Debby didn’t have a name and was merely a “tropical wave”. That SOE includes all the Florida counties of the Suwannee River Basin. Many of the same counties have mandatory evacuation orders, and some have voluntary evacuation orders.

Yesterday, Georgia declared a SOE, for all 159 counties. Continue reading →

Help keep paddle access to Georgia rivers 2024-07-22

Update 2024-08-09: Georgia House Navigable Streams Study Committee 2024-08-15.

The Georgia legislature is trying to define which creeks and rivers are navigable. They are using an antique law to do so.

You can help keep Georgia rivers and creeks navigable by logging your river trips here:
https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/32bc9531a62e4c83971b162a58eb25f2

The goal of this mapping project is to document the upstream extent of recreational descents on as many Georgia rivers as possible. Paddlers documenting their descents through this survey could help protect access to streams for generations to come. We encourage paddlers to submit their earliest and farthest upstream descent on as many rivers as possible.

[Help keep paddle access to Georgia rivers, Contact your statehouse members, Record your paddle outings]
Help keep paddle access to Georgia rivers, Contact your statehouse members, Record your paddle outings

Maybe you’d also like to explain to the Georgia statehouse that the 1863 definition of navigable is outdated: “is capable of transporting boats loaded with freight in the regular course of trade either for the whole or a part of the year.”

Nowadays we fish, paddle, and motor in forms of recreational commerce that were not common in 1863.

Here is one way to contact your Georgia state legislators:
https://action.outdooralliance.org/a/protect-the-publics-right-to-paddle-in-georgia_7_24 Continue reading →

Downstream dozen Florida counties task force reactivated after raw sewage spills across Georgia state line –WUFT 2024-07-23

Update 2024-08-02: Three more Ashburn sewage spills reported more than a week late 2024-07-20.

Update 2024-07-26: Clean Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Santa Fe Rivers 2024-07-25.

Thanks to the reporter for doing this story, especially for including the material about the stigma of sewage spills, which affects even Suwannee Basin rivers that are not even downstream from Valdosta, and about the economic damage of such stigma.

Please note that while Valdosta is the biggest sewage spill problem, because it is the most populous city in the Suwannee River Basin, it is far from the only city that spills sewage, and not all E. coli contamination comes from sewage; see other sources.

As noted in the story, Valdosta is spending millions of dollars to fix its sewage problems. Nobody will be happier when there are no more sewage spills than Valdosta staff and elected officials, many of whom are new since most of the notorious sewage spills happened. But that day is still some time in the future.

[Downstream dozen Florida counties task force reactivated after raw sewage spills across Georgia state line --WUFT 2024-07-23]
Downstream dozen Florida counties task force reactivated after raw sewage spills across Georgia state line –WUFT 2024-07-23

I’ve noted a few errata below, plus I’ve added some links and some more images.

Rylan DiGiacomo-Rapp, WUFT, July 23, 2024, North Central Florida river task force reactivated following raw sewage spills across Georgia state lines, Continue reading →