The Okefenokee Swamp’s Bid for the World Stage
Words by Christiana Roussel
Photos by Joey Gaston, Phuc Dao, Will Brawley
The Okefenokee Swamp is the sort of place that inspires legend—and preservation. Sitting quietly on the border of Georgia and Florida, it has, for centuries, shaped the lives, stories, and destinies of those who call its deep green shadows home. Now, as the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge sits on the cusp of possible inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List, a new chapter unfolds—one that not only champions the primordial beauty of the Okefenokee Swamp but envisions a renewed hope for the communities that have so passionately guarded its legacy.
A Living Tapestry of History
On the edge of Georgia’s vast pine forests, the Okefenokee Swamp sprawls across more than 400,000 acres—a landscape as mysterious as it is mesmerizing. Its very name, Okefenokee, is believed to have multiple origins in the early Muscogee (Creek) dialects spoken by Native American tribes indigenous to the area, primarily in the early historic and late prehistoric periods. According to one origin story, the name is derived from a Muscogee (Creek) word meaning “land of the trembling earth.” That trembling comes from the floating peat mats, which shift almost imperceptibly beneath a visitor’s step.
Long before country roads or conservationists ventured here, the Muscogee people held the Okefenokee sacred. Also called “water that shakes in a low place,” the swamp’s marshy heart was both a refuge and a cradle for generations, its waters an ancient witness to the rhythms of survival and storytelling. Later, after the original inhabitants were driven out on the Trail of Tears, Scots-Irish pioneers and Swamper families settled along its periphery, their customs threading a new chapter into the Okefenokee’s living history.
The legacy of the swamp is tangled not only in the cypress roots but in the human experience—the centuries of indigenous stewardship, the shadowed stories of the enslaved people who stole freedom through its maze-like waterways, and the determined hands of Company 1433, the iconic all-Black Civilian Conservation Corps team who carved 120 miles of water trails into history.
A Place Like No Other
Today, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge stands as a wild cathedral, almost a kingdom of mist and melody. Here, herons and ibis skate low along the water’s horizon. Alligators slip by, silent as thought, while Spanish moss curtains the sky, filtering sunlight onto pitcher plants and secret wildflowers. Towering cypress and black gum trees rise from still, black water, their roots and limbs hosting an orchestra of frogs, insects, and birds.
But the Okefenokee is as much about life above the water as beneath. Each year, approximately 600,000 visitors navigate its trails and waterways, but this number is only a whisper of its true expanse, as only 2% of the swamp’s acreage is accessible to the public. The remaining 98% remains wild, untamed, and untrampled, providing sanctuary to hundreds of species, and ensuring that even at its busiest times, the Okefenokee’s wild spirit remains intact.
The true genius of the Okefenokee’s stewardship is its restraint. With characteristic clarity, Bednarek shares: “When you look at the natural asset—the 120 miles of water trails that allow access to the Okefenokee Swamp, the wilderness areas, and camping platforms—that only gives you access to 2% of the entire swamp. You cannot actually physically access the remaining 98%.”
For 40 years, the Okefenokee’s fate languished on the UNESCO Tentative List, its unique ecological and cultural value quietly acknowledged but largely uncelebrated by the wider world. Locked in bureaucratic inertia and lacking resources—wildlife refuges don’t have the funding or prestige of national parks—the swamp’s future as a global icon seemed uncertain.
As Kim Bednarek, executive director of the Okefenokee Swamp Park (OSP), explains, “The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is the nominated natural site. In our role, the OSP works in partnership with the state of Georgia and with the National Wildlife Refuge System, through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. We steward guests into the Okefenokee to have an outdoor recreation experience (via Okefenokee Adventures), and offer field trips, summer camps, and other outreach programs.” These programs include those offered at all the Georgia public schools within the eight-county Okefenokee RESA (Regional Educational Service Agency) region.
Conservation here is not just a promise but a daily practice, ensuring future generations inherit both the wilderness and the wisdom of the land of the trembling earth.
