Tag Archives: Suwannee River Water Trail

Pictures: Turner Bridge to Cone Bridge Paddle, Suwannee River, 2025-07-05

Shirley Kokidko sent these pictures of the 11.2-mile paddle on the upper Suwannee River from Turner Bridge to Cone Bridge. Thanks to her for leading. She remarked, “I didn’t take many pictures, just loved soaking up a beautiful day on the river with Joyce Ball and Steve Shaw.”

[Turner Bridge to Cone Bridge, Suwannee River 2025-07-05, Thanks to Shirley Kokidko]
Turner Bridge to Cone Bridge, Suwannee River 2025-07-05, Thanks to Shirley Kokidko

Also, “It was perfect weather, we bobbled around in our PFD’s in the river just to make sure they are still buoyant enough to keep us afloat, talked about self rescue, assisted rescue and other fun things. Two kayak campers passed us going upstream for a couple of nights. Otherwise we were the only ones out until we got to the ramp at Cone Bridge. Lots of big bass boats with BIG motors, in and out of the water, nobody was there to fish, just river fun. Maybe it was a club, everybody very friendly. I love this Turner to Cone section. Easy shuttle and beautiful paddle. We should do it again sometime.”

See also Continue reading →

Additional documents for Chemours permit application to mine SRWMD land 2025-06-16

Update 2025-08-31: SRWMD purchased Rayonier tract with mineral rights leased to Chemours for TiO2 mining –SRWMD to Carol Mosley 2025-07-11.

Update 2025-07-20: Nitrate monitoring and mining on SRWMD land –Suwannee Riverkeeper to SRWMD Board 2025-07-08.

Today, I got about 1.4 gigabytes of files in response to the FOIA I sent to the Army Corps on May 28. Unfortunately, this additional information arrived after the June 12 deadline for comments on the Chemours application to mine for titanium dioxide on SRWMD land. WWALS already sent a letter on that day.

If the Public Hearing happens that we and others called for, we can bring up any questions that come out of this additional information.

[Additional documents for Chemours permit application to mine SRWMD land. Obtained via FOIA]
Additional documents for Chemours permit application to mine SRWMD land. Obtained via FOIA

It’s all on the WWALS website.

You can pick up the 661 megabyte zip file.

Or you can look in the extracted subdirectories and files, starting with:

This is what I requested: Continue reading →

Questions and call for Public Hearing on Chemours permit application to mine SRWMD land –WWALS to USACE 2025-06-12

Update 2025-06-16: Additional documents for Chemours permit application to mine SRWMD land 2025-06-16.

This is what I filed by the Thursday deadline as public comments on the latest Chemours mining permit application. This one is to expand the Trail Ridge South Mine onto land owned by the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD). I continue to wonder why SRWMD bought this land, allegedly for conservation, if they were going to let Chemours mine on it?

Several other organizations also filed comments, some of them also calling for a Public Hearing.

[Questions and call for Public Hearing, Chemours application to mine SRWMD land, Santa Fe River Basin --WWALS to USACE 2025-06-12]
Questions and call for Public Hearing, Chemours application to mine SRWMD land, Santa Fe River Basin –WWALS to USACE 2025-06-12

Continue reading →

Bats of Georgia, Samuel Holst, GA-DNR, a WWALS Webinar 2025-08-21

Update 2025-10-14: Documents and Video: Bats of Georgia, Samuel Holst, GA-DNR, a WWALS Webinar 2025-08-21.

A Wildlife Biologist with GA-DNR, Samuel Holst, will talk about the bats of Georgia, including in Banks Lake and the Okefenokee Swamp. Plus some of our rare small mammals that are found around the Okefenokee.

When: 12 PM, Thursday, August 21, 2025

Put In: Register to join with Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/L4lMEWAMRyCE66LTG7CyQg
WWALS Board Member Janet Martin will give a brief introduction.
Questions and answers will be at the end.

