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WHAT'S UP IN NEW DEVELOPMENT
Product** Conversations: It was interesting to hear former
«MW*kt MKt^fiin tovtnwr Roy Barotf tlut «rr
ought to bo topping off WV empty gnmfe quarry with drink
'og wtte< util i/mg thru? industrial bi*qhts as the backbone of
i new infrasri uctu* to sustain Georgia s growth Rather tha«
simply piping watt* from one basm to another *\ Atlanta
would U>* to do and the mt of the state fean. o* build
tog mo* dams to flood thousands and Thousands of ac res.
the quarry solution seems flirty masonabte The capacity of
our beat quarry out by the airport H comparable to Athens
Clarke's share of tear Crook Reservoir It uses about a tenth
of the land. too.
The tnstenc wte of ScoR Shoah rs tecatod * the Oconee Ratwnai forest, a i
which covers much of Groeoe County to the south
White that is certainty a compelling idea, and I’ve put it out
the* before, what interests me mo* is how such conversations
put industrial folks, ecologists and engineers aR in the same
room in a way that doesn't always happen. Rather than the
often-adversarial relationships among these groups, this is one
where they share a common cause. Taking a problem off the
quarriers to solve a public utilities one, while protecting the
environment? G*at!
Them's no mason why we can't took for mo* such oppor
tunities around the region and the state, either. My seme,
though, is that perhaps the mason we haven't yet been com
pelled to look mo* dosety at the opportunities our local natu
ral resources present is that we don't really know what those
resources art. West of the Rockies is the land of big national
parks, imposing landscapes and rugged but beautiful country
side, and it is in those states where people seem mo* awa*
of and in tune with the way they relate to their local natural
resources.
Out There: The West Coast's stewardship of salmon comes to
mind as one such instance. Fishermen benefit economically
from healthy and intact watersheds, which ecologists also
encourage protecting. The cuttural attachment to the salmon is
even mo* interesting; one Oregonian told me they we* taught
from an earty age in public school about the importance of
salmon, both economically and ecotogkaUy. Forestry is an even
bigger industry the*, but is very much related to the salmon
issue, and so that conversation »t changed for the better The
effect of tfcn commitment to salmon stewardship has even ted
to the removal of hydroetecthc dams. It's not that ad that fish-
eating has **utt*d t* a httie mercury-toducod craziness on
the part of the *g*on. though The direct benefits for salmon
and fishermen flow out mto other trees, affecting to tome
deg** efforts which *sutt in cleaner drmkmg water through
habitat protection, and better planned cities due in part to
good stormwater management and mere compact development.
All of these ideas a* linked, and strong connections between
tuftu e. industry and ecology can be a big force.
0«* Posvbiitty for Us; Understanding and educat
>ng peopi* on t he 'oi* that our natural *sources
pcay is a f»nt step. Perhaps pur lack of a major
league national part has fondemd us, and Adding
a site worthy of one that n a suitable day tnp from
Atlanta would be a good start.
Such a place might help us head in the direction
of ’ncorporatmg an understanding of our natural
resources mto Our da^y !'ves by serving as a point
of state pnde Right now Georgia has a patchwork
of battlefields, histone sites. w»l<ftrfe vfogts and
forests at the federal level, and plenty of small
state parts. The Appalachian Trail h probably our
most iconic protected land at the moment. On*
goal for Georgia laid out m the state's Community
G*enspace Program, was to protect 20 percent of
the state s land A new national park would b* a
g*at way to kick that off
What W* Have If w* we* to scour through the
state's patchwork of *soueces w» search of a way
to cobble together a national park or three, where
evight we start? By *ai estate standards, Georgia s
bamef islands a* rather underdeveloped, with sev
eraC such as Cumberland Sapeto. St. Catherine's,
Ossabaw and Wassaw only sparsely inhabited, and
managed by a patchwork of state, federal and pri
vate entities. JekyR's redevelopment scheme, cur
rency m flu* after an ordeal with Linger Longer (the
folks behind Reynolds Plantation) could focus on
making that island the gateway to these other,
mo* pristine places. The big question is how a
concerted effort to unify conservation efforts he*
might tie in to our Local Ashing industry. In the fejtf
coast town of Appalachian, Florida's oyster harvest
is directly affected by Atlanti s upstream water use;
what effects might upstream cities have on our
vtm of Atlantic coast's viability for Ashing, as wed as tour
ism. and how would a rebranding of those coastal
resources change upstream behavior?
In the mountains of North Georgia, might we And a national
park in waiting? Beyond the clean industry that a big tourism
boost i outd bring to the chronically depressed region, might
there be other impacts to forestry or other industries that
we don't yet understand? Or perhaps the downstream effect is
mo* important, and clean drinking water at the headwaters
is mo* important to sustain growth in dries tike Atlanta or
Augusta. New York City's drinking water comes from protected
land in the CatskHls. Atlanta should be similarly diligent.
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Problems into Solutions: Closer to home, we may one day view
our often-Lamented small tax base as an asset The thousands
of acres tied up in field and forest sustainably managed by the
university could be the backbone of a system of conserved
lands that provide the water to sustain our growth. Perhaps
the improvements to quality of life provided by natu* dose at
hand would help attract high-paying dean jobs to the region.
Sustainably managed farms and fields likewise could not only
ensure the growth of urban areas, but also that people who
have developed a way of life tending to the land win be able
to continue' doing so for generations, since the soils wont
be depleted of resources. This is only scratchino the surface,
though; the* a* to many potential cewnccdom for mutual
benefit between these seemingly disparate aspects of our city
region and state. ' ^ A< " . £ V v •
Alton*' Only Locally Ownad Outfitter
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MEMBER 10,2010 • flASP0lf.C0M