Tag Archives: Willacoochee River

Sheboggy to Rowetown Church Cemetery, Alapaha Quest 2018-03-04

An expert paddle to start the Alapaha Quest, down the wild and exotic Alapaha River in the balmy south Georgia winter. This trip is not recommended for beginners

When: 9:30 AM Sunday, March 4, 2018

Put In: Sheboggy Landing at US 82, 11004 US Highway 82, Alapaha, GA 31622, east of the town of Alapaha in Berrien County.

GPS: 31.386278, -83.191611

Take Out: Rowetown Church Cemetery, 1291 Rowetown Church Road, Alapaha, GA 31622, in Berrien County. Yes, we called ahead and got permission.

Bring: the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup. It will still be hunting season, so also wear hunting orange if you’ve got it.

Price: This outing is free to WWALS members. It costs $10.00 to nonmembers. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!

Event: facebook meetup

18.26 miles or 10 hours paddling, ARWT

Continue reading →

Sheboggy to GA 135, Alapaha Quest 2018-01-27

Update 2018-01-19: Rescheduled again, due to low water, to become a hike to the Dead River Sink, still on January 27, 2018.

Rescheduled to late January due to cold weather and low water: a long expert paddle to start the Alapaha Quest! Along the way we will pass Rowetown Church and the Willacoochee River Confluence as we paddle down the wild and exotic Alapaha River in the south Georgia winter. There will probably be many deadfalls, and unless the water is quite high, we probably will have to drag over or around them, so bring a rope for your boat.

When: 9AM Saturday, January 27, 2018

Put In: Sheboggy Landing at US 82, east of Alapaha, Berrien County, Georgia.

GPS: 31.386278, -83.191611

Take Out: GA 135 Atkinson near Willacoochee, GA in Atkinson County.

Price: This outing is free to all WWALS members, and $10 per vessel for non-members. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!

Event: facebook meetup

Approaching the ramp
Photo by Bret Wagenhorst 2017-06-03, of improved Sheboggy Landing. Thanks to Berrien County Commission for funding the new concrete and road smoothing, and thanks to Ben Warren, Berrien County Roads Superintendent, for doing the work.

Bring: a rope for dragging your boat over deadfalls, cold weather gear, including clothes that will stay warm if wet, and a change of dry clothes in a waterproof container. That’s in addition to the usual personal flotation device, boat paddles, food, drinking water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. Also trash pickers and trash bags: every WWALS outing is also a cleanup. The new outing date is after deer hunting season, so that’s a relief. Hunting will still be on for small game. That’s much less of a worry, but it wouldn’t hurt to wear hunting orange if you’ve got it.

Shuttle Distance: Continue reading →

Suwannee River Basin Maps

Update 2019-02-13: And a version with Landings. See also Water Trails, with more detailed maps and access points.

Nobody seems to have done this, so we did: a map of the Suwannee River Basin, with the major watersheds and the Estuary shaded, and all the major rivers, plus many of the creeks. Bonus: springs! Narrow, Suwannee River Basin Click on this link for an interactive google map of the Suwannee River Basin.

The river traces come from USGS and Chris Graham. The watershed boundaries are from USGS. The springs are from the Florida Springs Institute, plus four Georgia springs collected by WWALS.

The eight-digit hydrologic unit codes (HUC8) for the Suwannee River Basin are: Continue reading →

Sheboggy to GA 135, Alapaha Quest 2017-01-0627

Update 2018-01-19: Rescheduled again, due to low water, to become a hike to the Dead River Sink, still on January 27, 2018.

Update 2018-01-01: Rescheduled to January 27, 2018! Follow this link for the revised outing details.

A long paddle to start the Alapaha Quest! Along the way we will pass Rowetown Church and the Willacoochee River Confluence as we paddle down the wild and exotic Alapaha River in the south Georgia winter.

When: 7AM Saturday, January 6, 2018

Put In: Sheboggy Landing at US 82, east of Alapaha, Berrien County, Georgia.

GPS: 31.386278, -83.191611

Take Out: GA 135 Atkinson near Willacoochee, GA in Atkinson County.

Price: This outing is $10.00 for nonmembers, and free to WWALS members. We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!

Event: facebook meetup

18.26 miles or 10 hours paddling, ARWT

Bring: Continue reading →

Old Coffee Road, Georgia

The Google map of locations on Old Coffee Road was used by many of the early settlers of south central Georgia, including in the watersheds of the Willacoochee, Alapaha, Withlacoochee, and Little Rivers and Okapilco Creek. It crossed all those and other waterways by ford or private ferry: there were no bridges back then.

Old Coffee Road map, WWALS.net
Follow this link for the interactive google map.

