Tag Archives: VLPRA

Trails at Langdale Park 2022-11-29

Update 2022-12-01: Individual Langdale Park Trails 2022-12-01.

VLPRA is fortunate to have a couple of explorers trailblazing Langdale Park and reporting back. Bobby McKenzie and family have been out there for a year or more, sending back videos. Phillip Williams has been bushwhacking probably as long, and has made a map of Langdale Park trails. Maybe you’d also like to explore.

[Pictures and Maps, Langdale Park Trails]
Pictures and Maps, Langdale Park Trails

This is all related to water trails, which want to record nearby hiking trails, and to the trash situation, since the explorers report trash in several locations, including tires in a borrow pit.

I look forward to Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLPRA) publishing its own map of the trails in this 178-acre park by the Withlacoochee River, with Three Mile Branch running through it, and some other streams previously unmapped. And it sure would be nice to have trail signs that identify trails by name or number, not to mention some bridges and boardwalks need fixing up.

Meanwhile, here are the trails Phillip Williams has mapped so far. Continue reading →

Trash cans at Freedom Park 2022-11-21

Bobby McKenzie reported yesterday, “I’m at Freedom Park and what is new? I count 11 trash receptacles strategical placed in the baseball parking lot….guess what in them..😆 trash”

[Trash cans at Freedom Park 2022-11-21]
Trash cans at Freedom Park 2022-11-21

Imagine that: trash cans in a parking lot, like Valdosta city ordinances require.

And people do use them. Continue reading →

Winners, WWALS Boomerang paddle race 2022-10-22

Hahira, GA, October 25, 2022 — Home county favorite Kyle “Bird” Chamberlain, of Lake Park, Lowndes County, Georgia, won the WWALS Boomerang paddle race from Georgia into Florida and back. He won the $100 First Prize with a time of one hour, sixteen minutes, and 55 seconds to paddle three miles down and three miles back up for six miles total on the astonishingly clear Withlacoochee River.

[River, Race, Prizes: WWALS Boomerang 2022-10-22]
River, Race, Prizes: WWALS Boomerang 2022-10-22

Bird said, “I wanna thank my sponsors State Line River Outfitters and Takis for believing in me… they gave me their undivided attention to make sure I had everything needed to win.” Continue reading →

Pictures: Lee St. Detention Pond Cleanup 2022-10-21

Those of us who came to the Friday morning trash reporting cleanup at Valdosta’s Lee St. Detention POnd got some bags of trash and reported a couple of Click ‘n’ Fixes.

Y’all come this afternoon, 2PM, Sunday, October 23, 2022, for another Click ‘n’ Fix reporting and cleanup, led by Bobby McKenzie. Park at Mr. B’s IGA, 1405 N Lee St., Valdosta, GA 31601. We’ll forage for trash from there.

[Trash, trash trap, banners]
Trash, trash trap, banners

The goal is to stop the trash before it gets into One Mile Branch, whic flows into Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River. Valdosta can do what its Stormwater Permit requires and educate businesses to keep trash from escaping their parking lots. Or it can enforce Valdosta’s trash ordinances. The more people reporting such violations, the more likely something will be done.

Thanks to Mr. B for keeping the parking lot at Mr. B’s IGA pretty clean. There is room for improvement, in putting trash cans in the parking lot. He said he would consider it.

It turns out the strip of land with the drainage ditch just south of Mr. B’s IGA is Continue reading →

One week: WWALS Boomerang paddle race 2022-10-22

One week from now, come paddle from Georgia into Florida and back, Saturday, October 22, 2022. It’s a fun fall event for the whole family, on the idyllic blackwater Withlacoochee River, with one small shoal to make it more interesting. Plus the fastest time gets faster every year.

Today and tomorrow are the last days for the early bird ticket price. That and everything else Boomerang here:
wwals.net/pictures/boomerang2022

Thanks, new sponsors, Ace Electric and promoleaf, plus State Line River Outfitters will supply boats, along with VSU CORE. Thanks again to earlier sponsors, Packaging Corporation of America and Wisenbaker’s Garage. You or your organization can still sponsor to support the advocacy and activities of WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS), an IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity.

[Flyer]
Flyer
PDF

Pick up trash before the race and get a Rivers Alive t-shirt. And there are Boomerang tumblers to all the paddlers, Suwannee Riverkeeper Suwannee Bass t-shirts to top winners, and $100 prize for First Place. Or just come for a fresh air morning on a fabulous river.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

Sponsors: WWALS Boomerang paddle race 2022-10-22

Thanks, sponsors, Packaging Corporation of America and Wisenbaker’s Garage.

