A U.S. agency says it will nominate the Okefenokee Swamp's vast wildlife refuge for a place on the official list of the world's most treasured natural and cultural sites
The National Park Service filed a notice in Washington that it will seek the designation for the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, which sprawls across more than 400,000 acres in southeast Georgia near the Florida state line.
The Okefenokee refuge covers more than 90% of the swamp and is the largest national wildlife refuge east of the Mississippi River. Its diverse wildlife, cypress forests and flooded prairies draw roughly 600,000 visitors each year, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the refuge.
Becoming a World Heritage site doesn’t happen quickly. The U.S. government has listed the Okefenokee refuge as a “tentative” nominee since 1982. It gained momentum this year as Okefenokee Swamp Park, which operates boat tours and other concessions within the refuge, signed an agreement with the Fish and Wildlife Service to raise money to fund the application.
“It would support efforts to protect and preserve the refuge’s natural and cultural resources and further important scientific exploration and analysis,” Ossoff said in a statement. “The nomination would also attract tourism and benefit the local and recreational economy and communities.”
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