Tag Archives: Suwannee River

Nominating Okefenokee NWR for UNESCO World Heritage List –WWALS 2023-06-28

Update 2024-12-24: Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge to be Nominated to Join UNESCO World Heritage List –U.S. Department of the Interior 2024-12-20.

This is what we sent to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for their bid to make the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Remember, you can still help stop a strip mine from locating near the Okefenokee Swamp:
https://wwals.net/issues/titanium-mining

[The WWALS letter 2023-06-28 and the old-growth cypress 2021-01-10]
The WWALS letter 2023-06-28 and the old-growth cypress 2021-01-10

It features an old-growth cypress stand with trees 400-500 years old.

[NW: Big Cypress Camp Island, Little Cooter Lake, 30.682969, -82.200123]
NW: Big Cypress Camp Island, Little Cooter Lake, 30.6829690, -82.2001230 seen on a Southwings flight for Suwannee Riverkeeper 2021-01-10.

The WWALS letter

In web form below, and also in PDF and with attachments.

See also the previous WWALS letter of January 26, 2021.

And, among the references cited, thanks to WWALS Science Committee Chair Tom Potter for spotting G. Ronnie Best, et al., “An Old-Growth Cypress Stand in Okefenokee Swamp,” University of Florida, 1984. https://cfw.essie.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/312/2020/07/Best-etal-1984-OldGrowthCypressStandInOkefenokeeSwamp-BookChapter.pdf

Continue reading →

Another reason to reject TiO2 strip mine near the Okefenokee Swamp: food coloring health issues 2023-06-02

If white paint wasn’t a bad enough reason for a strip mine too near the Okefenokee Swamp, how about food coloring linked to serious health issues?

“Research shows the chemical [titanium dioxide] is likely a neurotoxin and immunotoxin, and can damage the reproductive system, cause birth defects and damage genes.”

[Skittles, TiO2 dragline]
Skittles, TiO2 dragline

Remember: Twin Pines Minerals is proposing to mine titanium dioxide, not titanium metal. And the Okefenokee Swamp is the headwaters of the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers, exchanging surface water with groundwater down to the Floridan Aquifer, from which we all drink in south Georgia and north Florida.

For ways you can object to the permits for that strip mine, currently before the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD), or to support a bill that would prevent it expanding, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/titanium-mining/

Tom Perkins, The Guardian, June 2, 2023, Health advocates urge US regulators to ban common food coloring additive: Titanium dioxide, found in candy, meat substitutes and packaged cookies, has been linked to a range of serious health issues,

Public health advocates say a common color enhancer added to thousands of US foods is toxic and dangerous, and have formally petitioned federal regulators to ban the chemical’s use.

Though the compound, titanium dioxide, has been widely used for decades and is found in foods like M&Ms, Skittles, Beyond Meat plant-based chicken tenders and Chips Ahoy! cookies, recent science has shown it is also linked to a range of serious health issues and accumulates in the body and organs.

Continue reading →

Final webinar, Upper and Middle Suwannee River Minimum Flows and Levels (MFLs) 2023-06-23

Thanks to the anonymous tipster.

Notice: 27234319

Notice of Meeting/Workshop Hearing

Department: WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICTS
Division: Suwannee River Water Management District

The Suwannee River Water Management District announces a public meeting to which all persons are invited.

DATE AND TIME: Friday, June 23, 2023, 10:00 a.m.

PLACE: Webinar

Subject: The meeting can be viewed by webinar to maximize the opportunity for public participation. The webinar is free to attend and can be accessed from a computer, tablet, or smartphone in listen only mode — comments will be received from the online audience during this meeting.

[Agenda plus map]
Agenda plus map

The purpose of the meeting is to conclude the peer review process for the Upper and Middle Suwannee River Minimum Flows and Levels (MFLs). This meeting will allow for the peer reviewers to discuss any revisions to the final draft of the peer review consensus report for these MFLs. Following their discussion, the reviewers will vote to approve the peer review consensus report. These MFLs are specifically for the Upper and Middle Suwannee River segments. The District will continue to work on the MFLs for priority springs along the river based on the District’s MFL priority list schedule.

Continue reading →

Pictures: Suwannee River Chainsaw Cleanup, Three Steps Landing to Fargo, GA 2023-06-10

The second Suwannee River Chainsaw Cleanup went well. Got a little hot in the middle, and rained towards the end.

