By Trimmel Gomes
The Okefenokee Swamp in far southern Georgia is considered one of the most captivating wilderness areas left in the South but people who treasure the 400,000-acre swamp said its future is uncertain without stronger support.
The swamp has no roads. Alligators, bears and birds live there largely undisturbed.
Antoine Nixon grew up visiting the Okefenokee on school field trips. Now, through his organization, Sowing Seeds Outside the Walls, he takes others there on bike rides, boat tours and camping trips. Nixon, a pastor and community leader, stressed the swamp is a gift to be cared for, not just visited.
“The Okefenokee to me was like Eden in the Bible,” Nixon explained. “It was set aside, set off, something that God created, and that man had a task to make sure that we steward it, and which is to till it and take care of it. For me, that was the most important thing.”
The Okefenokee supports sensitive species, including the eastern indigo snake, wood stork and red-cockaded woodpecker. Nixon added the refuge offers something a zoo cannot: animals in their natural element.
Conservation advocates said longstanding federal support problems remain, and state-level funding gaps have also emerged as a concern.
Christian Hunt, national wildlife refuges and parks program director for Defenders of Wildlife, said the Okefenokee is one of the most special refuges in the country but suffers from chronic underfunding.
“None of the refuges in Georgia have been spared from this,” Hunt pointed out. “These refuges are being forced to operate on a threadbare budget. They’re having to shutter various management activities. They don’t have the staff they did years ago. Things right now are pretty dire.”
At the state level, Gov. Kemp has backed conservation through Georgia’s Outdoor Stewardship Program but he vetoed a bill which would have expanded it, a move conservationists criticized.
Hunt noted a refuge exists within an hour’s drive of most major cities but many people are unaware. He encouraged Georgians to visit and help build a constituency for wildlife.
