Update 2023-06-16: Cancelled due to weather reports.
More: For more WWALS outings and events as they are posted, see the WWALS outings web page, https://wwals.net/outings/. WWALS members also get an upcoming list in the Tannin Times newsletter.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations
Malia Thomas, reporter for the Valdosta Daily Times, and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman toured many of the same Valdosta trash locations we visited three months earlier. Most of them did not seem what you might call fixed.
![[Valdosta Trash Examples 2023-05-23]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-05-23--trash-tour/many.jpg)
Valdosta Trash Examples 2023-05-23
Plus one added stop was most definitely not fixed. Apparently 84 days of $100 a day fines were not enough.
There is some progress on Valdosta’s chronic trash problem,
such as the three trash traps (thanks, City Engineer Ben O’Dowd and Stormwater Manager Angela Bray) and the
notices sent to parking lot owners
by City Marshalls (thanks, Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley),
but there is also much more room for improvement.
Apparently some of those notices have not had much effect yet,
and more trash traps are needed, as well as other measures.
See:
https://wwals.net/issues/trash/
Needless to say, WWALS and the usual citizens are still watching and speaking up. Continue reading
Update 2023-06-16: Very bad upstream Withlacoochee River 2023-06-15.
The Withlacoochee River and Little Rivers tested good for Thursday, and the Alapaha River for Tuesday. Unless it rains, happy swimming, boating, and fishing this weekend.
Or join us tomorrow on the Suwannee River Chainsaw Cleanup 2023-06-10.
![[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map, 2023-06-08]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-06-08--wq/many.jpg)
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map, 2023-06-08
No new sewage spills have been reported. in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.
The most recent results we have from Valdosta are for Monday upstream and for Friday a week ago downstream. Continue reading
Mary Beth Brownlee, new Executive Director of One Valdosta-Lowndes (OVL), got to see the site of the future Troupville River Camp and Nature Park.
![[Around Troupville River Camp and Nature Park --jsq]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-05-31--troupville-river-park/many.jpg)
Around Troupville River Camp and Nature Park –jsq
She and Georgia Power Southwest Regional Director Joe Brownlee and their daughter Elizabeth are only about the third party who have followed me around the entire river circumference of the site, down the Little River to its Confluence, and then up the Withlacoochee River back to GA 133.
WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman took many of these pictures. WWALS provided the visitors information about Troupville Nature Park and Troupville River Camp including letters of support from Valdosta and Lowndes County, Georgia, the Valdosta-Lowndes Chamber, Madison and Hamilton Counties, Florida, the Suwannee River Water Management District, and others.
Troupville River Camp is top of the project list for OVL, which is an economic development and well being organization. Continue reading
The Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) Board will decide whether to negotiate to buy Tanner Springs. This is a second magnitude spring on the left (west) bank of the Withlacoochee River a third of a mile downstream from Madison Boat Ramp and two and a third miles downstream from Madison Blue Spring. It is also known as HAM612981.
![[SRWMD Location Map, WWALS Photograph]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-06-13--srwmd-board/many.jpg)
SRWMD
Location Map,
WWALS Photograph
The 40-acre parcel has a 2023 market value of $86,000 and taxable value of $10,284. It was bought October 31, 2013, for $100 by Lena Faye C. Dixon, who wants to sell it to SRWMD.
GoTo Webinar Link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3020434738864536413
Public Comment Form Link:
www.MySuwanneeRiver.com/Comments
Open to Public, June 13, 2023, 9:00 a.m., District Headquarters, Live Oak, Florida.
The board packet is on the WWALS website.
There are more images from the board packet below.
Continue readingUpdate 2023-06-14: Videos: Valdosta trash tour again 2023-05-23.
Malia Thomas, reporter for the Valdosta Daily Times, came to see some Valdosta trash locations.
You may remember Malia from reporting such as:
Here is a WWALS video playlist from some of the locations we toured. Continue reading
Update 2023-06-09: Clean Rivers 2023-06-08.
The Withlacoochee River tested good for Thursday, and the Little River good enough. Rain is predicted, but if you can get in before that, happy swimming, boating, and fishing this weekend.
Or join us tomorrow evening at the Banks Lake Full Strawberry Moon Paddle.
![[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-06-01]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-06-01--wq/many.jpg)
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-06-01
However, the Alapaha River at Sheboggy Boat Ramp tested bad for Monday. With worse a mile or so upstream below the City of Alapaha sewage settling ponds.
No new sewage spills have been reported. in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.
The most recent results we have from Valdosta are for Wednesday upstream and for last Friday downstream. Continue reading
The May 2023 issue of FGS News and Research by the Florida Geological Survey has several articles relevant to the Suwannee River Basin.
On the Alapaha River Water Trail, Jennings Bluff Tract in Hamilton County Named as the Seventh State Geological Site covers what we reported from the site at the announcement. See also Continue reading
The Valdosta-Lowndes Chamber of Commerce, host of One Valdosta-Lowndes (OVL), invited WWALS to a reception for the new OVL Executive Director, Mary Beth Brownlee.
Mary Beth Brownlee was previously with Association County Commissioners of Georgia.
I congratulated her on her new appointment.
She agreed that Troupville River Camp is top of OVL’s project list. Continue reading
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]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-05-16--moody-afb-eis/2023-05-16--moody-afb-eis-actions.jpg)
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
![[Outing Cancelled]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-06-17--juneteenth/manycancelled.jpg)
![[Trash locations]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-02-28--trash-vdt-reporter/many.jpg)
![[FGS N&R Madison Blue Spring]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-05-01--fgs-news-research/many.jpg)
![[OVL E.D. Mary Beth Brownlee]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-05-23--one-valdosta-lowndes/many.jpg)