Tag Archives: Suwannee Riverkeeper

Okefenokee season, fall 2023

Apparently it’s Okefenokee season this fall, with resolutions for the Swamp and against the proposed strip mine, when Clinch County also reserved cash match for a Dark Sky Observatory, one of three natural resources economy projects around the Swamp. There is some movement on listing the Refuge as a UNESCO World Heritage Site including an art auction dinner in Brunswick. Charlton, Ware, and Clinch Counties held their first-ever collaboration, Okefenokee Gateway Getaway. There were dinners and paddles at all three entrances to the Swamp, including a WWALS paddle to camp at Floyds Island, the most remote spot in Georgia, with people from Miami, Alabama, South Carolina, and Atlanta, and a Georgia Water Coalition panel attended by Suwannee Riverkeeper.

You can still help stop the proposed titanium dioxide strip mine too near the Okefenokee Swamp:
https://wwals.net/issues/titanium-mining

Collage of Okefenokee season, fall 2023

In August, Echols and Clinch Counties passed resolutions for the Swamp and against the proposed titanium dioxide mine. When DeKalb County passed a resolution in November, it mentioned those, and a previous resolution by Waycross and Ware County. Continue reading →

Vegetative Buffer Encroachment on Mud Swamp Creek for Valdosta Old Clyattville Road Widening 2023-10-19

Valdosta’s widening of Old Clyattville Road will affect a drainage ditch out of the SAFT America battery plant on Gil Harbin Road, which is currently hiring. The drainage ditch goes into Mud Swamp Creek, which joins Grand Bay Creek east of Valdosta to form the Alaphoochee River, which flows into the Alapaha River just across the GA-FL line, and then into the Suwannee River.

The project will require mitigation bank credits, probably from the Cherry Creek Mitigation Bank, half of which was previously denied deannexation by the Valdosta Mayor and Council. The city hired TTL to do most of the application work, and apparently also Lovell Engineering Associates to plan the actual road work.

WWALS did not file any comments with GA-EPD, because we did not find any irregularities in the actual project. We did find some interesting tidbits in the application, such as a historic cemetery, railroad, and archaeological sites.

Collage of Valdosta application for Vegetative Buffer Encroachment on Mud Swamp Creek for Clyattville Road Widening

Also, the USGS Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) boundary for the Upper Mud Swamp (HUC 031103021001) is incorrect. We may contact USGS about that. Continue reading →

Floyds Island 1838, Hebard Cabin 1925, Okefenokee Swamp

Update 2024-12-09: Pictures: Departing Floyd’s Island, Okefenokee Swamp 2023-11-05.

Answers to some popular questions about Floyds Island, up the Middle Fork of the Suwannee River in the Okefenokee Swamp.

Meanwhile, you can help stop a proposed strip mine near the Swamp:
https://wwals.net/issues/titanium-mining

Collage, Floyds Island

Who was Floyds Island named for?

The Okefenokee was a Creek hunting ground in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Briefly in 1836 and for most of 1838 theSecond Seminole War in Florida extended into the Okefenokee. Roads and forts were built around the perimeter of the swamp, and Georgia militia and U.S. army troops patrolled intensively. They burned down a Seminole village on an island that they subsequently renamed Floyds Island, for Charles Rinaldo Floyd. In response to this violence, the Seminole began to leave the swamp in 1838, but skirmishes continued to occur along the Georgia-Florida boundary as late as 1840.

C.T. Trowell, New Georgia Encyclopedia, Originally published Sep 20, 2002, Last edited Feb 23, 2022, Human History of the Okefenokee Swamp.

Who was Charles Rinaldo Floyd? Continue reading →

Pictures: WWALS at Brooks County Skillet Fest 2023-10-21

It was a good time at the WWALS booth at the Brooks County Skillet Festival.

Collage @ Brooks County Skillet Festival 2023-10-21

Thanks to Jan Powell, Kimberly Tanner, and her Brazilian exchange student for assisting WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman at the WWALS booth.

Quitman is on Okapilco Creek, which runs into the Withlacoochee River. The Withlacoochee, and, upstream, the Little River form the east border of Brooks County with Lowndes County.

There are more pictures below.

For more WWALS outings and events as they are posted, see Continue reading →

Liquefied natural gas issue on Brightline railroad –Cecile Scofield in TCPalm 2023-11-12

Update 2024-01-31: Huge win against LNG: feds require climate analysis; what about Florida? 2024-01-24.

Cecile Scofield got this op-ed into TCPalm, Sunday, November 13, 2023, “Liquefied natural gas issue on Brightline railroad”

According to a recent article, Brightline (Fortress Investment Group) is looking for land adjacent to existing tracks away from the St. Lucie River bridge in downtown Stuart. The property must also be able to support other development opportunities for Brightline.

In 2014, Florida East Coast Railway discussed moving liquefied natural gas on its network with the Federal Railroad Administration. On Sept. 24, 2014, AAF Holdings LLC filed an application with the Florida Development Finance Corp., for $1.75 billion in private activity bond financing for “All Aboard Florida.” About $440 million would be used to construct new track and rail between Cocoa and Orlando, the gateway to Tampa and the Panama Canal.

