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Ogden Doremus

Mettier, Georgia
Vice Chair
Georgia Chapter

“Georgia’s coast is the least developed in the nation,” declares retired state court Judge Ogden Doremus with more than a touch of pride. Indeed, while it is far from immune to development, Georgia’s coast is still characterized by long stretches of tidal marsh rather than hotels and condominiums. Doremus, 83, is largely to thank.

Doremus co-founded the Izaak Walton League in Georgia in 1950, was among the first trustees of the Georgia Conservancy in the 1970s, and co-founded the Georgia Center for Law and the Public Interest in 1992, where he still serves as director.

In 1970, he helped plan the Georgia Marshlands Protection Act, which declared Georgia’s coastal salt marshes to be state property. He organized public support and lobbied a joint House-Senate committee to support the bill, which passed after what he calls a “bloody” fight. On his 75th birthday, the Georgia General Assembly honored the judge with a resolution calling the Marshlands Protection Act his “crowning glory.”

But the fight is ongoing, he says. “Developers see the Act as an impediment. The business world considers land something they’re simply entitled to use.”
Doremus laments that environmentalists have been fighting defensively of late, but he feels the pendulum will swing back. He cites as positive signs the recent defeat of water privatization in Georgia and the election of slow-growth commissioners in suburban Atlanta.

“Ultimately, the environment’s biggest threat is population growth,” he says. “Look at any statistics you want and you’ll see that we’re going to have to deal with more people. If we don’t set up some safeguards, the march of time and population growth will take an inevitable toll.”

Published: November 5, 2007