[Bats of Georgia, Samuel Holst, GA-DNR, a WWALS Webinar, Thursday, August 21, 2025]
Bats of Georgia, Samuel Holst, GA-DNR, a WWALS Webinar, Thursday, August 21, 2025

Continue reading →

Ask Alachua City Commission to investigate resignations of planners 2025-06-10

If you care about the Floridan Aquifer, from which we all drink, or underground caves, or surface creeks, or the Santa Fe River, or government transparency, please go to the Alachua City Commission meeting tonight, 6 PM, Monday, June 9, 2025.

That’s at James A. Lewis City Commission Chambers, 15100 NW 142 Terrace, Alachua, FL 32615.

Or call or write them:
https://www.cityofalachua.com/government/city-commission/meet-the-commissioners

[Ask Alachua City Commission to investigate resignations 2025-06-09 of planners and City Manager, Tara Forest & Mill Creek Sink]
Ask Alachua City Commission to investigate resignations 2025-06-09 of planners and City Manager, Tara Forest & Mill Creek Sink

Thanks to Vickie Bashor for this cogent explanation:

3 planners with over 50 years experience at the City of Alachua resigned earlier this year within a 2-week period. One of the planners, Justin Tabor, sent an open letter to the Alachua City Commission alleging Continue reading →

Echols County Comprehensive Plan Transmittal Hearing 2025-06-03

The Alapaha River Water Trail (ARWT) is mentioned numerous times in the Echols County Comprehensive Plan 2025-2030, as is Suwannee Riverkeeper, including in the 5-Year Community Work Program Update for projects “Promote Suwannee River Boat Ramp” and “Work with private organizations to keep the river passable”.

[Echols County Comprehensive Plan, with water trails: Alapaha and Suwannee]
Echols County Comprehensive Plan, with water trails: Alapaha and Suwannee

Sitting up front at this Transmittal Public Hearing were County Manager Alan Levesque and Alexandra Arzayus, Planner II, Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC). Thanks to them for organizing the series of meetings that led up to this one. The Echols County Commission is expected to vote Thursday to transmit this plan to the state of Georgia. Continue reading →

Pictures: Big Shoals St Pk to Suwannee Wayside, Suwannee River 2025-05-31

The Suwannee River was deep enough that walking your boat in the side of the river required pulling it up along the bank half of the distance, so wasn’t much better than just portaging all the way.

Except for getting back down that rocky portage put-in.

[Big Shoals SP Launch to Suwannee Wayside, Suwannee River, May 31, 2025]
Big Shoals SP Launch to Suwannee Wayside, Suwannee River, May 31, 2025

Amy was already on the beach below Big Shoals, because she shot the shoals in her Cypress Dagger. So did Mike Hurley in his liquidlogic, designed for whitewater.

The other 15 paddlers portaged one way or another, which was the original plan.

We had lunch on the beach, while Dennis Price told us about the geology of the area. Thanks to Dennis for leading this paddle. Continue reading →

Additional Project Drawings for Chemours application to mine on SRWMD land –USACE 2025-01-02

I got these additional figures indicate that Chemours wants to mine right up to Double Run Creek, upstream from the Santa Fe River.

I got them by following up on the Chemours application to the Army Corps for a permit to mine TiO2 on SRWMD land,

[Additional Project Drawings, Chemours application to USACE to mine on SRWMD land --SWCA 2025-01-02]
Additional Project Drawings, Chemours application to USACE to mine on SRWMD land –SWCA 2025-01-02

Chemours can’t continue mining without this permit, which it must get from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), because of the successful lawsuit by Miami Waterkeeper, St. Johns Riverkeeper, et al., to revoke the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) takeover of federal Clean Water Act permit applications.

See the third page of the USACE application form:

This project was originally review[sic] and approved by the USACE in 2020 pending the issuance of the State Water Quality Certification. Prior to USACE receiving the State Water Quality Certification, the EPA approved Florida’s State 404 Program, which became effective on Dec. 22, 2020, and all USACE pending permits were transferred to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) for processing.