The Georgia Historical Commission erected markers at half a dozen locations in the 1950s and 1960, reading: Continue reading →

WWALS becomes Suwannee RIVERKEEPER

Update 2023-03-31: Suwannee River Basin is bigger than several states, less populous than any: Suwannee Riverkeeper and WWALS work for fishable, swimmable, drinkable water in all 10,000 square miles of the Suwannee River Basin and Estuary.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WWALS becomes Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

Hahira, Georgia; December 30, 2016 — The Waterkeeper Alliance Board of Directors has approved its Affiliate WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. to become a Member. The newly appointed Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®, John S. Quarterman, will work to protect and preserve the Suwannee River Basin by combining his firsthand knowledge of the waterways with an unwavering commitment to the rights of the community and to the rule of law.

[Detail with creeks]
Suwannee River Basin and Estuary including Santa Fe River HUC, added 2019-09-26.

“Waterkeeper Alliance is thrilled to have Suwannee RIVERKEEPER® to be the eyes, ears, and voice for this vital watershed and community,” said Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President of Waterkeeper Alliance. “Every community deserves to have swimmable, drinkable and fishable water, and John S. Quarterman is the right leader to fight for clean water in the region.”

The Suwannee RIVERKEEPER® will be a full-time advocate for the Suwannee River and its tributaries, including the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Little, and Suwannee Rivers in Georgia and Florida, protecting and restoring water quality through community action and enforcement. Quarterman stated, “Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®’s aim is to provide strong advocacy that will result in an improved quality of life for all citizens, whether they rely on it for drinking water or recreation or whether they simply value the Suwannee River Basin’s continued well-being.” Continue reading →

WWALS Watersheds google map

Update 2020-01-25: Superseded by WWALS Suwannee River Basin Map and All Landings in the Suwannee River Basin, now that Suwannee Riverkeeper territory includes the entire Basin plus Estuary, since Waterkeeper Alliance agreed to add the Ichetucknee and Santa Fe Rivers on September 26, 2019.

Update 2017-10-30: River flowlines.
Update 2017-10-08: Better colors plus a Suwannee River Basin map.
Update 2017-04-13: Since December 2016 WWALS Watersheds have included the Lower Suwannee River HUC 03110205 and the Suwannee River Estuary, approved by Waterkeeper Alliance the same time as the license for Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®.

Small, WWALS Watersheds Map Legend

Click on this link for an interactive google map of WWALS watersheds.

The images you see here are static screenshots of that google map. Follow the link above for the actual google map.

The watershed outlines are from Continue reading →

WWALS adds Upper Suwannee as territory

The Upper Suwannee River is new to the WWALS Mission. WWALS Watershed Coalition, a WATERKEEPER® Affiliate, applied in July to WATERKEEPER® Alliance to add that new territory, which was approved 15 July 2015.

Three years ago when WWALS was forming, we decided not to include the Upper Suwannee at that time, because we wanted time to solidify WWALS as an organization in its smaller territory of the watersheds of the Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers and all their tributaries. Even then, we put the S in WWALS so it could be redefined to mean Suwannee, so our acronym would expand to Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Little, and Suwannee River watersheds.

WWALS now asks Waterkeeper to add Upper Suwannee HUC 03110201 to WWALS territory.

HUC is United States Geological Survey (USGS) jargon for Hydrologic Unit Code. Upper Suwannee HUC 03110201 is everything from the Withlacoochee Confluence upstream that drains into the Suwannee River. This 2720 square miles: Continue reading →

Clarified WWALS mission

This clarification of the WWALS Mission was adopted by the WWALS Board at its 8 July 2015 Board Meeting:

300x376 WWALS Rivers (small), in WWALS Rivers, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 25 July 2015 WWALS Watershed Coalition advocates for conservation and stewardship of the
Withlacoochee,
Willacoochee,
Alapaha,
Little, and Upper
Suwannee River
watersheds in south Georgia and north Florida through awareness, environmental monitoring, and citizen activities.

For what each of those terms means, and how they relate to the Goals for 2015 adopted at the same meeting, see Explanation.

To help WWALS accomplish these goals to further its mission, you can join WWALS today!

-jsq

WWALS becomes a Waterkeeper Affiliate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WWALS Watershed Coalition becomes a Waterkeeper Affiliate to Patrol and Protect the Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers and all their tributaries.

WATERKEEPER(r) ALLIANCE logo Adel, (June 12, 2015) — The Waterkeeper Alliance Board of Directors approved WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. as a Waterkeeper Affiliate on June 4th, 2015. WWALS Watershed Coalition, a Waterkeeper Affiliate, will work to conserve our central south Georgia and north Florida watersheds by combining firsthand knowledge of the watersheds with an unwavering commitment to the rights of the community and to the rule of law.

“Waterkeeper Alliance is thrilled to have WWALS as the eyes, ears, and voice for this vital watershed and community,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Waterkeeper Alliance President. “Every Continue reading →