With reference Yellow Dog.
Taken from Tyler Bridge on river mile 78.71 at Franklinville Road.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
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Tag Archives: Withlacoochee River
Where nobody lives in the Suwannee River Basin
Obviously nobody lives in most of the Okefenokee Swamp or the Osceola National Forest, but also most of Clinch County is unpopulated west of the Swamp, as is much of the Gulf coast along the Suwannee River Estuary, from Cedar Key north to Horsehoe Bay, plus large parts of Dixie and Lafayette Counties west of the Suwannee River.
Nobody Lives Here:
Unpopulated U.S. Census Blocks,
screenshot by jsq from interactive map by
mapsbynik.
Update 2017-06-20: As someone pointed out, rangers do live in the Okefenokee Swamp, presumably in the white area along the access road.
Cedar Key is the island at the bottom of the map, and from a bit north on the Gulf Coast you can follow Continue reading
Sabal Trail sinkholes 2015 2017-05-05
Apparently that wet area I saw March 20, 2017 at Sabal Trail’s Suwannee River HDD access in Suwannee County was a “depression” they had just logged the previous day. Two more recent ones show up in Sabal Trail’s latest bi-weekly report, along with a couple of earlier ones they still haven’t even attempted to fix. Why should we expect these sinkholes will stop happening if Sabal Trail finishes and takes all their workers back to Houston, leaving us to deal with the damage?
I also wondered what they were up to a bit southeast of that drill site,
beyond the dirt berm where I could only see their heads and hats.
Apparently that was another sinkhole from January at the
Suwannee River HDD in Suwannee County.
Or maybe it was in Hamilton County in Suwannee River State Park;
their description is so sloppy it’s hard to tell.
They also made a sinkhole a couple of thousand feet east of the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, and yet another sinkhole near the Santa Fe River HDD. The big winner is Continue reading
Video: Pilgrim’s Pride effluent pipe directly into Suwannee River
With the Suwannee River low, you can see the effluent coming out of the pipe west of Live Oak, FL. Pilgrim’s Pride just rejected a shareholder resolution to curb water pollution from its operations. And Aviagen is opening a chicken breeding operation in Brooks County, GA, in the watershed of the Withlacoochee River, upstream of the Suwannee.
Pilgrim's Pride, Proud to Dump into Suwannee River? from Merrillee on Vimeo.
“Pilgrim’s Pride discharges over 2 million gallons a day of liquid
poultry wastes in the Suwannee River from a meat rendering facility
located north of Live Oak, FL.”
Thanks to Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson of Sierra Club for .this video, which she showed me, along with many pictures, when she was in Valdosta for the VDT interview with Randy Dowdy about Sabal Trail destroying his farmland.
I asked Merrillee whether Continue reading
Chicken hatchery coming to Quitman, GA
Update 2017-05-06: More on ownership of Aviagen.
In Brooks County south of Quitman, draining into Piscola Creek and the Withlacoochee River, in the same industrial park where WWALS caught Sabal Trail illegally burning, a poultry breeder will be setting up shop.
News Desk, Area Development, 9 March 2017, Aviagen Plans $18 Million Hatchery In Quitman, Georgia,
Aviagen, a leading broiler breeding company, will create 100 jobs and invest approximately $18 million in a new parent stock hatchery at Brooks County Industrial Park, 17 miles west of Valdosta, in Quitman, Georgia.
The Quitman facility will be Aviagen’s eighth Continue reading
Gas pipeline leak near Withlacoochee River in Valdosta
If a small city gas pipeline leak shuts down major roads, imagine what the much larger Sabal Trail pipeline could do.
North Valdosta Road is US 41, and the section between Country Club Road and Val Del that was shut down is there it crosses the Withlacoochee River:
Map from
Lowndes County Property Appraiser.
I can’t find this notice anywhere on the city’s website or the Valdosta Police website, so here it is from the VDT:
Valdosta Daily Times, 27 April 2017, City issues gas leak caution, Continue reading
Charlie Walker dried off in time on KIX 99.5 FM for the BIG Little River Paddle Race 2017-04-26
Last year paddling the Withlacoochee River Charlie Walker fell in before we got to Langdale Park, but he’s dried off now and ready for the BIG Little River Paddle Race.
As we discussed this morning on
KIX 99.5 FM,
come on down to Reed Bingham State Park between Adel and Moultrie
Saturday morning at 8AM,
and stay for the the grilled lunch and the silent auction.
You do not have to train by paddline upstream;
you can just paddle the excellent course three miles downstream
past cypress, pines, great blue herons, turtles, and fish.
Don’t pet the alligators and they won’t bother you.
Remember to register online or at the event Saturday morning. And you can get tickets for the kayak raffle, either at the race or online!
Here’s the video. Continue reading
FL Sen. Nelson to EPA about Valdosta sewage and response
Here is a letter from Florida Senator Bill Nelson to the EPA about the Valdosta wastewater situation, and the EPA’s response, which was underwhelming.
A suggestion: say what it is you’d like the EPA, GA-EPD, FDEP, etc. to actually do.
And what I’d suggest is get them all to fund and implement regular, frequent,
closely spaced, water quality monitoring along all the rivers in the
Suwannee River Basin.
That way we’d know where pollution is coming from,
we’d be able to calibrate what cities including Valdosta say from
their own monitoring, and we’d have baselines to compare to.
Sen. Bill Nelson to EPA
Continue readingProtection of the Suwannee River against Valdosta Sewage –City of Fanning Springs, FL 2017-04-11
Not just for all seven downstream Florida counties anymore:
the City of Fanning Springs has also passed a resolution
asking the Florida governor to help stop Valdosta wastewater spills.
Maybe Valdosta will pay attention this time.
The Valdosta City Council and Mayor didn’t seem to understand when I used the Suwannee County resolution to draw attention to the part about:
“which again resulted in the Florida Department of Health issuing public health advisories warning the public of wastewater contamination in the Withlacoochee River and portions of the Historic Suwannee River, which resulted in warnings being posted at all public access areas along the rivers stating that the rivers were not safe for recreational use and every precaution should be taken to avoid any contact with the river;”
Maybe I should have tried this pithier part at the end: Continue reading
River spraying erosion, Withlacoochee River
Received yesterday:
The property owner sprayed this section of bank along the Withlacoochee with roundup several years ago. This picture clearly shows why we need to protect and leave intact the vegetation along the river banks. The erosion has only occurred at the section that was denuded of vegetation.
Chris Mericle
Madison County side,
30.4162370, -83.2077630.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!