Tag Archives: Suwannee River

WWALS Day of Giving 2023 #GAGIVES

Update 2923-11-10: Eddyline kayak raffle tickets for each $100 in WWALS Day of Giving this month 2023-11-10.

You can donate anytime this month to help support the mission of WWALS in this #GAGives day of giving fundraiser:
https://www.gagives.org/story/Wwals-Gagives2023

FB: WWALS #GAGives 2023

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.

WWALS Vision: A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.

Your donation will help WWALS encourage citizens to become more active in watershed conservation, benefiting our local economy, ecology, and community, including boating, fishing, and hunting. If you like, you can also donate more in time to help us all with boatable, fishable, swimmable rivers and clean drinking water.

-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

Okefenokee Swamp, one of the world’s most beautiful places –National Geographic 2013-06-01

National Geographic lists the Okefenokee Swamp among “The World’s most beautiful places, 100 Unforgettable Destinations,” along with the Everglades, the Amazon River, Yosemite and Grand Canyon National Parks, the Pyramids, and the Great Wall of China.

Okefenokee Swamp among the 100 Most Beautiful Places, National Geographic 2013-06

Seems like that should help the UNESCO World Heritage Site bid for the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR). Many of those 100 places are already UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

ONWR Manager Michael Lusk explained the Refuge, and then held up that copy of National Geographic. Continue reading →

Hike Camp Branch to Suwannee Springs 2024-02-03

Update 2024-01-29: Cancelled: Hike Camp Branch to Suwannee Springs 2024-02-03.

Join veteran Florida Trail hiker Randy Madison for a winter hike along creeks and over a historic bridge to Suwannee Springs on the Suwannee River near Live Oak, Florida.

Update 2023-10-30: Meet and park at Suwannee Springs and Randy will lead a small caravan to the trailhead.

This hike will take us down beautiful Camp Branch, also know as Disappearing Creek. Disappearing Creek tumbles down a narrow canyon and disappears into a 15 foot high limestone rock wall before resurfacing and then going under ground again to resurface finally just before emptying into the Suwannee River.

After the descent of Camp Branch and a break at Disappearing Creek, we’ll head down the Suwannee on the Florida Trail to cross Crooked Branch, accend the Greasy Gully to summit Devils Mt, elevation 137ft, then follow the River passing through a scenic area with the hike ambling along the edge of some open cliffs, then a couple nice sandbars before coming in to the Graffiti Bridge, old 129.

We’ll take the blue trail from the Graffiti Bridge back to the Suwannee Springs ruins and our cars. Bring lunch, plenty of water, bug spray and appropriate clothing for the outing.

The hike down Camp Branch is through open forest and can be strenuous, so if you’re not up to uneven terrain and a little bush whacking this may not be a hike for you.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:15 AM, end 4 PM, Saturday, February 3, 2024

Meet and Take Out Here: Suwannee Springs, 3243 91st Dr., Live Oak, FL 32060

GPS: 30.394478, -82.934538

Camp Branch and Suwannee Springs in the WWALS map of the Suwannee River Water Trail.

Continue reading →

Clean Rivers and some dirty creeks 2023-10-26

Update 2023-11-03: Clean rivers, dirty Sugar Creek 2023-11-02.

This was another week with no rain, and the rivers were mostly clean: the Withlacoochee, Santa Fe, and Suwannee Rivers. Not clean were Franks Creek that runs into the Little River and Sugar Creek that runs into the Withlacoochee River. Crawford Creek of the Withlacoochee was just below the E. coli one-time test limit. That’s 11 WWALS test sites on three rivers and three creeks in two states.

No rain is predicted for this weekend.

In the last week, no new sewage spills were reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

So happy swimming, boating, and fishing this weekend!

Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-10-26

Joanne Tremblay got clean results at High Springs Ramp @ US 41 and at US 27, both on the Santa Fe River.

Reina Lingle got very clean results at Ivey Metropolitan Park in Branford and at Royal Springs, both on the Suwannee River.

New WWALS tester Debbie Smith got too-high results for Franks Creek at GA 122 just west of Hahira. Which is interesting, because that is upstream of Hahira’s Land Application Site.

