The law "is barely enforceable and certainly not affordable," said Glen Dowling, Executive Vice President of the Georgia Wildlife Federation (GWF).

"It has already cost our DNR [Department of Natural resources] thousands of dollars, and the price tag will only increase at the expense of Georgia's anglers and recreational boaters."

That expense will come in the form of degraded aquatic systems, possible loss of access, and further stretching of DNR's limited manpower and financial resources. The General Assembly charged the agency not only with developing regulations for pulling the logs from the bottom of the rivers, but also with enforcement.

At the same time, said Dowling, the DNR has been told to cut its budget, and aquatic weed control might be considered expendable.

"So, they would be taking away access for thousands of anglers to give [access] to a few loggers," the GWF vice president added. "We have more than a million anglers in Georgia, and we don't want that negatively impacted."

Nor do the more than 120 conservation, sportsman and environmental organizations that make up the Georgia Water Coalition want the rivers negatively impacted.

"The importance of deadhead logs to river health cannot be overestimated, as these logs provide valuable fish habitat, allow for high levels of invertebrate productivity, and provide refuge for endangered and threatened mussels," said the coalition in a letter to the DNR, offering recommendations for regulations.

"In southeastern coastal plain streams, woody substrate habitats had a higher diversity of species, higher biomass and higher productivity than any other habitat. Several species of game fish feed almost exclusively on these invertebrates."

The Submerged Timber Task Force also expressed concerns about the health of fish and aquatic species when, in March 2003, it recommended that recovery of submerged timber not be allowed in Georgia, based on biological, legal, economic and historical concerns.

Ignoring the advice, the General Assembly passed a law during the final hours of its recent session allowing removal of logs from the river bottom. Those who receive licenses will be allowed to pull up the thousands of logs that sank in the rivers during the 19th and early 20th centuries, before they reached mills or sites for removal.

Lying well-preserved on the bottom, these logs known as "deadheads" are valued for their tight grain and colors such as blond, caramel and black. The logs are up to 10 times as valuable as timber harvested from the land. Far larger than anything available today, one old-growth log might carry a price tag of $50,000.

Along with a $50,000 bond and a $10,000 license, a logger might be required to pay the state 20% of the wood's value to compensate for the loss of state-owned property. And such a sweetheart deal, say critics, runs counter to the gratuities clause of the Georgia Constitution, which says that the state cannot provide a private benefit at a public cost.

Right now, though, courtesy of the Georgia General Assembly, it appears that deadhead logging will begin in the Flint and Altamaha rivers in 2006.