A 40-plus year effort to place Georgia’s Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on the famed UNESCO World Heritage list is on track as it enters the final stretch, the leaders behind the swamp’s bid said Tuesday.
Kim Bednarek, the executive director of Okefenokee Swamp Park and Adventures and a driving force behind the bid, said Tuesday they received a “favorable” preliminary report from a group of international scientists who visited the Okefenokee last fall.
Their October visit, reported exclusively by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, was meant to help assess whether the refuge has the “outstanding universal value” required to become a World Heritage site.
With the positive feedback in hand, Bednarek said the refuge’s bid is now set to be considered by the World Heritage Committee at its convention this July in Busan, South Korea. There, the committee’s 21 members will take a final vote to decide whether the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge belongs on the prestigious list.
“It’s so wonderful for the (local) community to see this come to fruition, and of course, for the National Wildlife Refuge system,” Bednarek said Tuesday during “Okefenokee Day” events held at the state Capitol. Okefenokee Day is held each year under the Gold Dome to promote the swamp and the small rural counties that surround it.
Proponents of the bid see World Heritage status as a potential boon to the economy of rural southeast Georgia, home to some of the poorest counties in the state.
Former University of Georgia star and Pro Football Hall of Famer Champ Bailey is among those who see it as a game-changer for the region. Bailey, who grew up in Folkston, next door to the swamp, and is now part of the nomination’s advisory committee, said Tuesday he thinks the designation will bring desperately needed opportunities to his hometown.
“I know what this can be, and I just feel like it’s been underserved and underinvested,” Bailey said. “Now, it’s time to pour everything into it like we should have been doing all these years.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
World Heritage status is an honor reserved for the planet’s most iconic natural and cultural treasures — places like the Great Barrier Reef, Machu Picchu and Yellowstone National Park are among the more than 1,200 sites already on the list. If selected, the Okefenokee would be the U.S.’ 27th World Heritage site, and the first National Wildlife Refuge on the list.
Covering 407,000 acres of southeast Georgia, the refuge is the largest wildlife sanctuary of its kind east of the Mississippi River. It sits within the Okefenokee Swamp, one of the most intact wetland ecosystems left on Earth and a home for hundreds of types of plants and animals, including threatened and endangered species. It also stores millions of tons of decayed vegetation known as peat, which keeps huge amounts of carbon that could potentially warm the planet locked safely away.
The U.S. government placed the refuge on a shortlist for consideration as a World Heritage nominee back in 1982, but it wasn’t officially nominated until late 2024, in the final weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency.
Since then, the Okefenokee’s nomination has continued to receive support from across the political spectrum.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Georgia’s Democratic Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have both pushed for the refuge’s inscription. Last year, Sonny Perdue — the two-term Georgia Republican governor, former U.S. agriculture secretary and now chancellor of the University System of Georgia — also wrote President Donald Trump’s administration, asking it to support the nomination.
So far, the Trump administration has indicated it will move ahead with seeking World Heritage status, but prominent Georgia Republicans are trying to ensure that support remains.
Earlier this month, Georgia Senate Majority Leader Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, wrote U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to endorse the bid and ask for the Trump administration’s backing during the “critical” final stages. Anavitarte specifically asked the State Department to send a representative as part of the U.S.’ delegation to the World Heritage Convention in South Korea this summer.
In a letter dated Feb. 2 that was shared with the AJC, Anavitarte asked for the administration’s “continued support of this once in a lifetime opportunity to create a lasting impact for our state, for our country, and for the world.”
The final push for the Okefenokee’s World Heritage status comes after a mine planned on the swamp’s doorstep was scuttled last year by a landmark conservation deal. Even so, interest in mining near the refuge remains, and environmentalists have continued to push for new protections.
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