Cindy Vedas got good results at Franklinville, Crawford Branch (well, OK results there), Staten Road, and Langdale Park, on the Withlacoochee River. She photographed the trash still at Langdale Park Boat Ramp from at the WWALS Langdale Park Withlacoochee River Cleanup of last Saturday. I will nudge Lowndes County Public Works to pick it up.

WWALS Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall tested Sugar Creek, and got too-high results. She also double-checked everybody else’s results. And the other testers cross-checked each others’ results.

If you want to get trained to be a WWALS water quality tester, please fill out the form:
https://wwals.net/?p=47084

The most recent Valdosta results we have are for Monday upstream, which were good. As usual, Valdosta’s last week upstream results corroborated what WWALS saw Thursday last week.

And, as previosly noted, Valdosta’s last downstream tests were September 1, 2023. Continue reading →

Mostly Clean Rivers 2023-10-19

Update 2023-10-27: Clean Rivers and some dirty creeks 2023-10-26.

With no rain this week, the rivers were mostly clean: the Little, Withlacoochee, Alapaha, Santa Fe, and Suwannee Rivers, plus Sugar Creek in Valdosta and Alligator Lake in Lake City. Except not clean were Langdale Park Boat Ramp on the Withlacoochee River, and Crawford Creek upstream.

No rain is predicted for this weekend.

In the last week, no new sewage spills were reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

So happy swimming, boating, and fishing this weekend!

Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-10-19

Please welcome new WWALS testers Joanne Tremblay and Reina Lingle.

Joanne got very clean results at High Springs Ramp @ US 41 on the Santa Fe River.

Reina got very clean results at Ivey Metropolitan Park in Branford on the Suwannee River.

Kimberly Tanner got very clean results at Lakeland Boat Ramp and Naylor Park Beach on the Alapaha River.

WWALS Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall tested Sugar Creek, just upstream from the Withlacoochee River, and got suprisingly clean results.

Cindy Vedas was out sick, but she reviewed most everybody else’s results. I tested her sites at Franklinville, Crawford Branch (bad), and Langdale Park (worse), plus Hagan Bridge and GA 133, all on the Withlacoochee River, and Troupville Boat Ramp on the Little River.

WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman tested at Clyattville-Nankin and State Line Boat Ramps, plus Sullivan Launch, all on the Withlacoochee River, and at Alligator Lake Boat Ramp in Lake City, where she taught some students and delivered a test kit to Joanne.

About Nankin, she notes, “The pile of trash just off to the side of the turn around drive is still there.” Continue reading →

Fishing, boating passage, and navigability in Georgia waters 2023-10-12

Update 2023-12-31: Fishing Access in Georgia: House Committee Report 2023-12-01.

What waterways are navigable? How does navigability apply to fishing rights and private ownership of waterways? What about right of passage? How does the Georgia state constitutional Right to Hunt and Fish apply? And what about GA-DNR boat ramps?

Access, Navigable, Boat Ramps

This controversy started with a lawsuit about the Flint River, but it has already spread to other rivers and creeks, and sooner or later will affect the Suwannee River Basin.

The Chair of the Georgia House Study Committee on the subject is Rep. James Burchett, District 176, which includes southwest Coffee, Atkinson, Lanier, and northeast Lowndes Counties, all in the Suwannee River Basin. Plus he is the County Attorney for Brooks County.

If you know him, maybe you’d like to talk to him about the importance of river passage and public fishing rights. As he is reported to have said, “The intention is to find clarity. The property owners and fishermen all want to know, where can we fish and where can we not?”

Continue reading →

North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan in SRWMD presentation to NCFRPC –Columbia County Observer 2023-10-09

Thanks to Stew Lilker for recording and analysis of a presentation about water planning in the Suwannee and St. Johns River Basins.

To answer his question: No, there won’t be enough water, unless water withdrawals are limited, which neither of the Suwannee nor St. Johns River Water Management Districts seem inclined to do.

Please sign the petition to get Right to Clean and Healthy Waters on the ballot:
https://www.floridarighttocleanwater.org

SRWMD, NFRWSP

Stew Lilker, Columbia County Observer, October 9, 2023, North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan: Just a Suggestion – Will There Be Enough Water in the Future?

