Tag Archives: Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail

Comment deadline for Georgia draft regional water plans 2023-05-15

Update 2023-05-16: Rivers and mining: WWALS comments on Suwannee-Satilla Draft Regional Water Plan 2023-05-15.

The comment deadline is coming up in less than two weeks for the Georgia Regional Water Plans.

[Comment deadline 2023-05-15]
Comment deadline 2023-05-15

Here is the notice:
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/GADNR/bulletins/35828a6

The draft plans are here:
https://waterplanning.georgia.gov/regional-water-plans

The Suwannee-Satilla draft plan is here:
https://waterplanning.georgia.gov/suwannee-satilla-regional-water-plan

Send comments to: water.planning@dnr.ga.gov

For more information, please contact Clete Barton at (470) 251-4769 or Clete.Barton@dnr.ga.gov

The Suwannee-Satilla Regional Planning Council (SSRWPC) is meeting a few days after the deadline, May 24th, in Tifton.

 -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/

Pictures: Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08

Update 2023-05-04: Videos: Cleanup below Knights Ferry, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-08.

Josh Tison reported the Withlacoochee River blocked by a trash jam. He and Marla Tison and Bobby Higgs came out to help clear it, with chainsaws, on Yet Another Cleanup Knights Ferry to Nankin, Withlacoochee River, 2023-04-08.

An alligator jumped off the target trash jam just after I nosed my boat into it. Russell Allen McBride and Josh Tison walked on it. It was covered with trash, as were many other spots along the river.

The combination of trash brands again indicates it came from Valdosta: Cookout, Bojangles, and Jackson Hewitt, for example.

All this floating Valdosta trash is in Brooks County, because the county line between Brooks and Lowndes County is the east bank of the Withlacoochee River. And three Brooks County people came with their motor boat and chainsaws to clean up some of it.

[Collage, Cleanup, KF to Nankin, 2023-04-08]
Collage, Cleanup, KF to Nankin, 2023-04-08

Russell Allen McBride remarked, “As the leader of this outing it was sad that I had to have everyone leave several of the trash spots to have room and time for the main one.”

With now three trash traps and more promised, Valdosta is starting Continue reading →

Juneteenth at Reed Bingham State Park, Little River, Reed Bingham State Park Beach, 2023-06-17

Update 2023-06-16: Cancelled: Juneteenth at Reed Bingham State Park, Little River, Reed Bingham State Park Beach, 2023-06-17

Food and activities for children will be provided by Fannie Gibbs and Macedonia Community Foundation and Jenard S. Asthma Foundation.

WWALS will provide boats for new paddlers at this gathering of people from Brooks, Cook, and Tift Counties, Georgia, and beyond in celebration of Juneteenth.

[Boating and family fun at Juneteenth 2021]
Boating and family fun at Juneteenth 2021

WWALS will provide stunt adults to go with any children 16 or under so they can boat, in case their parents don’t want to paddle. Continue reading →

WWALS Development Director Veronica Oakler on Scott James radio from Jasper, FL 2023-04-28

Live on the air now!

As soon as I mentioned we had hired a Development Director, Scott James invited Veronica Oakler on his radio show, 92.1 FM, this morning, 6-8:15 AM, live from Jasper, Florida.

Listen: talk921.com.

Veronica lives in Madison, so it was a short trip across the Withlacoochee River to Jasper.

[Veronica Oakler on Scott James Radio 2023-04-28]
Veronica Oakler on Scott James Radio 2023-04-28

Event: facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/754268986238088/

More about Veronica: Continue reading →

Withlacoochee Springs and Slough, Sullivan Launch 2023-07-15

Update 2023-08-27: Pictures: Sullivan Launch to Florida Campsites, Withlacoochee River 2023-07-15.