This project was subsequently reviewed, and Phase 1 was approved on June 6, 2022, under the FDEP State 404 Program, Permit no. ST404_137482-022. A portion of the Phase 1 approved impacts have been completed. The approval of Phase 2 is needed for Chemours to continue mining operations without any disruptions. Due to the FDEP being divested of its authority to issue State 404 Program permits on Feb 15, 2024, Chemours has requested the USACE review and approve the entire project for compliance consistency.

For that lawsuit, see Continue reading →

Campfire Cooking at Griffis Fish Camp and Suwannee River paddle 2025-12-05-07

Cast-iron camping cooking is fun. You can also use steel, aluminum, or whatever you like. You don’t even have to cook: there will be plenty for everybody.

Plus a paddle from Stephen C. Foster State Park down the Suwannee River, through the Sill, out of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, back to Griffis.

When: Set up camp 4 PM, Friday, December 5, 2025
Gather 8:30 AM, launch 9:30 AM, paddle from Stephen C. Foster SP back to Griffis, Saturday, December 6, 2025
Wake up and leave when ready, Sunday, December 7, 2025

Camp At: Griffis Fish Camp, 10333 Ga Highway 177 Fargo, Georgia 31631. From Fargo, travel south on US 441 to CR 177; turn left and travel 10 miles northeast; Griffis Fish Camp is on left, in Clinch County.
We’ll have a fire Friday and Saturday nights so please bring a bundle of firewood if you can. Especially important for the cooks that know how to campfire cook and need plenty of coals on Saturday. Firewood has gotten pricey so if everybody pitches in it works out great.
Bring your own plates/bowls/utensils/drinks to help reduce waste.

Put In: Stephen C. Foster State Park Boat Ramp, 17515 GA-177, Fargo, GA 31631. From Fargo, travel south on US 441 to CR 177; turn left and travel to Stephen C. Foster State Park, in Charlton County.
Paddlers usually put in down the access road from the ramp.

GPS: 30.78246, -82.443594

[Campfire Cooking at Griffis Fish Camp 2025-12-05, Suwannee River paddle, Stephen C. Foster SP 2025-12-06]
Campfire Cooking at Griffis Fish Camp 2025-12-05, Suwannee River paddle, Stephen C. Foster SP 2025-12-06

Continue reading →

The Okefenokee: Charles R. Pendleton on The Trembling Earth, The Times, Valdosta, Ga. 1890-02-08

It was harder to get to Floyd’s Island in the Okfonok back then: several weeks bushwhacking, climbing on water lily roots, through bamboo briars (palmettos) and mosquitoes, on trails made by bears and wildcats.

The author’s tree-cutting camping method would not be allowed in the swamp these days, and his attitude towards native Americans was a product of his times. So was his urge to drain and “root” the swamp to turn it to “valuable account.”

[The Okefenokee: C.R. Pendleton on The Trembling Earth, The Times, Valdosta, Ga. 1890-02-08]
The Okefenokee: C.R. Pendleton on The Trembling Earth, The Times, Valdosta, Ga. 1890-02-08

The Times., VALDOSTA GA., FEB. 8, 1890, THE OKEFENOKEE: CHARLES R. PENDLETON ON “THE TREMBLING EARTH.”

Explanation of the Unknown Land of Georgia—The Constitution’s Hunting Party—Incidents Connected With the Swamp.

From the Atlanta Constitution,

VALDOSTA GA., Feb, 1.—I have been watching with a great deal of interest the discussion in regard to the sale of the Okefenokee Swamp. I have followed, step by step, all the developments in the case. The mistaken opinions of so many people, especially in middle and north Georgia, about this swamp surprises me more than anything else. Those who have written and spoken most seem to know least about it.

EARLY DAYS IN THE SWAMP.

A half dozen years of my boyhood were spent within an hour’s ride of the swamp, and I have sat by the hour and listened to the tales Continue reading →