Altamaha WMA - McGowan Lake Campground

public land records

Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.

GA DNR layer values for this point, verbatim: Camping='Primitive', Access='Seasonal', Maintained='Yes', Management='GM', Comments=None, Name='McGowan Lake Campground'. SEASONAL: GA DNR marks this campground Access="Seasonal", meaning it is NOT open year-round. DNR does not publish the open dates in this layer; check the WMA check station or the property page before publishing. Coordinate is Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division's own, unrounded, from the agency's public WMA feature service, layer 6 "Campgrounds" (188 points statewide, read 2026-08-16): https://services6.arcgis.com/9QlSLDqa0P1cHLhu/arcgis/rest/services/WRD_WMA_Public/FeatureServer/6 . Not derived, not geocoded, not rounded by us. SECOND SOURCE - the property's own page (https://georgiawildlife.com/altamaha-wma, read 2026-08-16) affirms camping: Accommodations & Facilities lists "Campsites"; Activities lists "Camping". FEE BASIS: Georgia DNR prints a "Fees & Passes" block on every property page and none of the 135 WMA pages read this fire names a camping fee. State-managed WMAs and PFAs print "Land Access: Hunting License, Fishing License, or Lands Pass" - i.e. a licence or Lands Pass is required to BE on the property at all, camping or not. GA DNR (https://georgiawildlife.com/LicenseChanges, read 2026-08-16): "The WMA License is no longer available or required." / "A basic hunting or fishing privilege that allows hunting or fishing on state lands is all that is needed to be present on designated state WMAs". We found no first-party page printing the Lands Pass price, so no price is claimed here. This is an ABSENCE-OF-CAMPING-FEE finding, not a published "free" statement; fee=0 means "no camping charge", not "free to enter". REVIEWER: decide whether a pass-gated site should be labelled on a free-camping map. STATEWIDE WMA RULE, Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 391-4-2-.61 (Camping Regulations on Wildlife Management Areas), verbatim: "All camps or fires shall be in designated campgrounds unless otherwise posted at the check station, except that camping is allowed anywhere on National Forest lands unless otherwise indicated or signed."; camping limited to "a period of time not to exceed 14 consecutive days; after which the campsite shall be vacated and all personally owned property or physical features of the camp removed for a period of not less than 7 days."; "It is unlawful for any person to use any musical instruments, radios, televisions, generators or other noise making devices after 10:00 p.m. daily, in such a manner that such devices may be heard by other WMA visitors." SOURCING CAVEAT: Georgia's official rules host (rules.sos.ga.gov) renders rule text via JavaScript and returned no body text; its API paths returned 403. This rule text was read at https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/georgia/Ga-Comp-R-Regs-R-391-4-2-.61 (Cornell LII), a REPRODUCTION, NOT a .gov source. Clause (1) is corroborated by GA DNR's own per-property pages. | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go.

US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.

On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.