Liquid Assets: Georgia Rivers and Streams Are a Source of Year-Round Enjoyment

“Georgia’s economy floats on our rivers,” says Rena Ann Peck, executive director of the Georgia River Network. “They make possible power production and industry, provide us with the water we use in our homes and support the state’s robust outdoor recreation and tourism economies. And for those of us lucky to call Georgia home, they’re integral to our quality of life.”

Adventure Seekers: Kayakers meet at the Chattahoochee River for a day of paddling. Photo credit: contributed

The Georgia Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that in 2022 outdoor recreation generated $15.7 billion for the state’s economy. Fishing and boating topped the list at $1.1 billion, putting the state ninth in the nation for these activities and supporting nearly 161,000 jobs.

Peck’s goal is to get people out on the state’s nearly 40 water trails – the water equivalent of hiking trails. The Georgia River Network has published seven river guidebooks and recently launched a free app with information on difficulty level, safe public access points, river mileage between accesses, points of interest, shuttle services and more.

“Once you get introduced to a river,” says Peck, “you get that sense of spiritual, emotional connection that you wouldn’t have just driving over it in a car. So, getting down immersed in the water, just seeing miracle after miracle, is precious for our soul, but also precious for us to turn into stewards of that river and to protect it for our communities and for the wildlife in the river.”

Rivers of Riches

Georgia’s weather allows year-round outdoor river recreation supported by the state’s 70 registered outfitters and small retailers, says Amanda Dyson-Thornton, executive director of the Georgia Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus.

“Georgia’s economy floats on our rivers. They make possible power production and industry, provide us with the water we use in our homes and support the state’s robust outdoor recreation and tourism economies. And for those of us lucky to call Georgia home, they’re integral to our quality of life.” Rena Ann Peck, executive director, Georgia River Network

“They’re the tuber and kayak outfitters, the paddleboard renters,” she says. “They’re the ones you Google when you go on vacation with your family.”

Jeannie Yarger bought the Flint River Outpost in Albany in 2015 to support and work with her four kids as a single mother. She runs the Flint River from Warwick to Bainbridge, renting kayaks and canoes and offering guide and shuttle services. Yarger says she gets visitors from all over the East and North.

“As soon as I started advertising,” says Yarger, “it blew up like crazy. We’ve been extremely busy. It’s great.”

The Georgia River Network estimates an additional 70 guides make their living off the rivers, beyond the outfitters. The state is also home to three companies that make and sell kayaks – Crescent Kayaks, Dreamboats Kayaks and Vibe Kayaks.

Enjoying Nature: George Dusenbury, vice president for the southern region and Georgia state director at the Trust for Public Land, at Morgan Falls Park in Fulton County. Photo credit: Gregg McGough

Crescent Kayaks owner James Derbecker has been in business in Carrollton for 15 years and says business really took off in 2018 when the company shifted from selling to rental companies and began selling to the kayak retail market. Sales grew by 300% in 2020, doubled in 2021, and the company has produced 10 new models of kayaks. The last five models each have what Derbecker calls “a cause behind the craft” – a Georgia-based cause supported by sales. A portion of proceeds from sales of the Primo, a kayak for beginners, supports the children’s division of the Kayak Adventure Series Fishing Tournament, and sales of the K-Craft – a coastal boat – help support the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island. The latest model, the Shoalie, is Crescent’s first specialized fishing kayak and is named after Georgia’s rare black shoal bass. Derbecker uses only local companies for parts such as ropes and aluminum seats and says each boat and corresponding initiative is “a love letter to Georgia’s rivers.”

“I believe in community and authenticity, and it’s cool to achieve that with people around you,” he says. Last year, the Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Georgia Economic Developers Association named Crescent Kayaks a Georgia Small Business ROCK STAR.

Fun on the Water

Nantahala Outdoor Center General Manager George Virgo says opportunities for river-based fun range from summer camps and Match.com singles sunset paddling on the Chattahoochee in Roswell to fishing and kayaking tournaments, including the 2023 ICF Kayak Freestyle World Championships on the whitewater of the Chattahoochee in Columbus.

“These events are paramount for Georgia tourism because they create revenue opportunities for our destinations, which include local businesses, dining and lodging,” says Dyson-Thornton.

