Photo by Alan Cressler via Flickr. Location: Suwannee River, Big Shoals Public Lands, Hamilton and Columbia Counties, Florida.
The Suwannee River Basin is made up of the Suwanee, Alapaha, Little, Withlacoochee, and Willacoochee Rivers, among others, draining over 11,000 square miles of land in Georgia and Florida. The area has been inhabited by humans for thousands of years, originally by the Weedon Island people, then Timucuan peoples, and eventually Seminoles and Spanish colonists. The Suwannee River is a free-flowing blackwater river that runs almost 250 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. The basin includes multiple wildlife preserves, state parks, and wilderness areas. Continue exploring the Suwannee below.
CONSERVATION
Explore Suwannee Riverkeeper, also known as the WWALS (Withlacoochee-Willacoochee-Alapaha-Little-Santa Fe-Suwannee) Watershed Coalition.
Check out the Suwannee River Water Management District website for more information on the basin.
Learn about the EPD’s Fish Consumption Advisories online in the Guidelines for Eating Fish from Georgia’s Waters.
Photo by Alan Cressler via Flickr. Location: Withlacoochee River, Lowndes and Brooks Counties, Georgia.
Photo by Alan Cressler via Flickr. Location: Doerun Pitcherplant Bog Natural Area, Colquitt County, Georgia. Sarracenia flava var. rugelii (Yellow Trumpet) is a carnivorous pitcherplant species found in southern Georgia and northern Florida. Learn more about this species here.
RECREATION
There are so many interesting spots to explore in the Suwannee basin. Learn about natural history and wildlife at Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge or Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, paddle the Okefenokee Wilderness Area Canoe Trails, and don’t forget to check out the River Basin Center’s educational resources on the Okefenokee Swamp! Prefer flora to fauna? Visit the Doerun Pitcherplant Bog, because if that doesn’t sound fun I don’t know what does.
Other parks and recreation areas: Reed Bingham State Park, Stephen C. Foster State Park, Suwannee River Eco-Lodge
EDUCATION
Learn more about the Suwannee, along with Georgia’s other amazing rivers, at Georgia Rivers.
Read about water science in the Suwannee River at USGS.
Check out the River Basin Center’s resources on the Okefenokee Swamp.
Explore Georgia State-Protected species by watershed at the Georgia Biodiversity Portal.
Photo by Alan Cressler via Flickr.
Map of the Suwannee River Basin. Created by Anna Baynes (UGA River Basin Center).