Victory for the Okefenokee Swamp

Environmental victories are so rare these days, one feels as if one should trumpet them. The Okefenokee Swamp is one of the largest protected wetlands in the United States, with over 400,000 acres of undisturbed, Federally protected lands.
Plans to build a titanium dioxide strip mine on the perimeter of the swamp, withdrawing 1.5 million gallons of groundwater per day, would threaten the priceless ecosystem within and the surrounding communities.
The Conservation Fund arranged to purchase the swamp's perimeter for $60 million, sparing the Okefenokee and the rivers it feeds from the impending assault.

Deborah Reed and her brothers

Frances Mayes

Alligator in Okefenokee swamp

Okefenokee Swamp

imprint of leaf on sand on St Mary’s River

St Mary’s River

Cypress knees in Okefenokee

Headwaters of Suwanee River in Okefenokee Swamp

Okefenokee wetland at Chesser Island showing border between Trail Ridge and swamp

Okefenokee wetland at Chesser Island

men at restaurant table

Chesser Homestead

Sheila Carter, descendant of Chessers

Michael Lusk, Okefenokee Director

Antwon Nixon, Sowing Seeds

The Okefenokee is an integral part of life for those who live on its borders, as well as for the thousands of species which form its unique, fully functioning wetland ecosystem, one of the last in North America. The Okefenokee’s peat bogs, formed over thousands of years, also act as natural carbon sinks.
Last spring, I had the privilege of flying above the swamp with LightHawk.
In December, I explored its waterways by boat with Frances Mayes, for an upcoming feature for Garden & Gun Magazine.