What if this area was defined
not only by the airport, but also
by its natural assets?
Most metro-Atlanta residents are surprised to learn that the Flint River, Georgia’s second longest river, begins near the airport. It’s easy to miss it—the headwaters are either completely hidden in culverts or they are unmarked and off-limits in the airport area.
The river starts in East Point, then flows 344 miles to the Florida state line where it joins the Chattahoochee to create the Apalachicola River. As one of the longest free-flowing rivers in the nation, the Flint provides water for farms and families across the state, and is home to several threatened and endangered species. The Flint is the “F” in the ACF River Basin, which is the subject of decades of litigation in the “water wars.” The health of the Flint touches the entire region.
The Flint River is the most important river Atlanta’s never heard of. And if we’re going to save the river for future Georgians, we have to start here, at the urban headwaters.