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. 

A ‘mountain scene’ in middle Georgia 

Sprewell Bluff is about 75 miles south of Atlanta, but it looks like it could be in the north Georgia mountains. It’s where the Flint River runs through a deep gorge.