Tag Archives: Withlacoochee River

Valdosta-Lowndes County Comprehensive Parks & Recreation Master Plan 2021-08-31

Years in the making by VLPRA, received in response to a WWALS open records request, this new Parks & Rec. Master Plan adds to the traditional team sports strategy new strategies including “STRATEGY 6: IMPROVE ACCESS AND AMENITIES TO THE COUNTY’S RIVERS,” involving land acquisition and for not just one but for a chain of river camps.

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They incorporated all of WWALS Vision for water quality and access in Lowndes County, Georgia 2021-03-01. Continue reading →

Please deny second Adel wood pellet plant –WWALS to GA-EPD 2021-11-19

Let one pellet plant in, and another follows. WWALS asked GA-EPD to stop that second one in Adel, Georgia, on the divide between the Little and Withlacoochee River Basins, between Morrison Creek of the Little River and Bear Creek of the Withlacoochee River. Any contaminant spills could end up in one or the other. Deforestation could affect water flows and increase flooding.

[Tree cutting radius, plant location, letter]
Tree cutting radius, plant location, letter

WWALS Public Comments on Air Permit Application No. 28143 for Spectrum Energy Georgia, LLC

See also the PDF, and the permit application. Continue reading →

Clean rivers still 2021-11-20

Update 2021-12-03: Good Withlacoochee River water quality except GA 133 2021-12-02.

The Withlacoochee still tested clean for Saturday. No rain is expected for the next ten days except possibly a bit on Friday. So the rivers will probably stay clean.

Have fun fishing, swimming, and boating this weekend and week.

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

Jacob and Michael Bachrach tested at Knights Ferry, Nankin, and State Line Boat Ramps Saturday, and got clean results at all three.

This confirms our clean report from Wednesday and Thursday WWALS test results.

Also, it’s great that people love our water trail signs, but please stop shooting at them, painting on them, and stealing them. They’re there to help people enjoy the rivers and keep them clean. Continue reading →

Clean rivers again 2021-11-18

Update 2021-11-21: Clean rivers still 2021-11-20.

Another clean week! Have fun fishing, swimming, and boating this weekend. Well, swimming if it warms up.

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

The most E. coli WWALS testers found was 200 cfu/100 mL for Thursday at Folsom Bridge Landing @ GA 122 on the Little River. That’s well below the 400 cfu/100 mL one-time sample limit. Thanks to Elizabeth Brunner for that location and for zeroes at Hagan Bridge Landing on the Withlacoochee River and Lakeland Boat Ramp on the Alapaha River, both also on GA 122.

Valerie Folsom also got zero for Wednesday at Willacoochee Landing @ GA 135 on the Alapaha River.

Gus Cleary got a very low 33 for Wednesday at Cleary Bluff, downstream from Allen Ramp on the Withlacoochee River.

Thanks to the WWALS testers and to WWALS Testing Committee Chair Suzy Hall for herding the cats.

Valdosta’s Monday upstream results were also clean. Continue reading →

Videos: One Valdosta-Lowndes, Troupville River Camp @ LCC 2021-11-08

Featuring as their number one BIG thing was “River Camp Project”, in a presentation about One Valdosta-Lowndes (OVL), which was far the longest item at 33 minutes at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session on November 8, 2021.

[One Valdosta-Lowndes, River Camp Project, Dr. Carvajal, Origins]
One Valdosta-Lowndes, River Camp Project, Dr. Carvajal, Origins

You may recognize that as Troupville River Camp, for which WWALS submitted an application to the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program (GOSP) in 2019. Back then there was no cash match available. Now both Valdosta and Lowndes County have funds to purchase Land Between the Rivers from Helen Tapp, at the Little River Confluence with the Withlacoochee River. Helen sent GA-AL Land Trust to walk the land a month ago, and probably soon a conservation easement will be worked out. Meanwhile, Troupville River Camp and Troupville Nature Park are prominently featured in the WWALS Vision for Water Quality and Access in Lowndes County Georgia 2020-12-02. That Vision was input to the Master Plan Update process for Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLPRA), and the resulting VLPRA Master Plan incorporates the River Camp and other river access and facilities as priorities.

Add the possibility of Valdosta buying for parkland the 300+ acres of the Cherry Creek Mitigation Bank. And the potential for Sugar Creek downstream of Baytree as an urban recreational creek.

It’s good to see One Valdosta-Lowndes interested in river and creek access and recreation.

Below are videos by Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), which also has the rest of the meeting. Continue reading →

Clean rivers 2021-11-13

Update 2021-11-20: Clean rivers again 2021-11-18.

As far as we know from the water quality results we have, happy swimming, fishing, and boating this weekend!

WWALS ran a skeleton crew this week, because there’s been no rain, and we did not expect any contamination. Didn’t find any, either. Valdosta’s results through Monday also were clean.

