Allowing canoes and kayaks only on Georgia rivers and streams deemed navigable would ruin an outdoor recreation industry that brings in billions of dollars, outfitters and paddling enthusiasts told a legislative study committee Friday.
“Tourism is a significant economic driver in Georgia,” Amanda Dyson-Thornton, executive director of the Georgia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus, told members of the House Study Committee on Navigable Streams and Related Matters during a hearing at the Unicoi State Park & Lodge near Helen. “Public access to Georgia’s rivers and streams is crucial to sustaining Georgia’s outdoor recreation economy.”
The study committee was formed this year as the next step in a process aimed at guaranteeing Georgians the right to hunt and fish in the state’s navigable rivers and streams without violating private property rights…