Could there have been a better setting than this?
There, on the same bluff where the founder of the colonial province landed, less than a month away from the 265th anniversary of that landing, the State of Georgia started another chapter in its history.
The ceremonial signing of the federal authorization of Georgia's coastal management program took place January 8, 1998 at the Savannah Hyatt hotel.
As the ink flowed, the placid Savannah River swept past, much as it must have when James Oglethorpe landed on that bluff on February 12, 1733.
Georgia's authorization was the third in the past 12 months. Texas and Ohio joined the ranks of federally authorized coastal programs in 1997.
Georgia is the 32nd state or territory to join the NOAA-sponsored federal Coastal Zone Management program.
Georgia's entrance into the program means there are now only three coastal states that do not participate: Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota. The latter two, however, are working on a management plan.
For the "Peach State," authorization has been a long time coming. From 1974 to 1979 the state worked toward authorization only to pull out just before federal review.
This latest - and ultimately successful - effort began in October 1992 when Governor Zell Miller directed the state Department of Natural Resources' Coastal Resources Division to look into the possibility of developing a federally approved program.
More than five years later, it's happened. NOAA signed off on the program in January of this year.
Membership in the federal program could mean upwards of $1 million in federal matching funds for Georgia coastal programs in 1998 alone.
The state has included more than 6,000 square miles in 11 counties in its coastal management zone.
This territory includes one third of the tidal wetlands in the entire Eastern Seaboard.
On hand to celebrate the signing were federal, state, and local officials. Representing NOAA were Terry Garcia, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and the NOAA deputy administrator; Capt. Evelyn Fields, Deputy Assistant Administrator for the National Ocean Service; and Jeff Benoit, Director of the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management.
Georgia's congressional delegation was well represented as U.S. Representative Jack Kingston was on hand, as were aides to U.S. Senator Max Cleland and U.S. Senator Paul Coverdell.
Representing the State of Georgia were Lonice Barrett, commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources; Hans Neuhauser, director of the Land Trust Service Center; and Becky Shortland, one of the members of the citizen Coastal Advisory Committee.
For more information about Georgia's Coastal Resources Division or its planned programs, call Duane Harris, Stuart Stevens, or Phil Flournoy at 912-264-7218.
