Every year Mill Creek Environmental sponsors great causes close to our hearts. This year, we are extremely proud to sponsor Georgia River Network’s Paddle Georgia River Adventures. So far in 2022, Georgia River Network have hosted seven river adventures and helped nearly 300 people experience Georgia’s rivers, including the Alapaha, Ohoopee, Yellow, Alcovy and Etowah as well as the Okefenokee Swamp and South Chickamauga Creek.
Who is the Georgia River Network?
Working Together For Healthy Rivers
Founded in 1998, Georgia river Network serves as the voice of Georgia’s rivers and works to empower everyone to enjoy, connect with, and advocate for economically vital and clean flowing waters.
Born on the banks of the Oconee River near Dublin in the late 1990s, and dreamed up by a group of guys who loved fishing and paddling, who were passionate about protecting the treasures of Georgia’s river networks. The statewide river advocacy organization acts as a watchdog on water policy, continuing efforts to ensure strong protections for Georgia’s rivers. The network annually hosts some 600 canoeists and kayakers on rivers all over the state, working to protect Georgia’s rivers and improve recreational access to those rivers. You can read more about the great work that the Georgia River Network does here.
Paddle Georgia 2022 on the Chattahoochee
Recently, Georgia River Network hosted their signature event, Paddle Georgia 2022, on the Chattahoochee River in which nearly 40 participants journeyed for seven days, paddling 112 miles of the river from near Buford to Franklin in Heard County. From there, they were joined by a further 60 people for portions of the trip, illustrating how Georgia’s longest river serves the Metro Atlanta residents as a recreational haven, a critical source of drinking water and the assimilator of millions of gallons of treated wastewater daily.
Along the journey, the paddlers removed more than 800 pounds of trash from the river during a one-day clean up downstream from Atlanta and removed more than 400 balls from the river bottom during a golf ball collection competition through the Roswell area!
Accompanying the paddlers on the journey were staff members from Georgia Adopt-A-Stream who were collecting health data at dozens of locations and training three of the participants to become Certified as Citizen Water Monitors.
Through a partnership with Chattahoochee Nature Center, Georgia River Network were able to provide scholarships for 15 Boy Scouts and their parents to participate in one day of the journey together with overnight camp – for many of the troop, it was their first ever journey on the river itself.
Through their Canoe-A-Thon Fundraiser, the participants raised more than $32,000 for river protection and water trail development – a fantastic achievement! You can see photographs from the journey on the Georgia River Network’s Paddle Georgia 2022 Facebook Page and read the Blog here.
Upcoming Events
There are nine more amazing river adventures planned for 2022 – five day-trips and four weekend camping trips – between now and mid-November. You can view the upcoming events here.
Become a Paddle Georgia Sponsor
You can support clean rivers and the development of recreational water trails by sponsoring Georgia River Network’s Paddle Georgia River Adventures. Depending on your sponsorship levels, your tax deductible contribution includes complimentary registration(s) to participate in Paddle Georgia events.
