River Basin Center: Upper Altamaha Initiative

St. Mary's River is a blackwater stream forming the border between northeast Florida and southeast Georgia. The St. Mary's River Management Committee (SMRMC) was organized in 1993, while the U.S. Park Service was considering the river for Wild and Scenic Program status. Due to concerns over lack of local control and possible property condemnation, the Committee successfully opposed the status.

In recognition of the need for long-term management of St. Mary's, an interlocal agreement was signed between the four primary counties bordering the river: Baker and Nassau counties in Florida and Charlton and Camden counties in Georgia. Today, the Committee consists of five members from each county and provides cross-boundary cooperation in its management. Its goals are "to promote and protect the long-term viability of both the environmental and economic resources of the St. Mary's Basin in a way that retains local control, protects property rights, and fosters cooperation among individuals, governments, and agencies at all levels."

Pressures of new land development cause continuing concerns about the water quality of St. Mary's. Under current water quality classifications - which are, though not identical, similar in the two states - water degradation may occur as long as the applicable use standards (swimming, recreation, fishing, and healthy aquatic life populations) are not violated. Increased protection would be afforded by designation of the river at higher levels.

The University of Georgia Environmental Practicum students and the University of Florida Conservation Clinic students are collaborating in pursuit of more protective designations in each of the two states. The goals of the University of Georgia students are:

To write a report of the possible designations for the Georgia side, at federal, state, and county levels, along with the implications of each option and recommendations.
To compile recommendations for best management strategies to restore St. Mary's impaired sections. This may involve an EPA Nonpoint Source Section 319 Grant Program proposal, to fund an assessment of the extent of septic tank contribution to impairment.
Short memos: describing potential for establishing St. Marys River keeper; explaining differences in the Development of Regional Impact (DRIs) in Florida and Georgia and their implications; addressing the implications of differing water use designations in transboundary waters; and explaining how the state of Georgia might deal with the naturally occurring low biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in St. Mary's.

Ultimately, we aim to both ensure that St. Mary's gets needed protection, and to set precedent for designations to be applied to other valuable waters in the state of Georgia.

Visit Our Partners:

	Alliance for Quality Growth
	Center for Community Design & Preservation
	Georgia Museum of Natural History
	NARSAL

University of Georgia - Eugene P. Odum School of Ecology

UGA River Basin Center
110 Riverbend Road, Room 101
Athens, GA 30602-1510 USA
Phone: (706) 583-0463
Fax: (706) 583-0612

C. Ronald Carroll, Co-Director for Science - rcarroll@uga.edu
Laurie Fowler, Co-Director for Policy - lfowler@uga.edu

Map and Directions to the River Basin Center
For questions or comments about this web site email: bethgav@uga.edu