Please attend the meeting or send comments or contact your Georgia statehouse member: Navigable Streams: Georgia House Study Committee in Newnan, GA 2024-11-13.

Here’s the problem: A 19th-century navigable definition does not work for 21st-century river economies.

We never had bales of cotton boated down the Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha, or Suwannee Rivers, because there are too many shoals.

19th-century navigable definition; 21st-century river economy

But we do get fishing both from the shore and in paddle and power boats up and down our rivers, and for other recreation, There are massive investments by nearby cities and counties and other organizations in cleaning up the rivers for those purposes.

The state of Georgia needs to revise its 19th-century definition of navigability and passage to match the 21st-century present.

• How navigability became a major issue: Grant Blankenship, GPB, October 30, 2023, How a law aimed at keeping Georgia rivers open to all may have muddied the water

The Law

Universal Citation: GA Code § 44-8-5 (2023)

(a) As used in this chapter, the term “navigable stream” means a stream which is capable of transporting boats loaded with freight in the regular course of trade either for the whole or a part of the year. The mere rafting of timber or the transporting of wood in small boats shall not make a stream navigable.

(b) The rights of the owner of lands which are adjacent to navigable streams extend to the low-water mark in the bed of the stream.

(c)

(1) The General Assembly finds that the state procured ownership of all navigable stream beds within its jurisdiction upon statehood and continues to hold title to all such stream beds, except where title in a private party originates from a valid Crown or state grant before 1863. The General Assembly further finds that, by the common law, the citizens of this state have an inherent right to use for passage and for hunting and fishing all navigable streams from low-water mark to low-water mark. The General Assembly further finds that the public retained the aforementioned right even where private title to beds of navigable streams originates from a valid grant, but in such cases, the public’s right is limited to only using such navigable streams for passage and for hunting and fishing.

(2) Nothing contained in this subsection shall be construed to permit entry upon privately owned land adjacent to navigable streams.

Amended by 2024 Ga. Laws 597,§ 1, eff. 7/1/2024.

Amended by 2023 Ga. Laws 92,§ 1, eff. 7/1/2023.

Bills

HB 1172 Water Rights; the public trust doctrine; remove references

Passed March 26, 2024, signed by the governor May 6, 2024, effective date July 1, 2024.

(c)(1) The General Assembly finds that the state procured ownership of all navigable stream beds within its jurisdiction upon statehood and, as sovereign, is trustee of its peoples’ rights to use and enjoy all navigable streams capable of use for fishing, hunting, passage, navigation, commerce, and transportation, pursuant to the common law public trust doctrine. The state continues to hold title to all such stream beds, except where title in a private party originates from a valid Crown or state grant before 1863. The General Assembly further finds that, by the common law, the citizens of this state have an inherent right to use for passage and for hunting and fishing all navigable streams from low-water mark to low-water mark. The General Assembly further finds that the public retained the aforementioned rights under such doctrine right even where private title to beds of navigable streams originates from a valid grant, but in such cases, the public’s right is limited to only using such navigable streams for passage and for hunting and fishing.

(2) Nothing contained in this subsection shall be construed to permit entry upon privately owned land adjacent to navigable streams.

• Jill Nolin, Georgia Recorder, February 15, 2024, House panel approves bill intended to clarify when landowners can restrict access to streams

SB 115 Ignore the title and click on Current.

Passed March 30, 2023, signed by the governor May 1, 2024, effective date July 1, 2023.

0.C.G.A. 44-8-5(c) The General Assembly finds that the state procured ownership of all navigable stream beds within its jurisdiction upon statehood and, as sovereign, is trustee of its peoples’ rights to use and enjoy all navigable streams capable of use for fishing, hunting, passage, navigation, commerce, and transportation, pursuant to the common law public trust doctrine. The state continues to hold title to all such stream beds, except where title in a private party originates from a valid Crown or state grant before 1863. The General Assembly further finds that the public retained the aforementioned rights under such doctrine even where private title to beds originates from a valid grant.

• WWALS Blog: Fishing, boating passage, and navigability in Georgia waters 2023-10-12
• Dave Williams, GPB News, April 14, 2023, Public right to fish saved in final seconds of General Assembly session

HB 1397 Water rights; list of streams presumed to be navigable; provide

This bill did not pass.

• WWALS blog post: All WWALS water trails navigable according to GA HB 1397 2024-02-22
• WWALS blog post: Navigable stream additions to GA HB 1397 2024-02-27
• Bret Mayer, ACA, February 27, 2024, The Right to Paddle on Georgia Waterways Is Under Threat

WWALS Blog Posts

• Navigable Streams: Georgia House Study Committee in Newnan, GA 2024-11-13
• Audio: GA House Navigable Streams Committee postponed –Suwannee Riverkeeper on WKUB radio 2024-10-10
• Georgia House Navigable Streams Committee in Nahunta 2024-10-11 (later cancelled)
• Georgia House Navigable Streams Study Committee 2024-08-15 (updated with livestream)
• Pictures: Withlacoochee River and Okapilco Creek jon boat outing 2024-07-27
• Help keep paddle access to Georgia rivers 2024-07-22
• A 19th-century navigable definition does not work for 21st-century river economies
• Navigable stream additions to GA HB 1397 2024-02-27
• Navigability in HB 1397 in GA House Natural Resources & Environment Quality Subcommittee 2024-02-26
• All WWALS water trails navigable according to GA HB 1397 2024-02-22
• Fishing Access in Georgia: House Committee Report 2023-12-01
• Grant Blankenship, GPB, October 30, 2023, How a law aimed at keeping Georgia rivers open to all may have muddied the water

  [Allen] Ragsdale is a longtime fishing guide on the Flint River in western Georgia. By this point he had safely rowed from the public boat ramp a mile upstream, through the rock slabs of Yellow Jacket Shoals and into the heart of a running argument.

  “Everything down on this side you’re free to fish and swim,” he said, gesturing to apart of the river on one side of an imaginary line running along the streambed. On the other side of that line was private property.

  …

  “I was told I’d be locked up for criminal trespass if I was seen in there again.”

  Others had seen their own conflicts. Yellow Jacket Shoals landowner Samuel Brewton III fired a gun at a family of kayakers. He’s serving a decade in prison.

  Later, his brother, attorney Ben Brewton, took a different tack, and sued.

  He got what he wanted: a settlement from the state saying since he owns land adjacent to the Flint River, he owns rights to the piece of the river flowing by his land, too. About a year later, members of the Georgia House are still talking about that.

  The Georgia House Committee on Fishing and Freshwater Resources convened to figure out how to enforce the law that passed after Ben Brewton got his way.

• Fishing, boating passage, and navigability in Georgia waters 2023-10-12
• GWC win over Sabal Trail in Georgia Trend 2016-06-08

  Water and property rights are the same when fighting a natural gas pipeline: Georgia Trend understands what Georgia Water Coalition is doing to stop the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline.

• Ockolocoochee, Little River 1889-01-29 contains the story of the flat boat that went down the Withlacoochee River and never returned, due to shoals.