Tag Archives: Troupville Boat Ramp

Sugar Creek to Troupville, Withlacoochee River Cleanup 2023-07-22

Update 2023-07-21: Reroute: Sugar Creek and Troupville Withlacoochee River on-land cleanup 2023-07-22.

Update 2023-06-20: Rescheduled: Withlacoochee River Chainsaw Cleanup 2023-06-24. That one is now merged with this one on July 22, 2023.

Come help clean up behind the Valdosta YMCA and onwards to the Little River Confluence, then upstream to Troupville Boat Ramp.

Valdosta City Council Andy Gibbs will be with us, and maybe some other elected officials.

We hope the river will be much cleaner than a year ago when Council Gibbs and Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson saw logjams of trash on the river up close and personal. Since Valdosta has bought two trash traps and placed them on Sugar Creek and Two Mile Branch, and built one at their Lee Street Detention Pond on One Mile Branch, plus City Marshalls have sent notices to all parking lot owners that they need to clean up their act and strategically place trash cans like city ordinances require. Needless to say this all happened after quite a bit of urging by WWALS and many individuals.

And WWALS has done a series of chainsaw cleanups through this stretch, removing deadfalls that blocked the river.

Update 2023-06-20: A previously-scheduled chainsaw cleanup on this same river stretch, because of high water at its previous date, has been combined with this regular cleanup.

There is ample room for further improvement, but we hope to see quite a bit of improvement on the river already.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 1 PM, Saturday, July 22, 2023

Put In: Meet at the back of the Salty Snapper parking lot, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602 and we’ll put in at the railroad tracks.

GPS: 30.861764, -83.318854

[Trash a year ago, 2022-05-07]
Trash a year ago, 2022-05-07

Continue reading →

Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle in Valdosta Daily Times

Good article; thanks VDT. Although it looks like WWALS will need to display a large banner saying: WWALS Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, on the Withlacoochee and Little Rivers, one of our many monthly paddles.

[Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson, WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman, Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter --GQ]
Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson, WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman, Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter –GQ

Brittanye Blake, valdosta Daily Times, March 5, 2023, Up the River: Paddle focuses on clean waters

See also the WWALS video of what the Mayor and Chairman said.

VALDOSTA — Mayor Scott James Matheson and Lowndes County Commission Chairman Bill Slaughter led the Fourth Annual Withlacoochee River paddle last weekend.

Continue reading →

Videos: Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, Sewage spills, Trash, Okefenokee Swamp over stripmine @ Radio 2023-02-28

All about the Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle this Saturday at Troupville Boat Ramp just west of Valdosta, down to Spook Bridge on the Withlacoochee River: Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson and Suwannee Riverkeeper talked about that on his 92.1 FM radio show Tuesday.

Plus trash, sewage, and you can help stop a strip mine too near the Okefenokee Swamp.

[Bypass, Talk92.1 FM, Two Mile Branch, Lee Street Trash Trap, Suwannee Riverkeeper, Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson]
Bypass, Talk92.1 FM, Two Mile Branch, Lee Street Trash Trap, Suwannee Riverkeeper, Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson

Thanks to the Mayor for being a good sport about being grilled about the numerous recent Valdosta sewage spills, totalling almost a million gallons. You can see the bypass pump from his driveway. Continue reading →

Boats provided by State Line River Outfitters at Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle 2023-03-04

Update 2023-03-03: Early takeout for Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle: DeLoach Private Boat Ramp 2023-03-03.

Update 2023-03-02: Videos: Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, Sewage spills, Trash, Okefenokee Swamp over stripmine @ Radio 2023-02-28.

If you don’t have a boat, come on down anyway to Troupville Boat Ramp this Saturday, for the Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle!
https://wwals.net/?p=60845

Will Hart of State Line River Outfitters has agreed to supply boats. Will will be out of town, but Bird Chamberlain will bring a couple of canoes and half a dozen kayaks, in addition to the WWALS canoes.

We even have a volunteer or two to paddle people in a canoe who are too young or whatever to paddle themselves.

[State Line River Outfitters, Will Hart, Bird Chamberlain, Russell Allen McBride, Blondie Quarterman]
State Line River Outfitters, Will Hart, Bird Chamberlain, Russell Allen McBride, Blondie Quarterman

State Line River Outfitters sponsored Bird when he paddled in the WWALS Boomerang Paddle Race last year: and won! Continue reading →

Suwannee Riverkeeper on Scott James Radio 92.1 FM 2023-02-28

Update 2023-03-02: Videos: Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, Sewage spills, Trash, Okefenokee Swamp over stripmine @ Radio 2023-02-28.

Suwannee Riverkeeper will talk about the Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle coming up this Saturday, saving the Okefenokee Swamp from a strip mine, trash, sewage, parks, and rivers on Scott James Talk 92.1 FM radio this morning, Tuesday, 8:30 AM.

