News - GA-ACT - Page 3

Restoring Aquatic Connectivity

September 23, 2020

Article by GA Chapter of the American Fisheries Society on the Mill Creek Culvert Replacement. All around the world conservation groups, government agencies, academic institutions, and private companies are working together in efforts to restore aquatic connectivity and reduce habitat fragmentation by razing dams and restructuring road-stream crossings. Georgia has its fair share of aquatic connectivity projects. We have seen the removal of dams on the Chattahoochee River in Columbus and the removal of White Dam in Athens. One project…

Virtual Aquatic Connectivity Session at 2020 GA Adopt-A-Stream Confluence

August 31, 2020

GA Aquatic Connectivity Team Co-Lead Sara Gottlieb hosted a session on Aquatic Habitat Connectivity at the GA Adopt-A-Stream 2020 Confluence. View the recording here.

Taking the Mystery Out of Removing or Modifying Georgia’s Obsolete Dams

July 27, 2020

By Sara Gottlieb, Director of Freshwater Science & Strategy, The Nature Conservancy Over the past year, a team of contributors sponsored by the GA-ACT collaborated to write the Handbook for the Removal or Modification of Obsolete Dams in Georgia. Developing this handbook brought together experts from a variety of agencies, regulatory authorities, academic institutions, engineering firms and other conservation organizations toward a shared goal – this process helped built trust between entities with varied perspectives and missions. As co-lead of the…

New handbook guides obsolete dam removals

July 14, 2020

June 18, 2020 by Kristen Morales, UGA When the University of Georgia set about to remove White Dam, an outdated dam on the North Oconee River, the process involved more than moving heavy concrete. It also required cutting through piles of red tape and layers of approvals. But in the end, the project proved to be a valuable example of how landowners, agencies and nonprofits can work together for a shared end goal: a healthier river. Now, the multi-agency team that cut…

Two women rescued after going over Juliette Dam while tubing

May 8, 2020

JULIETTE, Ga. — Monroe County Emergency Services were dispatched after a caller reported seeing people who went over the Juliette Dam while tubing down the river on March 26. More here….. https://wgxa.tv/news/local/two-women-rescued-after-going-over-juliette-dam-while-tubing

AFS To Update National Dam Removal Policy

March 4, 2020

In a new column, Patrick Shirey, Resource Policy Committee Chair for The American Fisheries Society, issues a call for volunteers to assist in drafting a new policy statement for the society on dam removals. Shirey notes the state of much of America’s aging dam infrastructure, the current pace of removals, and recent increases in the state of knowledge on the topic of dam effects and post-removal restoration. The new policy statement is expressly targeted at decisionmakers, he says, concluding, “Our…

AP: Georgia senators want to ease rules for building below dams

February 26, 2020

February 24, 2020 ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia senators voted Monday to let people build homes that could be flooded by dams without raising safety standards for the upstream dam. The state Senate voted 47-6 to pass Senate Bill 319, sending it to the House for more debate. It would let structures be built in a dam’s inundation zone. The structures would have to be built to withstand a dam breach and be certified by an engineer approved by the state…

GA Senate Panel Approves New Dam Regulations

February 11, 2020

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia could soon loosen safety standards for dams that sit above newly built homes, under a proposal unanimously passed by a state Senate committee. Senate Bill 319 would allow for homes and other inhabitable structures to be built in a dam’s inundation zone — the area that would be flooded if the dam fails — without causing the dam to be recategorized and required to meet higher safety standards. The structures would have to be built to…

SRK: Dam safety stakes are just too high

February 5, 2020

The Savannah Riverkeeper writes in a recent Op-Ed in the Augusta Chronicle about the risk of dam failures to public safety in the Savannah River Basin in Georgia and Florida. See the full piece here: https://www.augustachronicle.com/news/20200129/dam-safety-stakes-are-just-too-high

AP: Georgia leads the nation with nearly 200 high-hazard dams in unsatisfactory or poor condition

November 14, 2019

At least 1,680 dams across the US pose potential risk By DAVID A. LIEB, MICHAEL CASEY and MICHELLE MINKOFFNovember 11, 2019 Excerpts from full report: A more than two-year investigation by The Associated Press has found scores of dams nationwide in even worse condition, and in equally dangerous locations. They loom over homes, businesses, highways or entire communities that could face life-threatening floods if the dams don’t hold. A review of federal data and reports obtained under state open records…