Join us for a leisurely paddle by second magnitude Hardee Spring and other springs, as well as Fennels Funnel, a sinkhole leading to the extensive M2 Blue cave system, and Chitty Bend East Distributary, where some of the Withlacoochee River runs into the woods into some swallets.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 2:30 PM, Saturday, July 15, 2023

Put In: Sullivan Launch, The first public access point in Florida to the blackwater Withlacoochee River, Sullivan launch is a narrow concrete launch with free parking and a picnic area, but no picnic tables. It is in the Sullivan Tract of Twin Rivers State Park. From Pinetta, Madison County, FL, travel east on CR 150; turn right at the bridge and follow road to the launch south of the river bridge. Downstream it’s 8.8 miles or about 4.4 miles to paddle to Florida Campsites Ramp. First thing you’ll see is the twisted remains of the old Bellville Bridge, and on the right bank the Pinetta gauge.

GPS: 30.595667, -83.26

[Hardee Spring, 2015-10-24]
Hardee Spring, 2015-10-24 on the WWALS Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT)

Continue reading →

Good trash can news from Valdosta City Marshalls

Update 2023-05-14: Pictures: turtle rescue 2023-04-24.

Valdosta Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley yesterday told WWALS that City Marshalls have sent notices to all parking lot owners in Valdosta that they must follow city ordinances and place trash cans in their parking lots. Not just under the roofs at the store entrances: strategically placed, as the ordinance says.

[Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley and trash cans in parking lot]
Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley and trash cans in parking lot

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman and Two Mile Branch neighbor Katherine Ball were pleased to hear this new ordinance enforcement initiative. This ordinance enforcement is one of many levels WWALS continues to advocate to fix the trash problem.

Anetra Riley also told us that something long promised by the Mayor on his radio show has finally happened: Continue reading →

Clean WIthlacoochee River 2023-04-20

Update 2023-04-29: Nankin filthy, Withlacoochee River 2023-04-27.

WWALS tests were clean for Thursday on the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers.

Rain is predicted, but not much.

No new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

Happy boating, swimming, and fishing this weekend!

[Chart, River, Swim Guide Map]
Chart, River, Swim Guide Map

The most recent results we have from Valdosta are for Monday upstream and Wednesday week before last downstream. They generally Continue reading →

Ten days until BIG Little River Paddle Event, 2023-04-29

Hahira, GA, April 20, 2023 — WWALS charter board member Bret Wagenhorst will guide a free tour of the Little River from Red Roberts Landing to Reed Bingham State Park Lake, at 8 AM to 3 PM, Saturday, April 29, 2023.

Paddlers will learn about natural history of the river, from flora and fauna to aspects of rivers and black water: oxbows, tannic acid, river foam, hairpin curves and breakthroughs, sloughs, silt deposition sides, etc. If more than 8 boats sign up, we will add another tour guide.

[Bret Wagenhorst, paddlers on the Little River, 2022]
Bret Wagenhorst, paddlers on the Little River, 2022

The tour will Continue reading →

Clean Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers 2023-04-13

Update 2023-04-21: Clean WIthlacoochee River 2023-04-20.

Update 2023-04-18: Naylor Beach and Boat Ramp in Swim Guide 2023-04-18.

Happy swimming, fishing, and boating this weekend!

[Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-04-13]
Chart, Rivers, Swim Guide Map 2023-04-13

All WWALS water quality test results for Thursday show clean from E. coli for the Little, Withlacoochee, and Alapaha Rivers. Crawford Branch at Skipper Bridge Road was a bit higher, but well within the 410 one-time test limit.

No new sewage spills have been reported in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida.

Rain is predicted for Sunday morning, but probably not enough to wash much contamination into the rivers. Continue reading →

Reissued Valdosta Stormwater Permit –GA-EPD 2022-12-06

Update 2023-05-19: Valdosta annual stormwater reports to GA-EPD 2023-02-14.

In December GA-EPD reissued Valdosta’s stormwater permit, which happens every five years.

[About, NOI, maps: Valdosta reissued Stormwater permit 2022-12-06]
About, NOI, maps: Valdosta reissued Stormwater permit 2022-12-06

However, if I understand the response by Valdosta City Engineer Ben O’Dowd in the documents received in response to an open records request, all there is right now is a generic boilerplate permit for cities of this size. That generic permit requires Valdosta to spell out best practices it will use, and to update its Stormwater Master Plan (SWMP), all by June 4, 2023.

Since the City Engineer has been quite receptive to public input lately, I hope this means Valdosta will be accepting input into rewriting the SWMP. About trash, for example. Continue reading →