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Paddle Georgia coordinator urges legislature to clarify which streams are legally navigable
Summary
Joe Cook told the committee legal uncertainty about what counts as a "navigable" stream in Georgia is causing closures and hurting recreation businesses; he urged the legislature to provide clarity and cited historical case law as the basis for public passage rights.
Joe Cook, identified in the record as the Paddle Georgia coordinator, told the Economic Development and Tourism Committee that longstanding uncertainty over which streams are "navigable" is shrinking public access to rivers and harming outfitters who depend on passage.
Cook traced the issue to 19th‑century state law and case law. He described Young v. Harrison (1849) as establishing public passage on streams that can float a boat and said later case law in the 1990s…
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