The buffer is not our opinion. The State posts it on highway signs.

Drive Georgia's trout-water counties and you will pass the State's own notice — white sign, black letters, a statute number at the top. This page shows the actual sign, and offers free printable versions you can post along Mountaintown Creek, the Coosawattee River, or any Georgia stream bank.

The official State of Georgia sign

“O.C.G.A. 12-7-6(16) — THERE IS A REQUIRED 50 FOOT UNDISTURBED BUFFER ALONG ANY STATE WATERS CLASSIFIED AS TROUT STREAMS”

Official State of Georgia highway sign reading: O.C.G.A. 12-7-6(16) — There is a required 50 foot undisturbed buffer along any state waters classified as trout streams — Official State of Georgia sign on Highway 108 (Waleska Highway), Jasper, Georgia. Photographed February 13, 2026, with GPS stamp; filed as Exhibit 11 in *Hawkins v. Georgia EPD*. This is the State telling every passing driver exactly what the law commands.

Gilmer County's trout streams — Mountaintown Creek among them — carry the same 50-foot requirement. The law does not change at the county line. What changes is whether anyone enforces it.

Printable buffer signs — free to download and post

Letter-size, high-contrast, ready to print and laminate. Post them where the buffer is — at the stream bank, along access roads, anywhere clearing has been threatened. Each cites the exact statute.

Print replica of the official state trout stream buffer sign — **The State's sign, print replica.** The exact wording of the official sign — O.C.G.A. 12-7-6(16), 50-foot undisturbed buffer on all trout streams.

Protected stream buffer sign for Mountaintown Creek, designated trout stream, 50-foot undisturbed vegetative buffer — **Mountaintown Creek — designated trout stream.** 50-foot undisturbed vegetative buffer under the Georgia Erosion & Sedimentation Act, O.C.G.A. § 12-7-6(b)(15).

Protected river corridor sign for the Coosawattee River, 100-foot natural vegetative river corridor — **Coosawattee River — state protected river.** 100-foot natural vegetative corridor under the Mountain & River Corridor Protection Act, O.C.G.A. § 12-2-8 and DNR Rules 391-3-16-.04. The 25-foot state-waters buffer applies within it.

Download all four pages (PDF)

Posting note — read before you post. Post signs only on property you own or with the owner's permission. If your property is in a community association (including CRRA), check your covenants first — many associations restrict signs of any kind, even signs that simply state existing law, and posting one could draw a violation notice or fine from the association. These signs create no new restriction; they cite Georgia law that already applies. Even unposted, they are useful for education, for handing to a neighbor or contractor, and for documenting that a buffer was known and marked. Buffer violations should be reported to the Georgia EPD and the local issuing authority.

What the cited laws say

Trout streams — 50 feet. The Georgia Erosion & Sedimentation Act, O.C.G.A. § 12-7-6, requires an undisturbed vegetative buffer of 50 horizontal feet on both banks of any state waters classified as trout streams, and 25 feet on all other state waters. No land-disturbing activity within the buffer without a formal, publicly-noticed variance from the State.

The Coosawattee — 100 feet. Rivers with average annual flow of at least 400 cubic feet per second are protected rivers under O.C.G.A. § 12-2-8. DNR's River Corridor Protection criteria (Rules 391-3-16-.04) require a 100-foot natural vegetative buffer along each bank, implemented through local ordinance. Certain uses are allowed by law within the corridor — including one single-family dwelling per tract of at least two acres (the septic tank may sit within the corridor, but the leach field must be outside it), road and utility crossings built to code, timber and agriculture under best practices, and paths and boat ramps that do not impair the corridor. Clearing the bank is not among them.

See the full statute discussion and the State's own enforcement record on the main page.