How a Georgia dam fight foretold Jimmy Carter’s environmental legacy

Jimmy Carter was an avid fly fisherman. On his way back from a trip to Japan July 10, 1980, he stopped in Alaska for a few hours of fly fishing. (Courtesy of Jimmy Carter Library)

In his time in the White House, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter advanced environmental priorities, from protecting millions of acres of land in Alaska to creating the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area in Georgia. 

But he took one of his first big environmental actions as governor of Georgia when he surprised – and angered – many people by deciding to block construction of a proposed dam. 

That decision set a tone for Carter’s later conservation efforts, and for the direction of environmental advocacy in Georgia.