Brightline Route to Disney World and Tampa Bay

In November 2014, James Hertwig, former CEO of FECR, said he thought the laws would change where double-stacked 10,000-gallon liquefied natural gas international standards organization containers would run from South Florida to Jacksonville, creating a virtual rolling natural gas pipeline. However, the single-tracked St. Lucie River railroad bridge presented a problem. Constructing an LNG production facility in Stuart or north of Stuart could be a solution.
Continue reading →

Pictures: Arriving Floyd’s Island, Okefenokee Swamp 2023-11-04

Update 2023-11-19: Floyds Island 1838, Hebard Cabin 1925, Okefenokee Swamp 1925-01-01.

Alligators and pitcher plants on the Suwannee River to Floyds Island, logging railroad, Indian mound, and tents there, and somebody fell over in a chair.

IG: Collage, SCFSP to Floyds Island, Okefenokee Swamp, 2023-11-04

People came to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge from as far away as Miami, Alabama, South Carolina, Savannah, and Atlanta, as well as from Williston, White Springs, Pearson, Douglas, and Hahira.

Thanks to Shirley Kokidko for organizing, and for Randy Madison for leading when Shirley could not go. Continue reading →

Mostly clean Withlacoochee River 2023-11-16

Update 2023-11-25 Clean Rivers 2023-11-23.

There was some rain in the past few days, but apparently not enough to wash contamination into the Withlacoochee River. Even famously filthy Crawford Branch was clean. However, Langdale Park Boat Ramp tested dirty, but that is probably because the water is so low it is stagnant there.

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, River, Swim Guide Map 2023-11-16

Most of the usual WWALS testers are off for the holiday.

Russ Tatum got clean results for Wednesday for the Withlacoochee River at Holly Point, between Allen Ramp and the Suwannee River.

Cindy Vedas very got good results for Thursday for the Withlacoochee River at Franklinville, Crawford Branch, and Staten Road, but too -high at Langdale Park.

WWALS Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall provided sage advice.

WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman delivered testing supplies to several testers.

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.

As previously noted, Valdosta’s last downstream tests were September 1, 2023. Continue reading →

Exploring the Santa Fe River: Origins –Joanne Tremblay 2023-11-03

Joanne Tremblay says, “I was inspired to create a visual of the river’s path so folks could get a better understanding of its changes it goes through before it becomes the spring-laden stretch that most are familiar with. All my own footage, paddles are a composite from my own at different times.”

Cover

My favorite is this slide, “I will not repeat this journey”, about Worthington to Bible Camp Road: “Seven miles through tangled woods”. Continue reading →

LNG by Rail suspended by PHMSA and FRA 2023-08-31

Update 2023-11-18: Liquefied natural gas issue on Brightline railroad –Cecile Scofield in TCPalm 2023-11-12.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has suspended authorization without a special permit of “liquefied natural gas (LNG) transportation in rail tank cars pursuant to a final rule published on July 24, 2020, pending the earlier of either completion of a companion rulemaking evaluating potential modifications to requirements governing rail tank car transportation of LNG, or June 30, 2025.”

WWALS has opposed such authorization since before PHMSA approved it, on numerous grounds, including safety (potential leaks or explosions, lack of city, county, or state LNG risk management plans, lack of safety studies), rail running through densely populated areas, promotion of fracking, environmental concerns (LNG is 80 times more harmful than CO2 in the near term as a greenhouse gas), and shortsightedness: solar, wind, and batteries are exponentially taking over from LNG.

We do not yet know how this suspension will affect LNG by rail in Florida; more on that later.

Florida, PA, and NJ LNG by rail maps

It is also not clear how this decision will affect New Fortress Energy’s other LNG by rail project from Wyalusing, PA, to an export terminal in Gibbstown, NJ, across the Delaware River from Philadelphia.

Still, we agree with NRDC that “This is a huge victory for the planet and for communities living in the potential blast zones of these rail lines.”

Scotti and Sara Jay discovered One Mile Branch fish kill, leading to GA-EPD Consent Order 2023-09-23

Update 2024-02-22: Slight update on this Consent Order in Valdosta Boone Drive and Knob Hill small sewage spills 2024-02-20.

Thanks to Scotti Jay Jones for discovering and photographing a fish kill on One Mile Branch a year ago, and for taking water quality samples. Thanks to Sara Jay Jones for plating those samples. Suwannee Riverkeeper reported all that to GA-EPD.

One year later, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD), levied a Consent Order on the City of Valdosta for that fish kill and various sewage spills.

IG: Sara and Scotti Jay Jones, the GA-EPD Consent Order, location map, and fish kill

Maybe that Consent Order and its requirements for Standard Operating Procedures will help prevent sewage spills from getting into One Mile Branch, Hightower Creek, and Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River, as well as into Knights Creek into Mud Swamp Creek, the Alapahoochee River, and the Alapaha River. There have also been many personnel changes in the Valdosta City government, and the current Acting Utilities Director so far seems like a big improvement.

And you can join Scotti and Sara and WWALS at Iche Nippy Dip Day Swim and Paddle, Ichetucknee River, Ichetucknee Headspring, 2024-01-06.

Below are links and snippets for previous WWALS blog posts during that year. Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.