[Flyer]
Flyer
PDF

You or your organization can become a sponsor for the WWALS Boomerang paddle race on the idyllic blackwater Withlacoochee River, Saturday, October 22, 2022, from State Line Boat Ramp into Florida and back upstream into Georgia.

If you clean up before you paddle, you will get a Rivers Alive t-shirt. Continue reading →

Tickets: WWALS Boomerang paddle race 2022-10-22

Tickets are now available on eventbrite for the WWALS Boomerang paddle race from Georgia into Florida and back on the idyllic blackwater Withlacoochee River.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wwals-boomerang-2022-tickets-411307641227

That’s $20 online until October 15, 2022, then $30 online or at the event.

[Tickets]
Tickets

For everything else about this event, see:
https://wwals.net/pictures/2022-10-22–boomerang

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

WWALS Boomerang paddle race 2022-10-22

Update 2022-08-31: Tickets now available.

Hahira, GA, August 30, 2022 — Paddle down the Withlacoochee River from Georgia three miles into Florida, and back upstream, in the WWALS Boomerang! Canoes, kayaks, and paddle boards are welcome to register starting at 9 AM, Saturday, October 22, 2022, to be on the water by 10:45 AM. There will be prizes, and food, and drink.

“Bringing the outdoors community together and showcasing the recreational opportunities we have to offer locally, for the fifth year,” said Boomerang mastermind Bobby McKenzie. “You can blaze ahead and take first place overall, or push yourself for a personal achievement on the main course or one of the modified routes. Or just come do a leisurely paddle with like minded outdoor enthusiasts. Remember to make your way back within 2.5 hours.”

[Flyer]
Flyer
PDF

Tickets will be on sale soon, $20 online until October 15, then $30 online or at the event. For tickets and everything else, see:
https://wwals.net/pictures/2022-10-22–boomerang

State Line Boat Ramp is Continue reading →

Floating trash in cypress swamp below VLPRA HQ in Valdosta 2022-04-13

Update 2022-08-17: Refurbished Pepsi Adopt-A-Spot sign, Barack Obama Blvd., Valdosta, GA 2022-08-17.

I was told Monday that Valdosta Stormwater had cleaned up at least some of the trash in the two-acre swamp the City of Valdosta owns just south of Parks and Rec. Headquarters on Barack Obama Boulevard.

I’ll give it an A for effort and a C- for effectiveness. They cut in from the side, apparently cleaned up what was right along the edge, and left masses of trash in the water.

[Swamp, path, trash, Adopt-A-Spot]
Swamp, path, trash, Adopt-A-Spot

I could wade to much of the remaining trash with my ordinary mud boots. Why they couldn’t do that, or use waders and nets, is mysterious.

I don’t understand a Stormwater Division that is afraid of water. This is not like the real danger of cleaning up in a flowing river with deadfalls that could suck you under. This is a still swamp with no current and no more than two feet deep.

And a swamp still full of trash that washes down One Mile Branch into the Withlacoochee River, past the future site of Troupville River Camp. Welcome, campers!

I get it that Stormwater needs more funding and people to do larger things such as more regular cleanups and trash traps. And yes, the City Council needs to allocate funds and direction for such things. We’re working on that. But how much can some waders and nets cost? Continue reading →

Still there: Two acres of trash on Valdosta City land at VLPRA HQ, above One Mile Branch 2022-03-09

Update 2022-04-13: Floating trash in cypress swamp below VLPRA HQ in Valdosta 2022-04-13.

As previously mentioned, there are two acres of trash on land owned by the City of Valdosta, just south of VLPRA headquarters, at the corner of Barack Obama Blvd. and Ricardo Street, Behind the Pepsi Adopt-A-Spot sign, near the top of One Mile Branch.

In Valdosta’s own Seeclickfix map, you can see the site just across Barack Obama Blvd. from a drainage canal that runs into One Mile Branch just upstream from Vallotton Park.

[Map: Seeclickfix VLPRA HQ, One Mile Branch, Vallotton Park https://seeclickfix.com/issues/12055148]
Map: Seeclickfix VLPRA HQ, One Mile Branch, Vallotton Park https://seeclickfix.com/issues/12055148

This water quality and public health problem was first reported through Valdosta’s Click ‘n’ Fix smartphone app on March 9, 2022, it got some acknowledgement after another report on March 21st, but no cleanup seems to have happened.

Some of the city officials named in these comments are scheduled to be at a meeting with WWALS this afternoon. Maybe they’re waiting on that meeting to schedule a cleanup. We shall see.

Meanwhile, notice the variety of commenters who do not work for the city. First, all the comments from the March 21st report: Continue reading →