In May, Crescent Kayaks sponsored a two-day bass fishing “Shoaliepalooza” tournament where anglers chose the Flint, Chattahoochee or Ocmulgee rivers or High Falls Lake or Lake Juliette to fish shoals. The company declared Thomaston – dubbed by Crescent the state’s shoal bass fishing epicenter – its headquarters for the tournament and rented the town’s Ritz Theater for the closing awards ceremony. The town held a weekend-long festival with live music, a kid’s zone, food trucks and truck demos. Derbecker says 100 anglers came to Georgia to join the tournament.

For 19 years each June, the Georgia River Network has hosted Paddle Georgia, an annual weeklong canoe/kayak camping trip on a different Georgia river, this year on the Altamaha.

Joe Cook, author of the network’s guidebooks and Paddle Georgia coordinator, says he was inspired to start the trip by a bike-across-the-state event and wondered if it would be possible to do it by water. The first year, he hoped to have 100 people sign up. He got 300 and since then has had 250 to 400 participants every year, making it what he says is the largest weeklong canoe/kayak camping adventure in the country.

“On a weeklong trip,” says Cook, “you get to see how a river changes; you get to see how we use a river, how we abuse a river. And it gives you a greater understanding of the roles that our rivers play in our daily lives.”

Year-Round Recreation: Amanda Dyson-Thornton, executive director of the Georgia Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus, at the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area near Island Ford Parkway. Photo credit: Daemon Baizan

Cook says Paddle Georgia generates about $250,000 each year for the nonprofit network, but it’s the effect in the towns they visit that intrigues him. His own admittedly unscientific survey of paddlers suggests they spend about $200 a day in local communities on gas, food and lodging each time they head out on a river.

“I was hooked from the first minute,” says Atlanta resident Dee Stone, who’s been on every trip since the first one in 2005. “The people were so lovely, and the river was more beautiful than you can ever imagine. When you’re in the river, it looks different than when you’re on a bridge or a riverbank. It’s just different. It’s amazing.”

The Multiplier Effect

Stone is an example of an important multiplier effect. Since her first Paddle Georgia trip, she’s bought five boats, plus equipment, “plus all the camping equipment, then fast food, hotels, snacks, bags of ice … I go in all the junk stores and antique stores and clothing stores, so I spend money in these communities when I go there.”

“You have a lot of mom-and-pop shops that really rely on Georgia’s rivers,” says George Dusenbury, vice president for the southern region and Georgia state director at The Trust for Public Land (TPL). “These are important economic drivers. People don’t just want to go and paddle; they want to go and spend some time and get to see Georgia.”

Peck says the Georgia River Network is launching a study this year to drill down on the economic impact of river recreation. Other than Cook’s unscientific survey, Peck says there’s a 2023 study of the Alabama Scenic River Trail that found paddlers there spend an average of $132 a day per person for gas, food, lodging and recreation-related fees.

“For Georgia’s small towns, which may rely on tourism as a significant source of income, understanding and quantifying this multiplier effect can be invaluable,” says Dyson-Thornton. “It can help local governments, businesses and community organizations make informed decisions about how to support and promote river recreation to maximize its economic benefits. And it can highlight the importance of preserving and protecting rivers and their surrounding environments.”

Expanding River Access

The Trust for Public Land’s Dusenbury says continued wealth creation requires both protecting and expanding river access. “When skilled workers are looking to relocate, they’re looking for those outdoor recreational opportunities. And you shouldn’t have to hop on a plane and fly out to Colorado or some other state that’s protecting its waters for its citizens. …We need to provide that recreational opportunity here in Georgia.”

For more than 30 years, TPL has spearheaded efforts to increase access to the Chattahoochee and helped preserve more than 18,000 acres of land and 80 miles of riverfront for public use. The Chattahoochee RiverLands project envisions a 100-mile trail and parks from Buford Dam to Chattahoochee State Bend Park, connecting 19 cities across seven Metro Atlanta counties and building 42 water access points and eight campsites.

