SAVANNAH, Ga. – Workers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Savannah District at J. Strom Thurmond Project began inspecting and re-painting approximately 85 miles of the existing boundary line mid-October 2025.
R&D Maintenance Services, a contractor with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, uses bright orange paint to make boundary line “witness trees” more visible and easier to identify, as well as trimming heavy brush to clear the boundary line between witness trees. This routine boundary maintenance does not move present property lines. The work makes existing property lines more visible.
This year, crews will primarily work in Lincoln, Elbert, and McCormick Counties, starting near Fishermans Lane in Tignall, Georgia, and ending near Savannah Lakes Marina in McCormick, South Carolina. The work encompasses boundary lines in Pineview, Buckhead Pointe, Lakeside Estates, Broad Acres, Holiday Estates, and Stillwater Coves Subdivisions in addition to Broad River Campground, Bobby Brown Park, and Hickory Knob State Park.
Contractors will complete work on-foot with hand tools. In most cases, workers will avoid crossing private property. In the event the contractor cannot access public land without first crossing into private property, all efforts will be made to contact the owner for permission and to avoid impacts to private property.
Workers scrape old paint off the trees and apply fresh paint on witness trees to mark the boundary line. If in-ground boundary survey pins are not visible, workers will dig where pins were placed to expose them.
“Painted trees are a guide to locate the physical boundary pins installed in the ground,” said Heather Killips, Natural Resource manager at Thurmond Lake. “Monument pins should never be disturbed from their permanent locations. If you don’t see a pin, please call our office so we can help you and correct the situation. Also, when buying property or planning to build on your land adjacent to public property, a professional survey is a good investment.”
The bright orange paint used to mark the boundary line on trees is normally a four-inch band around half of each tree. To make the boundary line less obtrusive in adjacent subdivisions, the witness tree blaze width is reduced to two inches painted on one quarter of the tree. The marked trees do not delineate the exact boundary; instead, they “witness” the approximate boundary line. The exact line can only be located by surveying the monuments and pins.
“It is also important to know the location of the boundary line when removing trees or vegetation from your private property,” Killips said. “It is illegal to remove trees from public land without a permit. Doing so would equate to going on your neighbor’s property and removing their trees. In instances where trees are removed without permission, the penalty can be a combination of fines and a requirement to replace trees.”
Adjacent property owners should remove any personal property items which may have wandered across the government line and pets should not be unattended on public land, especially when workers are present.
“Work to repaint the government boundary line will continue through the autumn and winter and wrap up before spring arrives”, Killips said. For questions or concerns please call me at the Thurmond Lake office at 800-533-3478, extension 1140.”
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