The Interior Department announced Friday the Okefenokee swamp in Georgia will be nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a classification that would elevate its profile as one of the world’s last intact black water swamps.
If formally designated, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge would join the ranks of more than 1,200 other global hot spots — from the Grand Canyon to the Taj Mahal in India and the Great Wall of China — in being recognized as a cultural and natural site of universal importance.
The shallow wetland straddling the border between Georgia and Florida is home to threatened and endangered species like the red-cockaded woodpecker, indigo snake and wood stork. In recent years, it’s also been at the center of a fight over mining near the swamp.
“This nomination serves as a recognition of the refuge’s unparalleled natural and cultural significance, and of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees, local communities and Tribes that have stewarded these lands for generations,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.
