New Middle Georgia Fishing Area

People in Middle Georgia now have one more place to go fishing, thanks to the state and recent rains.
Flat Rock Public Fishing Area opened this morning in Perry. The two-million dollar lake was delayed for a couple years due to the drought. Three years ago the state stocked it with large mouth bass, channel catfish, and bluegill bream. It's nearly 100 acres.
The lake has been in the planning stages for ten years. It will eventually be part of a nearly 900 acre state park when the state has more money. Governor Sonny Perdue has been a big proponent of fishing with his multi-million dollar and widely criticized Go Fish campaign. He came for the opening and says fishing is a good investment.

"We spend money on reservoirs. We spend money on creating access opportunities. Go Fish is about having real access to these beautiful parts of Georgia that we want people to be exposed to. So it's an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars."

Perdue says fishing stands to bring millions in tourism dollars to the state. The Flat Rock Fishing Area is managed by the Department of Natural Resources and will employ two full-time employees.

DNR Wants to Raise State Park Fees

The Department of Natural Resources wants to raise state park fees a couple dollars. Currently visiting Georgia state parks and historic sites cost to three dollars a day and $30 for an annual pass. The department proposes five dollars a day and $50 for a year.

Parking fees provides money for maintenance and repair projects at Georgia’s 63 parks and sites. A hearing to discuss the increase is April 6. The DNR will vote on it at its next meeting on April 29.

Tybee Island Beach Fine for Sea Turtle Nesting

It seems the federally protected loggerhead sea turtles will find plenty of nesting habitat on Tybee Island’s freshly re-nourished beach after all.

The federal government spent $11 million pumping fresh sand onto Georgia's largest public beach last fall.

And late last month researchers were concerned the sand was too compact for the finicky sea turtles to lay their eggs. But now, the Department of Natural Resources turtle expert Mark Dodd says he’s reinterpreted the data to find the compact sand is mostly on the tide-line where the turtles don’t nest anyway. And where they do dig… 85-90 percent of that shore is nest-friendly.

Their nesting season begins early May and ends in October.

Tybee Sand Not Turtle-Friendly

Researchers say Tybee Island's freshly renourished beach still needs work to ensure that federally-protected loggerhead sea turtles will nest there. The federal government spent $11 million pumping fresh sand onto Georgia's largest public beach last fall. But a turtle expert with the state Department of Natural Resources says the sand is too compact for finicky sea turtles to lay their eggs. The DNR's Mark Dodd says much of the beach needs to be tilled to make the sand soft enough for turtles before the nesting season starts in May. Tybee Island Mayor Jason Buelterman says the city will be happy to foot the bill - an estimated $10,000 or more - because officials often cited nesting turtles when lobbying Congress for the beach renourishment funds.

(Associated Press)

Shrimping season extended

Georgia’s shrimping season is being extended by two weeks to January 15th. The state Department of Natural Resources says the decision to extend the season is based on information from biologists who monitor the shrimp population. The order does NOT include most creeks and rivers, which closes to shrimping today.

Hunter nabs largest 'gator ever caught in Ga.

A west Georgia hunter has wrestled his way into the state's hunting record books.

Georgia Department of Natural Resources officials say Shane Wilson of Cataula near Columbus caught a 13-foot, 680-pound alligator last month while hunting in the Flint River near Cordele. State officials have confirmed the reptile as the largest alligator ever caught in Georgia.

Each year, the state awards alligator hunting permits by lottery for the season which began Sept. 6 and ended last weekend. Each hunter is allowed to take one alligator per season, and the reptile must be at least 4 feet long.

Wilson says he plans to mount the alligator's head on the wall at his house, according to the Cordele Dispatch.

(The Associated Press)

Boat thefts on rise

Boat thefts are up in GA. Crime statistics show that Georgia has been ranked as one of the top five states for boat thefts since 2004, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Rankings based on 2007 data place Georgia at the top of the list. In response, the Georgia DNR formed a Macon-based, one-person marine theft unit in July to investigate the thefts and help educate boaters.

State parks could close

As many as 13 state parks could close or shorten hours because of Georgia's tough economy. The state Department of Natural Resources won't release the parks and historic sites under consideration for closing. The DNR will withdraw workers from all federally owned wildlife management areas in north Georgia, including those in the Chattahoochee and Oconee national forests. Next summer, no swimming pools in state parks will open.

DNR doesn't throw the book at owners of abandoned boats

While abandoned boats continue to be a safety risk on the Georgia coast, officials have yet to use a tough new state law enacted to address the problem.

Department of Natural Resources officials say, the number of boats listed as abandoned on the Georgia coast has risen since last year from 90 to 143, mostly due to better tracking. About a year ago, state lawmakers gave D.N.R. the power to block boat owners from registering their boats or cars if they abandon a boat in Georgia waters.

Susan Shipman, Director of the D.N.R.'s Coastal Resources Division, says her agency has not yet blocked any registrations, but that the threat of enforcement is working.

"The law, in my opinion, is being very effective," she says. "In the year that the law has been in effect, we've had 16-vessels that have been removed by third parties."

Shipman also says the number of boats removed with private dollars has doubled. Last year, the state removed two vessels at a cost to taxpayers of 1-hundred-thousand dollars.

(Orlando Montoya reporting)

Wildfire fund aims to help private forestland in SE Ga

A new fundraising effort could speed up restoring land in southeast Georgia devastated by last year’s wildfires.

The Wildfire Relief Fund will raise money from private sources and distribute it to family farms and forest areas ravaged by the blazes of last spring and summer. The Fund has the backing of many state and local government leaders.

More than a half-million acres burned across 21 counties, most in southeast Georgia. Within that, over 31-thousand acres of private forestland were charred, with only a small percentage of federal money helping those affected.

Several partners are already onboard for the effort, including the Georgia Forestry Commission and Department of Natural Resources. Monte Simpson, spokesman for the Fund, says the goal is to raise 7-million dollars to nurse the land back to health:

"The sooner we get the money, the sooner we can put it to work...identifying these landowners and working with them to help re-establish their lands".

Relief fund officials hope to begin processing applications, and start paying-out assistance, in time for the fall planting season.

New stream rules create water quagmire

A recent vote by the state's Department of Natural Resources requires all of Georgia's 159 counties to establish minimum buffers along all of the states streams and tributaries, even those on private land. The new rules mean counties must establish a 150-foot buffer zone on both sides of all potential drinking water sources, no matter how small. If a county refuses to adopt the new guidelines, they'll be cut off from all future state funding. Steve Gooch heads Lumpkin County's Board of Commissioners. His family has owned land in the county for nearly a century. Gooch says the new regulations are unfair to property owners because they make 350 feet of land unavailable for development, but landowners still have to pay property taxes on the land. Under the new rules, counties must also establish an extensive list of monitoring and education programs. No final date has been set for implementation of the new rules. However, the City of Dahlonega is under pressure to adopt the new guidelines. The state won't let the City sell water to Lumpkin County until it does.