A more than 40-year effort to bring global recognition to Georgia’s Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge has reached another milestone.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature said Friday it is recommending that the UNESCO World Heritage Committee vote to put the wildlife refuge on its prestigious list when it meets next month. The bid is not final yet and must still clear this hurdle.
The IUCN is an official adviser to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee and evaluates natural sites nominated to the list.
The World Heritage Committee is set to hold a convention next month in Busan, South Korea, when its members are expected to take a final vote to decide whether the Okefenokee belongs on the list.
Proponents of the bid have said it could unlock tourism and economic investment in South Georgia.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
“Outdoor recreation and conservation go hand in hand,” Kim Bednarek, the executive director of Okefenokee Swamp Park and Adventures and a driving force behind the bid, said Monday in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Bednarek said as the refuge moves a step closer to World Heritage designation, the region has a unique opportunity to welcome visitors from across the globe. “Every new visitor who experiences the Okefenokee strengthens appreciation for this remarkable wetland and helps us build a more prosperous community,” she said.
The effort to gain World Heritage status follows a landmark conservation deal last year that halted a controversial mining proposal near the fragile eastern edge of the Okefenokee Swamp, one of the most intact wetland ecosystems left on Earth.
Though the deal halted the proposed mine by Twin Pines Minerals, talk of mining in the area of Trail Ridge, the ecologically sensitive sand dunes that form the eastern boundary of the swamp, has continued.
World Heritage status is given to places on Earth with “outstanding universal value to humanity.” Georgia does not currently have a World Heritage site, and there are only 26 in the U.S., such as Yellowstone National Park and the Statue of Liberty.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
If the Okefenokee can secure the status, it would be the first National Wildlife Refuge on the list.
The effort is decades in the making. The U.S. government placed the Okefenokee refuge on a shortlist for consideration as a World Heritage nominee back in 1982. But, it wasn’t officially nominated until late 2024.
The refuge covers 407,000 acres in southeast Georgia and sits within the Okefenokee Swamp.
The refuge “protects a vast mosaic of swamp, peatland, pine savanna, prairie and forest habitats, and [is] likely to be the world’s largest and most intact lowland freshwater peatland in the subtropical zone,” the IUCN said in a news release. “The site supports exceptional ecological processes driven by water, fire and peat formation, as well as high biodiversity.”
The IUCN said the refuge is home to important populations of the American alligator, gopher tortoise, Florida black bear and red-cockaded woodpecker. The group also noted its “deep historical, cultural and spiritual significance for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and other Indigenous peoples.”
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
The IUCN visited and assessed the refuge last October, and earlier this year, provided a “favorable” preliminary report.
In its latest announcement, the IUCN also recommended other natural places in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Jordan and the Republic of Korea.
“This year’s recommendations underline the extraordinary range of natural heritage that needs long-term protection; from coral reefs that may help science understand climate resilience, to tidal flats sustaining migratory birds, ancient fossil sites that illuminate life after mass extinction, and wetlands that store carbon and support rare species,” Tim Badman, director of World Heritage at IUCN, said in the news release.
— Staff writer Drew Kann contributed to this report.
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