Georgia lawmakers weigh controversial change to marsh ownership law

A new bill proposes to streamline the process for private owners to claim a piece of marsh along the Georgia coast. (Emily Jones/WABE)

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Georgia lawmakers are considering a bill that would make it easier for coastal landowners to claim ownership of parts of the state’s salt marsh. The sponsors say it would promote conservation, but advocates are skeptical.

Georgia’s vast acres of salt marsh are by default state property unless a landowner has a clear title dating all the way back to a land grant from the English crown or the state of Georgia just after Independence. That’s more than 200 years of history, and it can be pretty difficult and time-consuming to prove a clear chain of private marsh ownership through all that time.