Dusenbury says the project will take decades to complete as TPL works with partners along the Chattahoochee to acquire land and build parks and trails through the heart of one of America’s largest metro regions. Construction is underway on a 48-mile section of the paddle trail from Atlanta to the McIntosh Reserve in Carroll County scheduled to open this fall. Paddlers will soon be able to spend four days and three nights paddling and camping with new stops at Standing Peachtree Greenspace in Atlanta, Buzzards Roost in Fulton/South Fulton, and Chattahoochee Hills RiverLands Park and Campbellton Park in Chattahoochee Hills.

TPL is also partnering with Cobb County to build out the first 2.7-mile section of the RiverLands park and trail, connecting Smyrna and Mableton. Cobb County will open the first section of trail at Discovery Park at the River Line later this year, according to Dusenbury.

The Georgia River Network’s Peck says with a small infrastructure investment, small towns can expand access points along water trails and leverage natural assets to create tourism and entrepreneurial opportunities.

David Dixon, past president of Flint Riverkeepers, says that’s what’s driving the creation of new access points in Lee County.

“The biggest impact for Lee County is our recreation and what we have to offer,” he says. “It’s mostly ag land. We have small and medium businesses, but the draw, especially on the weekends, is water enjoyment.”

Making Connections: Rendering of RiverLands Gateway Park on the Chattahoochee in Cobb County, left and rendering of an aerial view of the trail project at Mableton Parkway and Discovery Boulevard, right. Photo credit: Scape Landscape Architecture

Lee County’s Flint River, Muckalee and Kinchafoonee creeks are included in the river network’s guide and map, and paddlers support two area outfitters. Dixon says the county is working with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to add to the existing access points with one in Pirates Cove Nature Park on the Muckalee and another in Jackson’s Ford on the Kinchafoonee.

“What we really need in Lee County,” says Dixon, “is places for people to stay as this thing progresses. We have the restaurants, we have camping, we have the outfitters. If we had a small hotel, I think that would have enormous benefit to the Lee County economy.”

Okefenokee Wonder

One of the most significant access expansions is planned in the southeast corner of the state where two rivers – the St. Marys and the Suwannee – originate in what’s considered one of the seven natural wonders of Georgia, the Okefenokee Swamp. The swamp is a shallow, 438,000-acre, peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia-Florida line. It’s North America’s largest blackwater swamp – so called for the vegetation tannins darkening the water. More than 90% of the swamp is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee Wilderness.

Protecting the swamp has been a hot topic lately after a proposed Twin Pines titanium mine got the attention of residents, legislators and environmentalists. Opponents of the project say it could be detrimental to the swamp. Supporters say it will bring needed jobs to the rural area.

Kim Bednarek paddled, hiked and camped the swamp before becoming the first executive director of the Okefenokee Swamp Park four years ago. Her goal is for the swamp to be a regional driver for rural economic development through ecotourism and outdoor recreation.

Protecting Georgia’s Jewel: Kim Bednarek, executive director of Okefenokee Swamp Park. Photo credit: Frank Fortune

“Georgia has this amazing narrative that it’s No. 1 for business for the last 10 years,” says Bednarek. “But that’s not for all parts of Georgia. Southeast Georgia is one of those places that is profoundly disadvantaged.”

Bednarek wants to rebrand the region around the hoped-for designation of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge as a United Nations Educational Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site.

The refuge was first identified as a potential World Heritage Site more than 40 years ago and moved onto a tentative list in 2007. Bednarek says the U.S. Department of Interior plans to officially nominate the refuge in January 2025, with formal inscription in the summer of 2026. She says the designation is “like a five-star international Yelp review; this is one of the most super cool places on the planet.”

A Conservation Fund study released in February predicts a successful designation could double visits to the region to as many as 1.6 million by 2035, create as many as 750 new jobs and grow economic output by over $60 million. The designation would bring both international and overnight visitors, dramatically increasing spending in the region and creating a substantial opportunity for new small businesses.

Mike O’Reilly, director of policy and climate strategy for The Nature Conservancy in Georgia, says economic development must go together with conservation. “No area can sustain growth if its natural resources become degraded or depleted. … You can’t put conservation on the back end of that as this thing you think about later, because if you’re looking to build something in a location that has inadequate water supply, that is not a sustainable situation.”

