Tag Archives: Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail

Pictures: Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle 2023-03-04

Update 2023-03-13: Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle in Valdosta Daily Times and WWALS video of what the Mayor and Chairman said.

Everybody had a good time at the Fourth Annual Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle. The water level was just right for the shoals to be ripples and the weather was perfect: not cold, not hot, nice and shady.

Phil Hubbard led this one of many WWALS paddle outings. Three people fell in and one paddle got lost, but everybody recovered and nobody went home mad.

[Mayor, WWALS, Chairman; banners; boaters; outfall; Spook Bridge]
Mayor, WWALS, Chairman; banners; boaters; outfall; Spook Bridge

WWALS is proud to bring together Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter and Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson at the site of the county’s recent acquisition of 71 acres from Helen Tapp to add to the 49 acres Parks and Rec already owns to eventually form Troupville Nature Park. Continue reading →

Pictures: Lee Street Trash Trap

Revisiting Two Mile Branch on February 27th, I asked Valdosta City Engineer Ben O’Dowd whether the Lee Street trash trap he was considering as a model to go at Berkley Drive was his design. He said no, that was all Stormwater Division.

Imagine if Mayor and Council allocated funds to put more of these in creeks across the city. Lots of trash would be kept out of the Withlacoochee and other Rivers. And also out of creeks within the city that attract children to play, and in which wildlife currently eat styrofoam that cannot digest.

Upstream education and enforcement is still needed for Valdosta’s ordinances that require property owners not to let trash escape and to have a so many trash cans strategically placed per number of parking spaces. Maybe soon the city will set an example as the Mayor has long promised by putting trash cans in its own parking lots, starting with across from City Hall.

[Lee Street trash trap, side view, City Engineer and Stormwater Manager, door]
Lee Street trash trap, side view, City Engineer and Stormwater Manager, door

Stormwater Manager Angela Bray said she suggested the design, and her people took it from there and built the Lee Street trash trap. Continue reading →

Clean Rivers 2023-03-02

Update 2023-03-10: Clean Rivers 2023-03-09.

Happy boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend!

That’s what all the recent water quality testing data says. There’s been no rain lately, other than a few scattered showers today, so nothing should have washed into the rivers.

Come on down to Troupville Boat Ramp tomorrow for the Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle!

No new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida since the last of Valdosta’s five February spills totalling almost a million gallons.

[Chart, River, Swim Guide Map 2023-03-02]
Chart, River, Swim Guide Map 2023-03-02

Thanks to Continue reading →

Early takeout for Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle: DeLoach Private Boat Ramp

Update 2023-03-03: Clean Rivers 2023-03-02.

For those who want to take out early from the Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle tomorrow, thanks to Paul Deloach we have access to his private boat ramp, after 2.6 river miles. That’s little more than an hour paddling.

[Parking, Paul Deloach Boat Ramp]
Parking, Paul Deloach Boat Ramp

As you can see, there’s plenty of parking.

So come on down to Troupville Boat Ramp as early as 8 AM, deposit your boat, or get one from State Line River Outfitters, drive to this takeout or to Spook Bridge, and the Boys & Girls Club will shuttle you back to Troupeville Boat Ramp to paddle. Don’t worry about how to drive to the takeouts: we’ll explain that tomorrow morning, and there will be convoys.

For everything else about the paddle, see:
https://wwals.net/?p=60845

There are some more pictures below.

 -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/

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 →

Clean Withlacoochee River 2023-02-23

Update 2023-03-03: Clean Rivers 2023-03-02.

2023-02-28: Yet another Valdosta sewage spill into Knights Creek 2023-02-22.

Happy boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend!

All the WWALS water quality test results for this Thursday were good.

We could use more water quality testers. If you want to get trained, please use this form:
https://forms.gle/DzWvJuXqTQi12N6v7

[Chart, River, Swim Guide 2023-02-23]
Chart, River, Swim Guide 2023-02-23

Even though Valdosta had yet another major sewage spill Monday, due to inadequate sewer main bypass, it probably did not have much effect on the Alapaha River. When WWALS Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall tested at Sasser Landing after Valdosta’s previous, even bigger, spill of Wednesday a week ago, due to sewer main collapse, results were fine at Sasser Landing, downstream of the spill location at Knights Creek, Mud Swamp Creek, the Alapahoochee River in Echols County, Georgia, and the Alapaha River in Hamilton County, Florida. Continue reading →

Valdosta and Ashburn in GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report 2023-02-23

Update 2023-02-25: Ashburn sewage spills in Clean Withlacoochee River 2023-02-23.

Update 2023-02-24: Another Valdosta E. Park Ave. sewage spill, 171,750 gallons 2023-02-20

Thursday was jackpot day for the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report, with Ashburn reporting spills totalling 326,000 gallons, almost half of Valdosta’s one 672,250 gallon spill.

[GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report 2023-02-23]
GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report 2023-02-23

First let’s look at Ashburn, then Valdosta. Continue reading →

Valdosta City Engineer and GA-DNR, Two Mile Branch @ Berkley Drive 2023-02-23

Valdosta City Engineer Benjamin O’Dowd volunteered to three GA-DNR people that there was still trash in the woods after the recent vac-truck cleanout of Two Mile Branch at Berkley Drive. He is considering what to do about that.

[Valdosta City Engineer, GA-DNR, Two Mile Branch, Berkley Drive 2023-02-23]
Valdosta City Engineer, GA-DNR, Two Mile Branch, Berkley Drive 2023-02-23

In addition to maybe moving the current Sugar Creek Watergoat to Two Mile Branch, another possibility is a concrete-and-steel trash trap like the one Valdosta recently built at its Lee Street Detention Pond.

I know this because Continue reading →

On-land cleanup, Withlacoochee River, Sullivan Launch, 2023-02-25

Meet at 9am at Sullivan launch, clean up, caravan to FL-6 bridge by 11am, or earlier if we finish before then. No boats needed: this cleanup is on land.

Afterwards, optional Knights Ferry cleanup depending on where the water level is at by then.

Thanks to Amy Meyers for leading this cleanup, and for becoming the new WWALS Outings Committee Chair!

When: 9 AM, Saturday, February 25, 2023

Put In: Sullivan Launch. This is off of CR 150 (NE Bellville Road) east of Pinetta, south of the road, downstream of river bridge, right (west) bank, in Madison County, Florida.

GPS: 30.595667, -83.26

Take Out: FL 6 Bridge. West of the river, turn north off of FL 6 onto Withlacoochee Shores Lane; stay right to stay on that. Turn right on NE Chervil Drive to the FL 6 right of way. Turn left to go to the river.

[Grafitti and trash, FL 6, Withlacoochee River, 2023-02-02, 16:39:06, 30.4823431, -83.2440116]
Grafitti and trash, FL 6, Withlacoochee River, 2023-02-02, 16:39:06, 30.4823431, -83.2440116
on the WWALS Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT).

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 →