FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, September 22, 2005

Isakson, Chambliss Announce
Agriculture Funds for Altamaha River Basin

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and today announced that the Senate Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2006 for the U.S. Department of Agriculture includes $200,000 in funding for a water quality study of the Altamaha River Basin

“The citizens of Georgia will greatly benefit from this important study of the water quality of the Altamaha River Basin,” Isakson said. “I am pleased the Senate saw fit to support this worthy project."

“The Altamaha River Basin is an important natural resource,” said Chambliss.  “This funding will help protect and preserve the river and surrounding lands for future generations.”

The Altamaha River is the largest undammed river on the eastern seaboard of the United States. The main stem of the Altamaha winds through some of the South’s last remaining hardwood forests and tidal freshwater marshes. The watershed shelters more than fifty threatened and endangered species, including seven species of mussels found nowhere else on Earth. Funding for the project will enable the measurement of water quality characteristics, cultivation of samples and the compilation of resulting data. The data will be used to compare the water quality indices with river discharge, land use, soil type, bedrock geology and vegetable cover.

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