Who else is a fan of North Georgia? (real estate, house)

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by ma-metrowest

Thanks. Out of curiosity, I did a comparison between land for sale in MA and GA, zoomed in around the respective large cities to approximately the same geographic area. Greater Boston has 501 listings; Greater ATL north of the city has 6,003 listings.

We need to be protecting a lot of that land.

Conservation land, mid-sized parks, pocket parks, nature preserves, etc.

[Phil P]

Yes more conservation is always good, but we have to give Georgia credit for what they've been able to accomplish. Most of Appalachian Georgia is federally owned and undeveloped. It's already basically pristine. Down in the piedmont, there's 2 huge swaths of national forest part of the Oconee NF, which appear to be woefully undervisited. I don't know anyone who's actually been down there hiking. The riverways of the state, which are usually the most biodiverse spots, seem to be mostly forested and left in their natural state which is huge for water quality. Look at the (both) Red Rivers or Missouri River for a comparison, that's how farming runoff ends up in the Gulf of Mexico... And there's a LOT of longleaf pines that have recently been planted across the southern part of the state, restoring that ecosystem.

There's a lot of land in Georgia and from a ecological perspective, the trend line is pretty good for conservation. From a crowd perspective, I don't run into near the amount of people on trails here that I did in Colorado, if anything a good chunk of it is underused, basically anything that's not inside urban Atlanta and doesn't have a waterfall or mountain summit.

Remember, the US (and world) population isn't growing as fast as it used to. The next 40 years likely won't see population increases like the last 40.

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by Phil P

Yes more conservation is always good, but we have to give Georgia credit for what they've been able to accomplish. Most of Appalachian Georgia is federally owned and undeveloped. It's already basically pristine. Down in the piedmont, there's 2 huge swaths of national forest part of the Oconee NF, which appear to be woefully undervisited. I don't know anyone who's actually been down there hiking. The riverways of the state, which are usually the most biodiverse spots, seem to be mostly forested and left in their natural state which is huge for water quality. Look at the (both) Red Rivers or Missouri River for a comparison, that's how farming runoff ends up in the Gulf of Mexico... And there's a LOT of longleaf pines that have recently been planted across the southern part of the state, restoring that ecosystem.

There's a lot of land in Georgia and from a ecological perspective, the trend line is pretty good for conservation. From a crowd perspective, I don't run into near the amount of people on trails here that I did in Colorado, if anything a good chunk of it is underused, basically anything that's not inside urban Atlanta and doesn't have a waterfall or mountain summit.

Remember, the US (and world) population isn't growing as fast as it used to. The next 40 years likely won't see population increases like the last 40.

Excellent post, Phil P!

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by Phil P

Yes more conservation is always good, but we have to give Georgia credit for what they've been able to accomplish. Most of Appalachian Georgia is federally owned and undeveloped. It's already basically pristine. Down in the piedmont, there's 2 huge swaths of national forest part of the Oconee NF, which appear to be woefully undervisited. I don't know anyone who's actually been down there hiking. The riverways of the state, which are usually the most biodiverse spots, seem to be mostly forested and left in their natural state which is huge for water quality. Look at the (both) Red Rivers or Missouri River for a comparison, that's how farming runoff ends up in the Gulf of Mexico... And there's a LOT of longleaf pines that have recently been planted across the southern part of the state, restoring that ecosystem.

There's a lot of land in Georgia and from a ecological perspective, the trend line is pretty good for conservation. From a crowd perspective, I don't run into near the amount of people on trails here that I did in Colorado, if anything a good chunk of it is underused, basically anything that's not inside urban Atlanta and doesn't have a waterfall or mountain summit.

Remember, the US (and world) population isn't growing as fast as it used to. The next 40 years likely won't see population increases like the last 40.

I think we are talking about different things. Yes, Georgia does a decent-to-excellent job of large swath conservation - the National Forests, etc. are jewels. I love that you are talking on broad, macro level (riverways, comparisons to large areas in other states, deep hiking, etc.)

I am talking mostly about the large unincorporated areas in Metro Atlanta - where there is too little regulation and there is no thought to preserving/conserving natural/park land - as the areas get more developed/denser. Think in terms of 2-20 acre segments that would make great pocket parks, little passive parks, working/urban farms, small nature preserves, etc. in areas that are lacking in these spaces already. Instead, a lot or most of the segments are getting developed as small, squeezed-in subdivision plots of new houses.

East Cobb, often touted on here, is very guilty of this.

And don't get me started on the clear-cutting...

[aus10]

Originally Posted by aries4118

And don't get me started on the clear-cutting...

Me too! The developer's keep moving north into the mountains as well. They are clear-cutting and lopping off mountain tops....

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by aus10

Me too! The developer's keep moving north into the mountains as well. They are clear-cuttng and lopping off mountain tops....

This has GOT to stop. Every single development I come across anywhere in the Metro is now clear-cut, the developers just pay the fines and keep going. We need very strong, enforceable tree ordinances. The fines need to be severe enough to force the developers to comply, that's the only way to stop this.

[Mialeyna]

As far as living in north Georgia (ex: around Clayton or Clarksville, etc) how is internet access? Would you still have good enough connection to FaceTime family in other areas from there? And how is cell phone service? Thank you for any information.

[Phil P]

Originally Posted by aries4118

I think we are talking about different things. Yes, Georgia does a decent-to-excellent job of large swath conservation - the National Forests, etc. are jewels. I love that you are talking on broad, macro level (riverways, comparisons to large areas in other states, deep hiking, etc.)

I am talking mostly about the large unincorporated areas in Metro Atlanta - where there is too little regulation and there is no thought to preserving/conserving natural/park land - as the areas get more developed/denser. Think in terms of 2-20 acre segments that would make great pocket parks, little passive parks, working/urban farms, small nature preserves, etc. in areas that are lacking in these spaces already. Instead, a lot or most of the segments are getting developed as small, squeezed-in subdivision plots of new houses.

East Cobb, often touted on here, is very guilty of this.

And don't get me started on the clear-cutting...

I can see both sides of this, on one hand you'd think they could be a little more thoughtful with how they develop, on the other hand I can see how it'd be a PITA to have trees to work around during construction. The metro is already pretty sprawly and does already have a lot of parkland compared to other metros. So, one could argue that if they want to prevent the creep up to the Blue Ridge, they should be more dense with infill. In the Suwanee area, it seems like they are pretty good at allocating greenspace with each development block, IDK about other parts of the metro.

Things are packed in a lot tighter in other cities. Vegas in particular is a good counterpoint. Part of it is no one sheds a tear when they rip up grass clumps outside of Denver or Dallas, it doesn't feel like anything got lost lol.

Here's a street shot of homes (in the mid 400Ks mind you) of Denver to give you a comparison with what I mean!
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7859...7i16384!8i8192

It depends on how nice the forest is too, some secondary recent growth ones aren't that spectacular. I guess I'm fine with them slicing up the metro so long as other parts of the piedmont get converted from agriculture back to forest.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by Mialeyna

As far as living in north Georgia (ex: around Clayton or Clarksville, etc) how is internet access? Would you still have good enough connection to FaceTime family in other areas from there? And how is cell phone service? Thank you for any information.

Perfectly fine in Blue Ridge at least.

[bondjameson]

The mountains and the lakes of North Georgia are what makes me fall in love with the city. I always have great experience at Laprade especially