Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge to be nominated for UNESCO World Heritage Site status – The Current

The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is a step closer to becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced Friday.

The nomination of the 400,000 acre refuge in southeast Georgia for World Heritage Site designation will now go to the Federal Register for public review. The World Heritage Committee, composed of representatives from 21 nations, makes the final decision for inclusion on the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization’s World Heritage List.

If included in the list, the Okefenokee would join 1,223 cultural and natural sites of universal importance, such as the Grand Canyon in Arizona, the Taj Mahal in India, the Great Wall in China, and the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador. If successful in its bid, the Okefenokee would be the first U.S. wildlife refuge to earn the designation.

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is the largest refuge east of the Mississippi. It includes more than 350,000 acres of designated wilderness and is renowned for its nighttime skies free of light pollution, mirror-like black water streams, and its deep reserves of carbon-storing peat. It’s a haven for wildlife including 234 species of bird, 64 of reptiles, and 50 of mammals.

The World Heritage Site designation comes as state regulators at the Georgia Environmental Protection Division are evaluating a controversial permit application from Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals to strip mine for titanium dioxide and other minerals on private land near the eastern side of the refuge. Academic researchers as well as hydrologists from the National Park Service say the proposed mine risks altering the swamp’s hydrology, but Twin Pines officials disagree.

“The United States is home to some of Earth’s most incredible natural wonders, and today, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge takes an important step toward joining the ranks of the world’s most cherished treasures,” Secretary Deb Haaland said in a press release. “This nomination serves as a recognition of the refuge’s unparalleled natural and cultural significance, and of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees, local communities and Tribes that have stewarded these lands for generations.” 

Haaland visited the refuge in September 2022, about two months before plans were announced to seek the designation.

Conservationists welcomed the advancement of the World Heritage bid Friday.

“The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge patently meets the UN World Heritage Committee’s requirements for protection, integrity and biodiversity – and being ‘one of a kind’!” Rena Ann Peck, the executive director of Georgia Rivers wrote in a text to The Current. “I’m so proud Georgia is in the running for our nation’s next world heritage site.

Defenders of Wildlife Senior Policy Analyst Christian Hunt called the Okefenokee “an essential ecosystem.”

“The nomination is a well-deserved recognition of the wild character, incredible biodiversity and cultural significance that define the largest blackwater wetland in North America,” he wrote in a press release. “At a time when the Okefenokee is under threat by mining interests, this nomination reminds us that we are talking about one of the most significant ecosystems in the world.” 

Supporters of the effort to make the Okefenokee a World Heritage Site point to benefits including increased tourism, conservation, federal funding opportunities, and international protections for the landmark.

Among them is U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-St. Simons) who introduced a U.S. House resolution supporting the effort in June, 2023.

 “No one loves the environment more than south Georgians and we are eager to share the Okefenokee Swamp’s beauty with the rest of the world, so that we can continue to appreciate and preserve this landmark for generations to come,” Carter wrote at the time.

But around the refuge, locals are split on the value of the designation, with some fearing it spells interference from foreign governments. Yard signs reading “Keep the UN out of the Okefenokee” have sprung up in the counties surrounding the swamp since the World Heritage bid was first announced in 2022.

The Department of the Interior dismisses those concerns. “Inclusion of a site in the World Heritage List does not affect United States sovereignty or management over the sites, which remain subject only to United States law,” it states.

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