2023 Goals

The WWALS Goals adopted by the WWALS Board on April 16, 2023, are overarching items which help us achieve our vision and mission. They involve education, resource, engagement, documentation, threats, solutions, community, and fundraising.

[2023-04-17--suwannee-river-basin-landings-map]
Suwannee River Basin
in the WWALS map of all public landings in the Suwannee River Basin.

  1. Education of general public about conservation and stewardship of WWALS watershed.
    1. Outreach to youth, teachers, community leaders through speaking at K-12 and college classes and at service clubs, swim and kayak training, outings, art contests, collaborating with educational institutions, workshops for youth, adults, and educators, etc. Use traditional and social media (TV, newspapers, magazines, blog, facebook, instagram, twitter, tiktok, etc.) to disseminate information and to get feedback.
    2. Use traditional and social media (TV, newspapers, magazines, blog, facebook, instagram, twitter, tiktok, etc.) to disseminate information and to get feedback.
  2. Act as a knowledge resource about physical, biological and natural resources to, and about, our community.
    1. Maintain an Inventory of resources of health and science (geology, biology, hydrology) which support our educational activities.
    2. The inventory will include native and invasive species information, maps, information about existing organizations (NRCS, University Extensions, Water Management Districts, etc)
    3. Record what we see now and continue to record to see if things change (photos, water quality)
    4. Develop a systematic way to store this inventory of information.
    5. All in collaboration among WWALS Committees including Science, Trails, Outings, Testing, and Issues, as well as with Suwannee Riverkeeper.
  3. Engage with local agencies on routine water quality testing; see https://wwals.net/issues/testing
    1. Find out what is happening now
    2. Identify missing sampling (stormwater, others?)
    3. Work with farm agencies (FSA, Farm Bureau, NRCS, Extension Offices) to learn what they do and present what we do and figure out how we can work together.
  4. Develop and maintain documentation relevant to our watershed
    1. Maps, water trails, brochures, photos, blog; see https://wwals.net/water-trails/ and https://wwals.net/maps/
    2. (this somewhat overlaps with #2, however we develop documentation that is specific to WWALS projects, and views which will then be stored used by #2.)
  5. Identify and address threats to the WWALS Watershed.
    Examples include but are not limited to sewage, trash, PFAS, water withdrawals, fertilizer and pesticides running off and leaching into waterways, mining (phosphate and titanium),fracking, fossil fuel pipelines, and liquid natural gas (LNG) export, etc.
  6. Solutions: proactively go beyond reacting to threats by developing and implementing in collaboration with other organizations ways to change the playing field, such as promoting solar power to reduce fossil fuel use, stopping LNG export operations, and Rights to Clean Water (RTCW) constitutional amendments; see https://wwals.net/issues/rtcw
    1. Clean ups are stewardship in action, but we need to prevent the causes; see https://wwals.net/issues/trash
    2. Trash traps reduce the need for downstream cleanups, but trash still gets into streams upstream, forming a health hazard to people and to wildlife that eat it and cannot digest it.
    3. Enforcement of city and county trash ordinances reduce trash getting into waterways, but still too much single-use trash is being produced.
    4. Bottle deposits and single-use packaging bans reduce the sources of the problem.
  7. Engage our community in outdoor activities. outings, water trails, fishing tournaments, geocaching, hiking, cleanups, etc.; see https://wwals.net/outings and https://wwals.net/water-trails/
    1. Get water trails, springs, history, trash traps, and other waterway features and solutions into county Comprehensive Plans and parks and recreation plans.
    2. Integrate historical and current features of waterways into water trails, outings, and other activities, such as historic fords, bridges, land ownership, previous paths of the rivers, etc., in collaboration with WWALS members, historical societies, and others.
    3. Physically improve waterways through removing deadfalls, cleanups and upstream trash solutions, adding signage, and other methods.
    4. Promote renewal of existing facilities, such as trails inside Langdale Park and trash cans at boat ramps and beaches.
    5. Develop new outdoor facilities, such as Troupville River Camp and Nature Park, in collaboration with other organizations and people.
  8. Raise money to fund organization on an ongoing basis
    1. Fully fund Suwannee Riverkeeper, Executive Director, Development Director, and eventually other staff, possibly including additional Riverkeepers for specific sub-basins.
    2. Develop a fundraising plan [done, but always needs updating]
    3. Approve budget [done, but always needs updating]