Cloudland Canyon State Park in Dade County, Georgia, was shut down Saturday afternoon after the commissioner of the state's Department of Natural Resources visited the park and saw how crowded it was during the statewide shelter-in-place.
Dade County Commission Chairman Ted Rumley held an impromptu press conference Saturday about 45 minutes after the park was closed.
Rumley said he received several calls Friday and Saturday about the state continuing to have crowd issues as state and federal officials are requiring people to stay home as much as possible. However, as part of Gov. Brian Kemp's shelter-in-place, state parks and beaches remain open.
Residents and the commission in Dade County have been calling for Cloudland Canyon State Park to be closed for weeks. Over the last weekend of March, hundreds of people flocked to the park from all over Georgia and neighboring states as confirmed cases in Georgia continued to rise.
Rumley and State Rep. Colton Moore, R-Trenton spoke with Kemp and his office about closing the park before the governor issued a statewide shelter- in-place order. After the order was issued, state parks remained open despite a call to close them.
Mark Williams, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, visited the park Saturday and decided to close it after seeing how traffic was backed up entering and leaving the park.
"He couldn't have came at a better time," Rumley said, adding that visitors "had a state highway practically shut down."
Rumley said Williams did a fly-over in a helicopter and saw the congestion in the canyon and made the decision to shut the park down.
Rumley previously had said if the governor didn't take any action the Dade County Sheriff's Department could patrol the highway that leads to Cloudland Canyon State Park to prevent outsiders from visiting the park.
Rumley thanked Sen. Jeff Mullis for reaching out to Williams about the issue and setting up the Saturday visit.
"For the time being, that problem is kind of taking care of itself," Rumley said.
Earlier this week, the Dade County Commission joined 11 other counties in North Georgia asking Kemp to close down state parks to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Rumley said Williams will meet with Kemp later this week and decide the fate of Cloudland Canyon and other state parks.
The park will be closed until further notice.
Contact Patrick Filbin at pfilbin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickFilbin.