APRIL 1, 2022

SOUTH FULTON COUNTY AND THE RIVERS THAT RUN THROUGH IT

Fulton County is host to three rivers, which may come as a surprise to many Atlanta residents. In spite of these waterways, Atlanta has never been a city on a river. This may change in the coming years and South Fulton County could be the beneficiary of the new model. 

The Tri-Cities area (East Point, College Park, and Hapeville) claims ownership of the Flint’s headwaters. It seeps out of the ground near a slab of Virginia Avenue concrete and then flows southward underneath Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. A joint venture between American Rivers, the Conservation Fund, and the Atlanta Regional Commission is developing ideas about how the Flint River can be used in a way that supports Tri-Cities communities. Recently, MARTA joined the effort by donating  a 7-acre triangular piece of land near Woodward Academy in College Park slated to become the Headwaters Nature Preserve, a lush greenspace that will add to the growing list of amenities for College Park residents. All of this is connected to the work of Hannah Palmer, likely the biggest advocate for the Upper Flint River in South Fulton County. If you share our interest in these initiatives, you might support Palmer’s enterprise, Finding the Flint, by following it on Facebook, donating at americanrivers.org/donate, staying tuned to College Park news outlets, or just telling your friends about the interesting and cool history of the Flint River. 

East Point also claims the South River, although it might take a while for this waterway to be considered a community asset. Named in 2021 as the fourth most endangered river in the US, the South River is a tributary of the Ocmulgee that eventually makes its way to the Atlantic Ocean. Like the Flint, the South also daylights near Hartsfield-Jackson airport. The trouble is pollution. The river flows through old industrial parks, truck terminals, freeways, and large landfills. After heavy rains, a flow of plastic drifts downstream and it’s not unusual to see lawn chairs and coolers among the soda bottles and plastic grocery bags. The South River Coalition and South River Watershed Alliance are fighting against continuing development along the river and instead for the conservation of the forestland. One contentious issue is the Old Atlanta Prison Farm which was recently voted to become a new police training compound instead of a part of the South River Forest development. If you want to help, you might consider joining the South River Forest Coalition or following them on Facebook to keep up-to-date. 

Of course, it’s the Chattahoochee River most Atlanta’s think of as the city’s waterway, although because of its early reliance on the railroad, Atlanta is unique in that it has a river that could be the city’s focal point, but isn’t. The Chattahoochee runs through metro Atlanta along a 53-mile stretch, traversing much of the city’s wealthy northern suburbs. But while it is the state’s most used recreational waterway, downstream from Buckhead and Vinings, there aren’t many access points. In spite of this, it remains an incredible natural resource for the region. It’s the southernmost trout habitat in the US, home to nearly 250 bird species, as well as rabbits, deer, owls, and bats, nine protected plant species, and the Halloween Darter, a fish whose only habitat is the Chattahoochee and the Flint. The nonprofit Chattahoochee Now is focusing on increasing accessibility in South Fulton County, an effort supported by Beltline founder Ryan Gravel. In 2021, conceptual artist Jonathon Keats came to Atlanta with a vision to introduce a new form of time-keeping that is based on the ebbs and flows of the Chattahoochee River, and we paired him with Ethan Payne to capture the work in one of our short documentaries called Filmers (WATCH THE FILM ON YOUTUBE). 

Here at the South Fulton Institute, we are in the business of connecting people. We are working to make connections within and among the 8 cities that make up the part of Fulton County that lies below I-20. Rivertime has been the perfect project for this. If Keats’ dream manifests itself in a river-timed clock projected onto a building in the heart of Atlanta, his project will literally connect North Fulton County and South Fulton County–and the connection will be driven by one really original idea. This is the sort of thing that inspires us here at SFI.