The Power of People and Partnership
Movement on that all-important UNESCO designation began in earnest in 2020, with Bednarek at the helm and the formation of innovative public-private partnerships. Through the OSP, Bednarek and her advisory board took the audacious step of raising $600,000, gathering world-renowned scientists, and curating an extensive nomination dossier. Working in concert with the National Wildlife Refuge System, the states of Georgia and Florida, and most notably the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, the bid gained new energy.
“There are over 570 national wildlife refuges within the U.S.,” Bednarek explains, “which all fall under the purview of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. There are significantly fewer resources available to refuges, as compared to national parks, both managed by the Department of the Interior. Raising private capital was a critical part of our moving forward with this bid.”
In January 2025, the Okefenokee’s nomination was officially received by the World Heritage Office in Paris. The process, years in the making, is now in its final stages. In July 2026, the eyes of the world will turn to Busan, South Korea, where the fate of this Georgia swamp’s bid for UNESCO World Heritage status will be decided.
But the story here is not just about international recognition. It is about what happens next—and to whom.
A Vision for the Future: Swamp, Community, and Beyond
Should the Okefenokee win UNESCO’s favor, the impact will ripple far beyond the cypress groves. Economists predict annual visitors to double, bringing over $90 million in economic activity into the local communities—a potential windfall for the towns of Waycross, Fargo, Homerville, and Folkston, Georgia. Bednarek and her team have met with organizations such as the Alabama Black Belt Adventures Association, which has a similar mission: to maximize the economic impact of a region while still maintaining and safeguarding a precious natural habitat.
For visitors wary of the dangers of loving such a fragile ecosystem to death, she offers this assurance: “The ecological integrity will not be damaged because you have more visitors.”
The vision is to have more guests engage with existing and planned visitor centers, encounter a reptile, eat in local restaurants, camp, and have a full Okefenokee experience. “They are not going to trample the Okefenokee,” Bednarek says.
Conservation here is not just a promise but a daily practice, ensuring future generations inherit both the wildness and the wisdom of the “land of the trembling earth.”
Cultural Crossroads
The Okefenokee’s designation campaign is also a clarion call for cultural renewal. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation, whose ancestors named and navigated the swamp, is now a partner in shaping its future narrative. The swamp’s story is increasingly told not just as a site of natural wonder but as a wellspring of indigenous and Swamper history. Efforts are underway to create interactive experiences, sharing the journey of Company 1433, collecting oral histories, and weaving the Muscogee (Creek) language into interpretative trails and signage.
There’s a synergy here, a recognition that rural economic development and conservation are not adversaries but vital partners.
Bednarek highlights the immense grassroots commitment: “Honestly, it took the private sector to really lean into this opportunity for Georgia, Florida, and for the National Wildlife Refuge System, which is what pushed it forward.” The nomination project engaged both state and community leaders. “And it will take the private sector to revitalize existing educational infrastructure to ensure we have a world-class nature and science center, adjacent to a world-class ecosystem,” she adds. There’s a synergy here, a recognition that rural economic development and conservation are not adversaries but vital partners.
Dark Skies, Bright Future
At Steven C. Foster State Park, inside the refuge, the Okefenokee boasts another badge of honor: It is an internationally designated Dark Sky Park, the country’s only such state park inside a National Wildlife Refuge. Here, visitors can paddle into the night and gaze skyward at a celestial tapestry unobscured by city lights. The sense of timelessness, a crossing of veils into the “moment of Okefenokee,” remains one of its truest gifts.
A Place to Come Home To
So what will the OSP become 10 years from now, with or without World Heritage status? Leaders see it as a place of convergence, where wilderness invites renewal, where small-town hospitality fosters community, and where the stories of people and place are finally granted the global stage they deserve. Bednarek adds, “This is all about place-making.”
In this land of shaking water and trembling earth, history breathes beneath the sky and the surface. Should fortune favor the Okefenokee in Busan, South Korea, next summer, the swamp will join a rare cadre of sites celebrated for their outstanding universal value. But for those who have loved and guarded its secrets for generations, the real victory is simpler: that the Okefenokee may continue to awe, teach, and welcome all who come to listen to the stories written in peat, water, and sky.