[Chart + Folsom + Lakeland; Hagan, charts, Cleary Bluff; Map: Swim Guide]
Chart + Folsom + Lakeland; Hagan, charts, Cleary Bluff; Map: Swim Guide

Are there any database programmers in the house? We have far too many manual steps collecting the numerous sources of water quality data and rainfall into the WWALS composite spreadsheet, and also over to Swim Guide and Georgia Adopt-A-Stream. We hear Valdosta suffers from the same delay in getting data into their online table. If anybody wants to help collect these sources from various formats, record them in a database, and pull them back out into various other formats, please contact us.

Or maybe you’d like to get trained to join our testing crew?

This week, Gus Cleary tested both Sunday and Wednesday at Cleary Bluff, downstream from Allen Ramp on the Withlacoochee River, and got good results each time. (Gus would like zero every time, but that’s not likely.)

Upstream, Elizabeth Brunner got clean results for Thursday on GA 122 at Folsom Bridge on the Little River, Hagan Bridge on the Withlacoochee River, and Lakeland Boat Ramp on the Alapaha River. Continue reading →

Pictures: WWALS Boomerang paddle race 2021-10-23

Here are some more pictures of the WWALS Boomerang paddle race 2021, winners and all.

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See also facebook photosets by:

Preparing

Continue reading →

Winners: WWALS Boomerang paddle race 2021-10-23

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hahira, Georgia, November 10, 2021 — The 2021 First Prize winner set a new record for the WWALS Boomerang paddle race, from Georgia into Florida and back: Lloyd Reeves of Crescent City, Putnam County, Florida, in the St Johns River watershed. He was also generous, handing back the prize money.

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All seventeen paddlers had a good time on a cool, sunny, fall morning. The Withlacoochee River water levels were just right, so everybody floated right over the one shoal. Two college paddlers from Valdosta State University CORE were sponsored by Dry Pocket Apparel and Packaging Corporation of America (PCA). WWALS thanks those and other sponsors, the other paddlers, and the silent auction bidders, for a successful fundraiser.

Of the nine female and eight male paddlers, 12 were from Georgia, and 5 from Florida. Tallahassee’s Leon County, Florida, had almost as many paddlers (4) as local Lowndes County, Georgia (6), and Tallahassee had as many as Valdosta (4 each). The farthest paddler came from DeKalb County, GA, on the other side of Atlanta.

Lloyd Reeves drove 167 miles to win the six-mile course (3 down and 3 back) in 58 minutes and 43 seconds with his accurately-labeled fastkayak.com.

That beats the previous record of 1:16:42, made last year by Jackson Buttery of Tallahassee. Continue reading →

Good Thursday, but big Friday rains probably will cause contamination, Withlacoochee River 2021-11-04

Update 2021-11-13: Clean rivers 2021-11-13.

All pretty clean for Thursday and Wednesday samples on the Little, Alapaha, and Withlacoochee Rivers, but there were big rains Friday, so expect the same kind of contamination today and tomorrow that happened a week ago after similar rains. I’d wait a few days before boating, swimming, or fishing in the Withlacoochee River.

[Chart, Folsom, Hagan; Lakeland, Cleary Bluff; Knights Ferry, Nankin, State Line; Swim Guide]
Chart, Folsom, Hagan; Lakeland, Cleary Bluff; Knights Ferry, Nankin, State Line; Swim Guide

None of the WWALS results for Thursday were zero, but they’re all well below the 410 cfu/100 mL one-time limit.

We have Valdosta downstream results through last Friday. Once again Valdosta results corroborate WWALS results. It’s interesting that last Thursday’s rain contamination had reached Nankin but not State Line by last Friday morning. The Valdosta Okapilco Creek results indicates much of that contamination is probably the usual cattle manure runoff coming out of Brooks County. It’s still lower than the results from last year under similar conditions, so whatever the cattle farmers are doing seems to be working, with room for more improvement. Continue reading →

Big rains and big contamination 2021-10-28

Update 2021-11-06: Good Thursday, but big Friday rains probably will cause contamination, Withlacoochee River 2021-11-04.

Our upstream tester got rained out at GA 122 Thursday, but downstream at Knights Ferry on the Withlacoochee River WWALS got way too high E. coli. That contamination is now running downstream.

[Chart + Alapaha River; Withlacoochee River; KF plates, Clearys Bluff; Swim Guide Map]
Chart + Alapaha River; Withlacoochee River; KF plates, Clearys Bluff; Swim Guide Map

Where did it come from? Chances are the usual cattle manure runoff out of Brooks County, Georgia, down Okapilco Creek. Probably plus wild hogs.

This is unfortunately what we’ve come to expect after big rains. And every gauge we follow got more than an inch of rain Thursday.

So I do not recommend river fishing, swimming, or boating this weekend. Continue reading →