A legislative study committee that has been examining how to guarantee Georgians access to the state’s navigable rivers and streams – including at least two in the immediate Gainesville area – without violating private property rights is siding with the status quo.
Capitol Beat News reports the study committee’s final report has just been released.
The Chestatee River, a tributary of the Chattahoochee River and Lake Lanier, is one of the waterways that was at the center of a debate. EARLIER STORY. POSTED DEC. 12, 2023: Legislative committee files report on fishing rights in Ga.
Opening up privately held stretches of trout streams in North Georgia to public fishing would ruin a cottage industry vital to the region’s economy, a parade of waterfront property owners warned state lawmakers in Clarkesville in October 2023. EARLIER STORY. POSTED OCT. 13, 2023: ‘Leave the Soque alone.’ Legislative committee gets an earful at hearing in Habersham
(Pictured: Soque River. Courtesy Georgia Department of Natural Resources)