The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has inscribed the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge as a World Heritage Site, recognizing its outstanding global value as North America’s largest blackwater swamp.
Joining iconic natural treasures like the Great Barrier Reef, Mount Kilimanjaro, and Iguazu Falls, the Okefenokee Swamp has been recognized for its “outstanding universal value to humanity.” This historic milestone makes the Okefenokee the 27th World Heritage Site in the United States, Georgia’s first, and the first new U.S. natural World Heritage Site added in more than 30 years.
Southern Environmental Law Center
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Plus: Okefenokee Trailblazers: Archiving the Legacy of Company 1433
Paddling across the Okefenokee Swamp, a several-day journey through our continent’s largest blackwater swamp, is possible thanks to a vast network of canoe trails. The watery paths were built in the 1930s and 1940s by Company 1433, an all-Black unit of the Civilian Conservation Corps
Jennie Daley – Southern Environmental Law Center
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Also: The Case for Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp to Join the World Heritage List
To many lovers of the vast wetland, the Okefenokee has been regarded as something of a hidden gem, boasting pristine wilderness without the international notoriety afforded to similar sites.
Drew Kann – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Photo: George McKenzie, Jr.
Spotlight: Southeast is a place for stories about nature or conservation, etc. from locations around the Southeastern U.S.