Updated – October 11, 2023 2:55 am – mixed SRWMD slide deck with Observer audio for a clean presentation by Amy Brown, Ph.D. Downloading the slide deck (pdf) keeps all links at the end of the presentation live.

COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan (the east side of the Suwannee River Water Management District and the top half of the St. Johns River Water Management District) is being updated. The Plan focuses on the sustainability of resources. It is just a plan, and water users “are not required to implement” any options identified in the Plan.

Well, slide 24 seems to indicate some requirements. Maybe local governments don’t have to implement exactly what NFRWSP says, but I’d bet they will be strongly recommended to do so. Continue reading →

Videos: Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council in Valdosta 2023-09-27

Yesterday I presented slides about the draft VSU & WWALS GA-EPD Seed Grant application to the Suwannee-Satilla Regional Water Planning Council at their meeting in Valdosta. The slides for that presentation are on the WWALS website.

Collage @ SSRWPC 27 September 2023

The longest item in the agenda was about the Lake Beatrice project. For more about that, see Videos: Lake Beatrice, Alapaha River, GA-EPD Seed Grants @ SSRWPC 2023-03-14.

Also, Cliff Lewis of GA-EPD talked about gradual relaxation of the moratorium on water withdrawals in the Flint River Basin and its effect on mussels.

Here is the agenda: Continue reading →

Last call for tickets for WWALS River Revue, on Talk 92.1 FM 2023-09-18

2023-09-25: Winners: Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2023-09-22.

At 8AM, Monday morning, September 18, 2023, I’ll be on talk921.com to say that Monday is the last day to get tickets for the WWALS River Revue:
https://www.betterunite.com/WWALS-wwalsriverrevue2023/

Michael Smith, Talk921.com, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman, WWALS River Revue

The WWALS River Revue will be 6-10 PM, Friday, September 22, 2023, at the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts, 527 N Patterson Street, Valdosta, GA 31601.

There will be a catered meal, with cash bar, plus a silent auction, a 50-50 raffle, and a kayak raffle.

M.C. Chuck Roberts will present three speakers, as well as WWALS board members and others about what WWALS does.

Chuck will also present three judges who will listen to ten finalists in the Sixth Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, and pick winners.

On the radio Monday morning we’ll also talk about what WWALS does that the WWALS River Revue supports: water trails, cleanups including chainsaw cleanups, and water quality testing.

The main purpose of WWALS is advocacy, including trying to reduce trash, sewage, PFAS, and other contamination in the Suwannee River Basin, and opposing LNG, pipelines, mines, and other threats to our waterways.

Plus we try to change the legal and regulatory playing field, by supporting the Florida petition to get a Right to Clean and Water (RTCW) on the ballot for a state constitutional amendment, and preparing for RTCW in Georgia.

https://wwals.net/issues/right-to-clean-water/

Facebook event for the radio show: https://www.facebook.com/events/3454871811400514/

-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

Clinch County Resolution against strip mine, for Okefenokee Swamp 2023-09-11

Yesterday, September 11, 2023, the Clinch County Commission unanimously passed a resolution supporting the Okefenokee Swamp and the Suwannee River against the proposed titanium mine, and set aside $50,000 as cash match for a Dark Sky Observatory next to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR).

Resolution and Clinch County Commission 2023-09-11

You can help stop that mine. Ask your city council or county commission to pass a resolution. Here are other things you can do:
https://wwals.net/issues/titanium-mining/

The Clinch County resolution includes:
“7. Request the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to move the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge from a tentative list to become a full UNESCO World Heritage Site, and support a bill by a bipartisan coalition of members of Congress in support of that move.”

As Chairman Henry Moylan remarked, the UNESCO World Heritage List is a big deal, since it goes through the U.N. and includes sites like the Pyramids and the Grand Canyon. Getting ONWR on it should attract more visitors. That list also includes Yellowstone, Yosemite, Great Smoky Mountains, and Everglades National Parks, so it’s a bit puzzling why ONWR is not already on there.

Resolution Against Strip Mine in the Okefenokee Swamp

Video: https://youtu.be/36S7GqrfdWE

The Dark Sky project involves Continue reading →