In February, the state Environmental Protection Division (EPD) issued draft permits to Twin Pines for the controversial titanium mine. O’Reilly says the proposed mine is one of the biggest threats to the swamp today. Bednarek agrees, saying numerous studies show the mine will drain water from the swamp’s already shallow waters, threatening the habitat and wildlife and increasing wildfire threats.

Steve Ingle, president of Twin Pines Minerals, LLC says that’s not the case. “The bottom of the mine pit will be higher than the surface elevation of the swamp at all points, so it is gravitationally impossible for this small pit to drain the swamp,” he says, adding that the company used the nation’s foremost expert on groundwater hydrology, National Academies Fellow Sorab Panday, to evaluate claims that the project could adversely affect groundwater inputs either to the Okefenokee or the St. Marys River. “Panday’s extensive analysis has been independently reviewed and approved by the experts at EPD and confirms such fears are unfounded.”

Gina Rogers, director of operations for the Georgia Water Coalition, a watchdog coalition of 250 groups statewide ranging from the Sierra Club and Riverkeepers to the Garden Club of Georgia, says the coalition just voted to move protection of the swamp onto what they call its “Next Big Thing” list.

“The Water Coalition feels it’s just one of our jewels in Georgia and nationally,” Rogers says. “It’s just so unique and so special. It deserves our statewide voice.”

Bednarek says the park is also developing an Okefenokee experience – education and cultural centers, a dark sky observatory underneath the darkest skies on the East Coast and a new visitor center all at separate entrance sites to the swamp, encompassing Ware, Charlton and Clinch counties.

The study predicts development of these projects would generate 362 new jobs during construction, an additional $46 million in economic output and total tax revenue of $4.6 million. Ongoing operation of the facilities is likely to sustain at least 47 new jobs and generate over $430,000 in annual tax revenue.

“We’re going to add value to other parts of Georgia,” says Bednarek. “We can really build some great tourism opportunities that put heads in beds and people in restaurants. … And suddenly the Okefenokee becomes a place worthy of investment and worthy of the state of Georgia taking some pride in.”

Floating Free

The ability of Georgians to float, motor, fish and paddle on the state’s rivers can be threatened in another way.

Under current state law dating back to 1863, a waterway is considered “navigable” if it’s capable of floating a boat loaded with freight. If a stream doesn’t meet that test, property owners along that stream may restrict passage. Over the past 30 years, courts have affirmed the navigability test, resulting in streams like Armuchee Creek in Northwest Georgia and Ichawaynochaway Creek in Southwest Georgia being closed to the public. The river conservation group American Whitewater has described Georgia’s navigability laws as the worst in the country.

The Georgia River Network says the non-navigable designation also threatens portions of the upper Chattahoochee, Cartecay and Toccoa rivers and the Ebenezer, Big Cedar and South Chickamauga creeks. All currently support outfitters.

Nigel Law has owned Savannah Canoe and Kayak for the past 21 years and has grown from being the only employee to a staff of 12. He runs several trips a week on the Ebenezer and says restricting access wouldn’t just hurt his business; it would also limit the ability to see a unique part of the country.

“Most people who go up there are absolutely blown away by it,” Law says. “Paddling through a forest which is hundreds of years old and full of wildlife and alligators, it’s not something that there’s a lot of.”

Six-time U.S. kayak champion Stephen Wright, who owns Dreamboats Kayaks, worries about losing public access – and training opportunities for future athletes – to rivers like the Cartecay and the upper Chattahoochee. “That impacts not only tourism to those particular areas, but the entire kayaking industry as a whole,” he says. “If people don’t have access to beginner runs, then it’s harder for people to learn to paddle … and the number of kayakers ultimately shrinks in our region.”

The state legislature has been grappling with the balance between private property rights and public access and is likely to do so again in the next session.

“The real issue now is the right of citizens in Georgia to have access to and the ability to enjoy their rivers,” says TPL’s Dusenbury. “That’s what we’ll be talking about the next few years. Ultimately, I believe that our elected officials understand that value, and that you have to do the right thing and protect your access that is so important to our citizens.”

It’s a value beyond revenues.

“I don’t know how you measure the joy impact,” says paddler Dee Stone, “the fun to go into our countryside, into these villages, towns and communities, talking to the people who live there. I love exploring Georgia.”