[Radio, Paddle]
Radio, Paddle

https://talk921.com/

https://www.facebook.com/events/1471470606719880

Topics discussed will probably include: Continue reading →

Pictures: Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle 2022-02-19

Here are a few pictures from last year’s Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, eleven miles on the Withlacoochee River.

This year’s paddle will be Saturday, March 3, 2023, on the same route, starting at Troupville Boat Ramp just west of Valdosta on the Little River, ending at Spook Bridge.

[Scenes from Mayor and Chairman's Paddle 2022-02-19]
Scenes from Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle 2022-02-19

Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson was there, in the red shoes, dead center of this picture. We hear this year Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter will be, as well. You can paddle up to them and ask questions. Continue reading →

Good water levels for Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle 2023-02-22

Update 2023-03-01: Boats provided by State Line River Outfitters at Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle 2023-03-04.

Water levels are coming down good for a week from Saturday, for the Fourth Annual Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle.

[Quitman Gauge, many paddlers]
Quitman Gauge, many paddlers

Today the Quitman Gauge at US 84 is about eight feet above the level of the 2022 Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle. It looks like it will still be a couple feet above come this year’s paddle day. So easy paddling!

The Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle is a fundraiser for WWALS, so tickets are $30 per boat, online or at the event.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mayor-and-chairmans-paddle-little-and-withlacoochee-rivers-tickets-518815951477

It’s free for elected officials. They can Continue reading →

River Low, Action, and Flood Stages 2023-02-16

“What does “action stage” mean?” asked Christy Yates on facebook about Paddling in the treetops 2023-02-13 and for real two years ago 2021-02-27 2023-02-13.

This is relevant to the upcoming Fourth Annual Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, Withlacoochee River 2023-03-04.

I answered: Basically, watch out, the river is high. More formally: “Action Stage – the stage which, when reached by a rising stream, represents the level where the NWS or a partner/user needs to take some type of mitigation action in preparation for possible significant hydrologic activity. The type of action taken varies for each gage location. Gage data should be closely monitored by any affected people if the stage is above action stage.

[Stages, US 84 Gauge, Treetop paddling]
Stages, US 84 Gauge, Treetop paddling

See below for National Weather Service (NWS) terminology, which also defines several stages of flooding: minor, moderate, and major. That definitions web page is from Alaska, and it includes something called “bankfull stage” that I’ve never seen used around here. The rest of it is the same as in the Suwannee River Basin.

Right now paddling the Withlacooche River would be up in the branches like this picture, but higher. Don’t worry: the water level will probably go back down before March 4th. Continue reading →

Paddling in the treetops 2023-02-13 and for real two years ago 2021-02-27 2023-02-13

Update 2023-02-16: River Low, Action, and Flood Stages 2023-02-16.

“Right now we’d be paddling in the treetops,” joked Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter, Monday at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session, about the upcoming Fourth Annual Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, Withlacoochee River 2023-03-04.

Well, five of us actually did that two years ago, February 27, 2021. As I wrote back then, “ it was smooth sailing for experienced paddlers. The overhanging branches would have been a problem for novices, and there were very few places to get out if you did capsize.”

[Chairman says paddling in the treetops, and for real two years ago]
Chairman says paddling in the treetops, and for real two years ago

“It would be a very short trip, I promise you,” Lowndes County EMA Director Ashley Tye replied to the Chairman.

Two years ago it took about four hours to paddle those 11 miles from Troupville Boat Ramp to Spook Bridge, from 9 AM to a little after 1 PM, without rushing. That’s fast, 2.75 miles an hour, compared to our default estimate of 5.5 hours at two miles an hour.

Back then the Hahira Gauge, on the Little River at GA 122, read about 13.73 feet. Continue reading →

Schedule for 2023 Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program (GOSP) grant applications 2023-01-11

I’ve heard differing opinions about various deadlines for submitting a grant proposal this year to the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program (GOSP), such as for Troupville Nature Park and River Camp at the Little River Confluence with the Withlacoochee River, just west of Valdosta, Georgia.

[GOSP, Helen Tapp, Land Between the Rivers]
GOSP, Helen Tapp, Land Between the Rivers

So I asked GA-DNR, who replied that grant pre-applications will open this fall, and will be announced this spring. The earliest anything might need to be done with GA-DNR about GOSP is informational webinars, which may be scheduled for May or June.

I’m sticking to my opinion that there’s no point proceeding with a grant application until ongoing park maintenance is lined up. It’s my understanding that Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson and One Valdosta-Lowndes have the token to find that maintenance money as well as the rest of the required cash match.

Lowndes County already made a huge step forward by buying Helen Tapp’s Land Between the Rivers for eventual addition to the land already owned by the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreational Authority (VLPRA) to form the park. I don’t know of anything else pressing the county needs to do at the moment.

Here is this morning’s response from GA-DNR: Continue reading →