The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division (WRD) announces a third series of scoping meetings to develop regulations and a program for harvest of submerged logs from the Flint and Altamaha rivers. These meetings will be held in two locations and will give interested persons an opportunity to provide additional input to the Department. These meetings will be held at the Bainbridge High School cafeteria in Bainbridge on October 18, 2005, and in the Auditorium at the Altamaha Technical College in Jesup on October 19, 2005. Both meetings start at 7:00 pm.

Open house scoping meetings were held at these same locations in June, and a second series of meetings were held in July. Participants at the June meetings were able to familiarize themselves with the submerged logging issue, and provide written and verbal comments that helped the Department develop first draft regulations and policies defining a program for removal of submerged logs. Department personnel presented these first draft regulations and program proposals on July 27 and 28, and provided a forum for additional comments and suggestions. Minor changes were made to the first draft polices after the July presentation, and this round of meetings will provide an opportunity for the public to see and comment on the latest draft that will be presented to the Board of Natural Resources at their October meeting.

During the 1800's and early 1900's, the rafting of commercially harvested logs down Georgia's rivers and streams was a common practice for transporting timber to coastal markets. It is estimated that approximately five percent of these logs sank to the bottom, resulting in sunken commercially harvested logs located on the bottom of Georgia’s rivers. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in salvage logging, often called deadhead logging, to recover these old growth logs. The sunken logs, from trees often a century old or older, have different wood characteristics than modern lumber, and are valuable. Recovered old growth logs are used for unique wood flooring and paneling, and other specialty products. Old growth logs have very tight growth rings. During salvage operations, logs are lifted from the bottom and growth rings checked, and those with tight rings are removed from the river.

The Georgia legislature passed a bill (S.B. 283) allowing the recovery of submerged logs from the Flint and Altamaha rivers, and Governor Perdue signed this bill into law. The bill directs the Department to establish a program to allow recovery of sunken logs from these two rivers through January 1, 2008. The bill includes certain provisions such as annual permits for recovery of deadhead logs from an exclusive two mile section of river, a $10,000 permit fee, additional fees to be determined by the Board of the Department of Natural Resources, and a $50,000 bond for damages. The Department is

authorized to develop other provisions for the protection of public interests including public safety and water quality, wildlife and wildlife habitat, commercial and recreational fisheries, state and federal threatened and endangered species, land use, effects on stream bank property, protection of public boat landings or other public assets, the preservation and protection of other submerged cultural resources, and other similar issues.

For more information, contact the Department of Natural Resources at (770) 918-6406 (Atlanta), (912) 285-6094 (Waycross), or (229) 430-4256 (Albany).