Georgia's Department of Natural Resources hopes to exploit an obscure legal loophole to finance a dozen important projects - including a $2 million public fishing area planned for Burke County.
The idea, according to communications director Beth Brown, is to redirect about $25.3 million originally earmarked for a regional drinking water reservoir in Haralson County.
The funds were generated by a bond issue in 2002 under a federal tax code that requires the project to be completed in a timely manner. Because land acquisition and permitting for the water project have taken years longer than anticipated, the funds need to be spent soon - or they could possibly be lost.
The Board of Natural Resources voted this month to ask the State Finance and Investment Commission to redirect the funds toward the public fishing area in Burke County and other projects.
The planned 110-acre lake will be within Yuchi Wildlife Management Area along the Savannah River below Plant Vogtle, where 7,800 acres of hardwoods, pines and swamp are available for public hunting.
More than 10 years have elapsed since surveyors marked boundaries for the planned lake - and forests already are regenerating where timber was cut long ago.
Once built, the fishing area will include piers, boat ramps, fertilizer and equipment storage buildings, hiking trails, parking lots, and an office with two full-time employees. The lake would have a maximum depth of 27 feet and an average depth of 10 feet.
Other requests for redirected bond funds include $3 million for paving at state parks; $3.3 million for renovations to existing DNR facilities; $1.9 million for a state park and fishing area in Houston County; $1.75 million for a marina at Lake Blackshear; $3 million for a golf course addition at Gordonia-Alatamaha State Park; $500,000 for aquarium improvements at Magnolia Springs State Park; $500,000 for expanding the Silver Comet Trail near Rockmart; $6 million for a battlefield park in Savannah; $625,000 for a Seminole State Park marina; and $225,000 to expand the Bacon County public fishing area.
"These funds will allow the department not only to complete many projects that currently are under way, but also to address some critical maintenance and repair issues that have had to be postponed due to budget considerations," DNR commissioner Noel Holcomb said.
FEWER MISHAPS: Georgia's 300,000 hunters have logged relatively few accidents following a near-record low number of injuries and deaths during 2003-04, according to Georgia's Wildlife Resources Division.
"Last season, we had only one fatality and 45 total accidents, which was the lowest we've had in more than 20 years," said department spokeswoman Melissa Cummings. "The single fatality last season was a treestand fall, and 1981 was the last time we had that few accidents."
So far, the 2004-2005 season has included 17 accidents that resulted in four deaths:
• Perry Hurbert, 61, of Mayo, Fla., was found dead Dec. 18 after he apparently fell backward from a modified climbing treestand he was using while deer hunting in Clay County. Authorities said he broke his neck in the fall.
• Mikel Jones, 49, of Brunswick, was killed during a wild hog hunt Nov. 5 in Telfair County. A companion, Christopher Cronan, of Tennessee, tripped, causing his rifle to discharge and fire into Jones' back, according to a report in the Brunswick News.
• Ronnie Silvers, of Chatsworth, died Oct. 17 in Murray County. He told his mother he was going deer hunting on family property with a .50 caliber muzzleloader. He left at 4 p.m. Family members heard a gunshot at 4:20 p.m. and later found him dead when he failed to come home after dark.
He apparently had a self-inflicted gunshot wound that entered at his upper right groin and exited at his right shoulder. Authorities speculate he might have stopped to rest and propped the rifle with the barrel upward, and it discharged.
• Michael Haney, 47, of Montgomery County, Ga., was found dead Oct. 27 in an area where he had been deer hunting. There was no gunshot wound and no other apparent cause of death, and the incident remains under investigation.
Reach Rob Pavey at 868-1222, ext. 119 or rob.pavey@augustachronicle.com.
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