THE Okefenokee Awe-Inspiring

The Okefenokee swamp is a vast wetland, a depression of elevation fed primarily through precipitation, lying west of an ancient barrier island named Trail Ridge.

The swamp is shallow and made up of peat — remnants of decomposed plant and animal matter that rise to the surface through “peat blow-ups,” which clump together providing a foundation for certain plants to seed and root. Eventually, the peat hardens, becoming somewhat of a firm surface as plants take root and grow over time.

The term Okefenokee is a rough translation from Muskogee origins meaning, “Land of the Trembling Earth.” The phrase describes what it’s like to walk across the swamp, trembling ground, wet underfoot.

The densely organic matter comprising peat is the basis of a carbon sink where the gaseous element is stored in perpetuity. Ninety-five million tons of carbon is thought to be stored in the Okefenokee. It is widely recognized that this hydrologically intact blackwater swamp is important not just for South Georgia, but for the world.

Swamp Signifi cance

In 1937, the Okefenokee became a National Wildlife Refuge — a sanctuary for all kinds of creatures — over 1,000 species of plants and animals, in fact. When I visited the visitor’s center at the Suwannee Canal Recreation Area in Folkston earlier this year, I met a National Wildlife Service employee who explained that the Okefenokee is the third largest and most intact blackwater swamp east of the Mississippi River — even more so than the highly-altered Everglades in Florida.

The swamp is ecologically and historically rich. There are roughly 660 square miles or 438,000 acres of peat prairies and upland forested hammocks supporting a tremendous variety of hundreds of plants and animals species, including rare ones under threat of habitat destruction in recent decades. The vast majority of the swamp is wilderness — untouched and unnavigable land that nature holds in its firm grip. The place spells unspoiled nature in its present form, perhaps even seemingly of prehistoric code, despite the greedy attempts to forever alter and clear cut the vast place to adhere to humanity’s rabid craving for conquering nature.

When combined with the Osceola National Forest and Pinhook — a set of private and state-owned forests — in Florida, the Dixon Memorial State Forest north of the swamp, and other private timberlands, the Okefenokee is the heart of the largest contiguous conser- vation corridor east of the Mississippi River comprising over 1 million acres, according to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). Although these areas have been heavily logged and surrounding natural habitats have been fragmented, this part of Southern Georgia and Northern Florida is a glimmering emblem of what a conservation corridor could be — large swaths of land that allow animals to free range and plants to grow unhindered — a rarity in the Southeast of the U.S.

Just as many animals and plants take refuge in the swamp today, 200 years ago the disbanded and decimated natives who experienced the horrors of the Spanish introduction of smallpox and European warfare found refuge in the dense wetland labyrinths. In Trembling Earth: A Cultural History of the Okefenokee Swamp, Megan Nelson details how runaway enslaved Africans, who used their knowledge of wetland ecology to escape plantations, and groups of natives came together in and around the Okefenokee to become what’s called the Seminoles.

Recreation in the Swamp

I met Levi Welling, avid naturalist and fisherman and Director of Operations for Okefenokee Adventures. I asked

Levi about the significance of the swamp, and he responded that it is, “a long-term economic asset to South Georgia.” It’s estimated there are between 250,000 and 300,000 visitors coming to the swamp and recreating each year.

The swamp offers many opportunities for exploration. The Suwanee Canal Recreation Area (SCRA) in Folkston, Okefenokee Swamp Park in Waycross, and Stephen C. Foster State Park near Fargo offer respective guided tours or canoes and motorboats for self-exploration as well. There are 120 miles of water trails, and ten camping spots in the swamp.

In the early afternoon, I tagged along an outgoing guided tour, a great way to learn about the deep history and intricate ecology. We saw swooping pileated woodpeckers, resting red-shouldered hawks, sunbathing American alligators, wading white ibis, but never caught a glimpse of the elusive bittern that typically blends in with the tall grass. There were many songbirds that I couldn’t identify at first glimpse. Then, there was the yellow-throated warbler — too far and too quick for my lens to capture. The lush impenetrable landscape, though, had a grip on my attention. I adjusted my lens to the 24mm wild angle perspective.

I made overnight reservations at Okefenokee Pastimes, which is one of many campsites surrounding the swamp. I stayed at a camping spot named Longleaf. I thought, “how wonderful.” This very type of forest, now revered for its significance to an array of animals including the endangered red cockaded woodpecker and gopher tortoise, has been logged down to 3% of its pre-timber crusade numbers. The SCRA has a road adjacent to the visitor’s center that meanders through a longleaf pine restoration forest which the National Wildlife Service (NWS) has released several groups of red-cockaded woodpeckers. Their nesting cavities have been marked by white paint on the trees.

The Road Ahead — Okefenokee at a Crossroads

Over 130,000 public comments from across the world made their way to Geor- gia’s Environmental Protection Division (EPD), Army Corps of Engineers, and Governor Kemp’s desk since February this year in an outcry response to the EPD’s acceptance of Twin Pine’s titanium mining proposal. Some scientists provide clear evidence that the mine located three miles east of the swamp on Trail Ridge could lower the swamp water level significantly. This would be problematic in many ways for the future of the swamp.

Darlene Taylor filed a bill titled the Okefenokee Protection Act earlier this year into the Georgia General Assembly. Although the bill would prevent mining on Trail Ridge in order to protect its fragile hydrology, it would not prevent the current mining proposal.

I spoke with Kim Bednarek, the executive director of the Okefenokee Swamp Park in Waycross, who is interested in creating the “Okefenokee Experience.” “Recreation (in the Okefenokee) is reasonably good, and we want to take it to the next level,” she says.

This means making Folkston, Fargo, and Waycross, the three towns surrounding the swamp, viable places for increased ecotourism. Bednarek is collaborating with a lot of partners from both the private and public sectors to improve the quality of life for these three rural towns. For this to happen, she explains to me that there needs to be bipartisan support and an inclusionary process.

The plans for the Okefenokee Experience include the creation of a dark sky observatory in Fargo. Kim explains, “We are talking about ecotourism, right, but think Astro-tourism.” Stephen C. Foster State Park is designated as a “gold tier International Dark Sky Park.” A Nature Center will be created in Waycross, and a Cultural History Museum would be created in Folkston. The next step is a UNESCO World Heritage designation, which is like a stamp of approval in a tourism sense and brings global visibility. This would increase tourism dollars significantly, and Kim believes the creation of the Okefenokee Experience will solidify the necessary foundation which will maximize the economic potential spread out around the 400,000 acres of the swamp.

The Okefenokee has been on the tentative list for designation since 1982, and when designated, it will be the only UNESCO National Wildlife Refuge in the United States, which will get some serious press coverage.

Georgia’s natural areas in the past 50 years have undergone significant industrial threats. It’s fascinating to me that Southeast Georgia has made clear moves to protect its natural resources for posterity. This choice has clear economic implications in that recreation and tourism become the forefront of the dollars coming in. The Okefenokee Swamp is next in line.