Twenty Acres Added to the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area

The Trust for Public Land today announced the addition of 20 acres to the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (CRNRA) in Forsyth County. The property will become part of the Bowmans Island Unit and increase the acreage available for activities such as hiking and fishing.

This addition to the recreation corridor is part of a decades-long partnership between the National Recreation Area and The Trust for Public Land. The Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area was established in 1978, and since the early 1990s, The Trust for Public Land has worked with the National Park Service and local partners to expand the national recreation area by more than a thousand acres, adding trails, picnic areas, and boat launches. More than three million people visit the CRNRA each year.

“When we secure land that falls within the CRNRA boundary, we are offering more people more ways to enjoy this beautiful and vital waterway,” said George Dusenbury, Georgia State Director for The Trust for Public Land. “Conservation areas also benefit everyone, whether they ever step foot on this property or not, by cleaning and cooling the air we breathe, buffering communities from floods and providing healthy habitat for fish, migratory birds and many other species.”

“The Trust for Public Land has been a great partner to CRNRA for decades, helping with land acquisition to fulfill the vision of the National Recreation Area when it was established,” said Ann Honious, superintendent of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. “These twenty-plus acres increase the size of the Bowmans Island Unit, providing additional public access to hiking trails and opportunities to enjoy the great natural resources throughout the area.”

This new acquisition was supported by the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). The primary source of revenue for the LWCF is from offshore oil and gas drilling revenues and does not use taxpayer dollars.

According to Dusenbury, this new public land also aligns with the Chattahoochee RiverLands project, an effort to create a 100-mile greenway along the river as it passes through metro Atlanta. The Chattahoochee RiverLands will connect 19 cities across seven counties through public trails, parks and amenities. This new public land in Forsyth County is the latest example of how the RiverLands is coming to life.

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About The Trust for Public Land

The Trust for Public Land creates parks and protects land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come. Millions of people live within a 10-minute walk of a Trust for Public Land park, garden, or natural area, and millions more visit these sites every year. To support The Trust for Public Land and share why nature matters to you, visit www.tpl.org.