Victory in the Okefenokee Swamp

Environmental victories are so rare these days, one feels as if one should trumpet them. The Okefenokee Wetlands are one of the largest protected wetlands in the United States, with over 400,000 acres of undisturbed, Federally protected lands. A company was threatening to build a strip mine on the perimeter of the swamp, threatening the priceless ecosystem within. A group called the Conservation Fund arranged to purchase the swamp's perimeter for $60 million, sparing the Okefenokee and the rivers it feeds from the mining project.