A Whole New Season Georgia Outdoors!

It's hard to believe that we are about to premiere our 16th season of Georgia Outdoors. I've been with the show since it's 10th season and I've come to know Georgia intimately through the years. That breadth of general knowledge was the idea behind the concept of our season premiere episode, Georgia Outdoors: Beginners' Guide to Georgia (which is set to premiere on Friday, October 5th at 9:30 PM. Check it out.) Could we share our extensive general knowledge about Georgia in one show? Beginners' Guide starts with the idea that not everyone who lives in the state of Georgia grew up here and further, that even Georgia natives might appreciate a refresher course about what a diverse state Georgia really is.

I always think back to my first field shoot for Georgia Outdoors in Sept 1999. I had only been living in the state for 2 years after moving here from Florida and I didn't really know much about the state except for Atlanta (a fault of many well-meaning Atlantans). Well, here we were boating down the Flint River wth a DNR fisheries biologist who is studying the Flint's striper bass population and the cool water refuge the river affords them. An amazing first week on the job, I might add. I asked him, off the record, if he could work anywhere in the world where would that be? I expected answers like, "The Great Barrier Reef", or "The Amazon Delta" but what I got was, "The Georgia Coast". Huh?

But I've learned that he is absolutely right. The Georgia coast is an amazing place. A dozen+ barrier island protecting miles and miles of salt marsh. It's a wonderful place and I relish every chance I get to go there. In fact, I often suggest to the powers-that-be of GPB that a spin off of Georgia Outdoors-- Georgia Outdoors: The Coastal Edition-- would be a fabulous hit with our viewers and I'd be the first to volunteer to helm that series.

Georgia is so well placed geographically. It's central to so much that is ecologically diverse. From the Georgia coast, perhaps the most pristine coast in the US outside of Alaska, to the Flint-Chattahoochee watershed, named the 6th most biologically-diverse areas in the US by the Nature Conservancy, to the north Georgia Mountains, the foothills of a mountain range older than the Himalayas. So, if you live in Georgia then you are just hours from a diverse range of landscapes and outdoors experiences. Take advantage of it! Check out Georgia Outdoors: Beginners' Guide to Georgia and plot your course for adventure.

And by the way, that Flint River fisheries biologist got his wish. He now works at a fishery in Richmond Hill just miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Lucky guy.