[Chainsawing deadfalls, Suwannee River 2023-06-10]
Chainsawing deadfalls, Suwannee River 2023-06-10

But the rain came only after we cleared four deadfalls above Fargo Ramp and Reeves Landing: Continue reading →

Crossings under CR 6 by Nutrien Phosphate Mine 2023-06-10

An anonymous photographer sent these pictures of the Nutrien Phosphate Mine in Hamilton County digging under CR 6 east of Jasper, heading north towards the GA-FL line.

Remember, the same phosphate deposits continue north into Echols County, Georgia.

[Collage, Nutrien Phosphate Mine across CR 6]
Collage, Nutrien Phosphate Mine across CR 6

I don’t know quite where these pictures were taken. But if I had to guess, probably somewhere a bit east of where the label is for Nutrien Phosphate Mine on this SRWT map. Continue reading →

FL Gov signed sprawl bill: need Rights to Clean Water 2023-06-08

Thanks to everyone who asked the Florida Governor to veto the sprawl bill, HB 359 / SB 540. But he signed it anyway, so now anyone who sues to stop a comprehensive plan change and loses has to pay the other side’s legal bills.

And the Supreme Court drastically limited the scope of the Clean Water Act in its decision in Sackett II.

Now we really need Right to Clean Water in Florida as a constitutional amendment. Please sign the petition and ask all your Florida registered voter friends and relatives to do so.
https://www.floridarighttocleanwater.org/petition

With enough signatures, the RTCW petition can get a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2024, and there is nothing the legislature or governor can do to stop it.

[Right to Clean Water, FL SB 540]
Right to Clean Water, FL SB 540

Georgians, please encourage Floridians to sign the petition.

Here’s an explanation of why other means won’t work,
“Floridians who’ve been following along know that we are not going to achieve anything remotely resembling such protections through legislative action, which is why supporting this amendment is a no-brainer.”

Cheryl Lasse, Palm Beach Post, June 8, 2023, New Florida law and court ruling leave state’s waterways in peril, Continue reading →

Nutrien phosphate mine on the ground 2023-05-12

Update 2023-06-11: Crossings under CR 6 by Nutrien Phosphate Mine 2023-06-10.

A little birdie dropped these pictures, which were taken near Fivemile Still Road off of Woodpecker Route (CR 135), in Hamilton County, Florida, northeast of White Springs.

The locations are all less than a mile up Fivemile Still Road, which was closed above that.

[Inside the Nutrien phosphate mine, Hamilton County, Florida]
Inside the Nutrien phosphate mine, Hamilton County, Florida

Fivemile Still Road parallels Long Branch, which runs into the Suwannee River above Big Shoals Tract Launch.

Or did. Hard to say where Long Branch runs after all this mining. Continue reading →

Pictures: Portage Big Shoals, Paddle Little Shoals, Suwannee River 2023-05-20

We saw the lally columns of Old Godwin Bridge, Bell Springs Run, Robinson Creek, Falling Creek, and we portaged around Big Shoals and paddled through Little Shoals, on the Suwannee River to White Springs Wayside Park Ramp, in a WWALS outing, Saturday, May 20, 2023.

[Launch, Big Shoals, Little Shoals, Falling Creek, Wayside Park, Suwannee River 2023-05-20]
Launch, Big Shoals, Little Shoals, Falling Creek, Wayside Park, Suwannee River 2023-05-20

Everyone had a good time in the balmy, breezy, partly-cloudy weather. The White Springs Gauge read 51.5 feet, which was perfect.

Plus a few small alligators.

Thanks to Dennis James Price for leading this one, and for pointing out the excellent lunch spot just below Big Shoals. Continue reading →

Moody AFB EIS for Comprehensive Airspace Initiative 2023-05-16

WWALS got a paper letter dated May 16, 2023, which says, “The [Department of the Air Force (DAF)] is publishing a Notice of Availablitlity (NOA) in the Federal Register announcing the availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Comprehensive Airspace Initiative at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. The publication of the NOA on 19 May 2023 begins a 30-day waiting period that closes on 18 June 2023.”

[Proposed Action & Alternatives, Moody AFB EIS]
Proposed Action & Alternatives, Moody AFB EIS

Apparently you can still send in comments during that 30-day period, but since there has been a long previous public comment period, it does not seem likely many further changes will be made.

All the documents are available from:
https://moodyafbairspaceeis.com/

They are also available Continue reading →

Ready for Florida Folk Festival 2023-05-25

WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman says all the festival materials are in the tent, ready for Florida Folk Festival Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

[Suwannee Riverkeeper tent, raffle kayak, and carrilon]
Suwannee Riverkeeper tent, raffle kayak, and carrilon

Except of course the raffle kayak, with the carrillon visible behind it, at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, White Springs, Florida, on the banks of the Suwannee River. Continue reading →