Chattahoochee recreation area gets 55 acres bigger in Gwinnett

Thanks to the recent acquisition of a key Gwinnett County property, the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area is now 55 acres bigger.

The Trust for Public Land and the National Park Service announced Friday the purchase of the property near Suwanee, which boasts nearly 2,000 feet of river frontage. The tract — roughly half a mile northwest of the intersection of McGinnis Ferry Road and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard — connects two already existing pieces of parkland and its purchase creates a roughly eight-mile stretch of contiguous public lands, officials said.

“The long range plan is to work with our partners to create an outstanding hiking and recreational experience for our public in this portion of the park,” Bill Cox, superintendent of the Chattahoochee River National Park Area, said in a news release.

The Trust for Public Land purchased the previously private property for $4.6 million. The National Park Service contributed $2.091 million, using money from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund.

"Protecting this vital land and connecting two pieces of the park is the latest success in The Trust for Public Land and our partners’ 20 years of work on the Chattahoochee,” the trust’s Georgia director, George Dusenbury, said.