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Native American sites are precious few, and should be preserved for future generations.

I agree with Jeff B. Native American sites are a very valuable part of our history, and they need to be protected.

Anytime we can protect an environmentally significant part of nature, we are passing down through the generations a gift. Certainly the Native Americans passed these fish weirs down to us as gifts. The least we can do to honor them is to protect what they left us.

What a difficult decision!

However, so few Native American sites are preserved in North Georgia, I think it is important to preserve this one based as much on its rarity as any other reason.

We need these reminders of the past for future generations to see and enjoy. Destruction of these relics is destroying the history of the earliest inhabitants of our lands.

I love the Etowah!

It is a lovely and historic site on a free flowing river. It provides an opportunity for present and future generations to physically connect with a feature associated with the daily lives of the area's indigeneous people of past centuries.

Because I'm tired of loosing my native heritage to modern progress and lack of education on historical facts.

It is very important to preserve the few traces of the Native Americans that are left.

American Indian Interest

I am a member of Trail of Tears Assoc and we work to preserve anything Cherokee/Native American.

Have recorded fish trap dams in Georgia's streams for past 20 years.

Georgia's Native American history and artifacts should be preserved and used to educate the public about this segment of American society.

Re: Comment by Jeff B at 06:47 PM on 08/31/2009:
These are VERY significant to our Native American heritage and need to be protected and preserved.

There are precious few natural relics remaining from the real founding fathers of this area. These sites should be definately preserved and their origin taught to our youth.

Retaining the last vestiges of American Indian presence in Georgia is critical for future generations.

We are so lucky to still have these and need to be responsible enough to preserve them.

Re: Comment by Anonymous at 08:31 PM on 09/01/2009:
Couldn't agree more.

Too many of the Indian areas or artifacts have been cleared. We need to preserve all that we have left!

it's a rare type of cultural resource

educational spot

Not only is this a site that was used by both Indian and settlers and should be preserved, it's part of our natural resources which we have no bussiness destroying. All native american sites shoud be saved for all generations to come.

ALL need to be saved

This represents pioneer and prepioneer era's in our country. Some of these were built by native indians and are truly historic sites just as the Indian Mounds in Cartersville.

This should be an inexpensive and for lack of a better term easy solution to save something that represents the heritage of many native Georgians (including myself).

A wonderful piece of Native American history here in our area.

Significant piece of Cherokee Indian history.

Once these places are gone there will be no more.

We need to preserve every site that is significantly unique, not only to Cherokee County but to the United States. These fish weirs fit into that classification.

I believe in preservation of historical sites

I believe in preservation of historical sites

Important to preserve Native American contributions to our county and state.

Important history of the area.

This is a major site of significance to GA and history of the five civilized SE tribe's lifeways in Cherokee Co.

So much has been destroyed that furture generations will never see or hear of, we should take all measures possible to protect these sites. The protection and public knowledge of these fish weirs would be a valuable tool for our schools for field trips without leaving Cherokee Cnty

Perhaps the State could help and advise the Department of Natural Resources might be a source of information for preservation help.
Or, local Native American groups?

I have seen these it is history,beautiful and wonderful, and if it can't taken care of, I am almost positive that some the first nation people would be happy to have thier land returned

GA has done a rather poor job of preserving Native American sites, and the fish weirs provide excellent first-hand examples of Native ingenuity.

My husband and I had the good fortune to find a fish weir that had not been documented on the part of the Etowah River that flows through the River Green subdivision. The state specialists hiked to it with my grandsons and me. What a great history lesson! The boys will never forget it.

We have a fish wier near our house.

can you get any earlier? I don't think so.

I find it facinating

Our fore fathers left finger prints on this enchanted land it was their
Eden these are some of the faint words they have left for our grandchildren don't erase the wonderful traces they have left for them.

Any and all things of Native American heritage should be saved for the next generations.

Few vestiges of Cherokee presence in Georgia remain. It's important to save those that do.

They've taken away our land,homes and way of life don't let them take our history too.

I used to play on weirs like these when I was a kid. Never knew their significance.

There are so few reminders of our Native heritage that remain. This one is such a monument to the memory of our ancestors - why stand to lose it? This weir has stood against nature for hundreds of years - who are we to say that it isn't worth our protection?

Re: Comment by Delindah T at 12:44 PM on 09/10/2009:
Remember that the Historic Preservation Division of DNR accepts applications for small grants for preserving/documenting sites such as this!

My brother was the only person left in Orland, Maine who knew how to build a weir. They asked him to tear the old one down and build a new one to teach younger people the art of building a weir. I do not want this old tradition to be a lost art in Georgia. The school I went to in Maine was built with the money made from trapping alewives in the weir and selling them to Lobster fishermen for bait and from smoking them for food for people from many miles around.

We've lost far too many historic sites in this country.

Member of Trail of Tears, and have Cherokee ancestry

What a wonderful piece of history. The public certainly should be educated and these left intact.

I feel the kids of today need this
history.

Many of us from north Geaorgia have Cherokee blood. These are interesting parts of Cherokee history.

I volunteer on the Blue Ridge Ridge Scenic Railway and we point out this
cultural artefact to customers. If this is a genuine artefact if feel that it should be preserved, protected, and displayed for the public. Is this artefact known to be pre-Columbian for sure?

We should never forget those who taught us how to survive in this country--and helped us do it--history tells us that many died trying it on their own.We should be very grateful to the earlier inhabitants of this land. Saving this area is a good way , though small, to say 'thank you'--

Because of the Native American significance and because it is not your typical "historical structure." It is unique.

It would be a shame to loose these sites. The historical significance of how the Native Americans lived and provided is an important part of all of us.

Sites like this are under appreciated by the general public and are subject to destruction by developers because their loss is not always newsworthy. Native Indian sites are the earliest Georgia history and need preservation now more than ever.

We are losing Native American sites every day and the fish weirs need to be protected.

The remains of the past everyday are being removed everyday by man and natural causes. Preserving a small glimpse of the past and knowing it is there for future generations to learn about the past ,enjoy and appreciate local Native heritage. It really wasn't that long ago that this was there land.

A lot of research is going on pertaining to Georgia's fish traps. During the Cherokee removal the US government paid the Indians for improvements on their land such as homes and fences. Fish traps were frequently listed as improvements. Most have long been destroyed and the ones remaining need preservation. This is unwritten history that dates back to the North American stone age prior to European settlement in Georgia.