Sugar Creek to Troupville, Withlacoochee River Cleanup 2023-07-22

Update 2023-07-21: Reroute: Sugar Creek and Troupville Withlacoochee River on-land cleanup 2023-07-22.

Update 2023-06-20: Rescheduled: Withlacoochee River Chainsaw Cleanup 2023-06-24. That one is now merged with this one on July 22, 2023.

Come help clean up behind the Valdosta YMCA and onwards to the Little River Confluence, then upstream to Troupville Boat Ramp.

Valdosta City Council Andy Gibbs will be with us, and maybe some other elected officials.

We hope the river will be much cleaner than a year ago when Council Gibbs and Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson saw logjams of trash on the river up close and personal. Since Valdosta has bought two trash traps and placed them on Sugar Creek and Two Mile Branch, and built one at their Lee Street Detention Pond on One Mile Branch, plus City Marshalls have sent notices to all parking lot owners that they need to clean up their act and strategically place trash cans like city ordinances require. Needless to say this all happened after quite a bit of urging by WWALS and many individuals.

And WWALS has done a series of chainsaw cleanups through this stretch, removing deadfalls that blocked the river.

Update 2023-06-20: A previously-scheduled chainsaw cleanup on this same river stretch, because of high water at its previous date, has been combined with this regular cleanup.

There is ample room for further improvement, but we hope to see quite a bit of improvement on the river already.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 1 PM, Saturday, July 22, 2023

Put In: Meet at the back of the Salty Snapper parking lot, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602 and we’ll put in at the railroad tracks.

GPS: 30.861764, -83.318854

[Trash a year ago, 2022-05-07]
Trash a year ago, 2022-05-07

Take Out: Troupville Boat Ramp.

Bring: Cleanup materials will be provided, but if you’ve got a trash picker, bring it along. Bring a sturdy shoes and clothes, a boat, paddles, PFD, drinking water, and snacks.

If you need a boat, let us know early through this form:
https://forms.gle/djKP5tqNPLgdH4wM7
If you’ve got a chainsaw and know how to use it in a boat, you can bring it to join the chainsaw cleanup part of this outing.

Free: This outing is free to everyone, because it is a cleanup!

We recommend you support the work of WWALS by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations

Event: facebook, meetup
https://www.facebook.com/events/614883607025723/
https://www.meetup.com/withlacoochee-alapaha-suwannee-rivers-wwals-outings/events/293624535

Paddle: 4 miles, 10 hours.

Shuttle: 2.4 miles, 20 minutes.
This outing includes the traditional WWALS shuttle. Everybody takes their boats to the put-in, most people drive to the take-out, and the drivers pile into one or two vehicles and go back to the put-in.

Host: Russell Allen McBride for the regular cleanup, Phil Hubbard for the chainsaw cleanup

Contact: Russell Allen McBride

Backup: in case of high or low water is: Cancel.
And whenever the water level gets to a usable level, call for a popup cleanup.

Gauge: Valdosta US 41 Withlacoochee River gauge. Highest safe 12.7 feet, 123′ NAVD. Lowest boatable 5.7 feet, 116′ NAVD.

Valdosta US 41 Withlacoochee River Gauge

More: For more WWALS outings and events as they are posted, see the WWALS outings web page, https://wwals.net/outings/. WWALS members also get an upcoming list in the Tannin Times newsletter.

For more about the trash situation, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/trash

 -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