Federal government approves Okefenokee wildlife refuge expansion plan

Meris Lutz and Drew Kann, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Jan 3, 2025

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ATLANTA — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday it has finalized a plan that could lead to the expansion the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

The plan approved by the FWS — which manages the 407,000-acre refuge — adds 22,000 acres to the Okefenokee’s “acquisition boundary.” That includes the creation of a 1-mile “fuel reduction zone” encircling the swamp to prevent the wildfires that occur in the swamp from engulfing the commercial timberlands surrounding it.

The new acquisition boundary does not immediately add land to the refuge, but would allow the agency to negotiate with nearby landowners over buying their properties or implementing other conservation measures.

The decision comes as an Alabama-based company waits for Georgia regulators to decide whether it can mine for titanium near the refuge, which is the largest intact blackwater swamp in North America and home to many threatened species.

The company, Twin Pines Minerals, says its mine won’t harm the swamp, but many independent scientists disagree, and thousands of Georgians have spoken out against the plan at public hearings and at the state Capitol.

In addition to pursuing expansion, the federal government announced last month that it would nominate the Okefenokee refuge as a United Nations’ World Heritage site.

Expanding the boundary of the refuge could help protect the hydrological integrity of the swamp, provide habitat for the gopher tortoise, mitigate impacts of wildfires and provide opportunities for longleaf pine restoration to benefit the red-cockaded woodpecker, FWS said.

The additional acreage under consideration includes land near the swamp’s southeast corner owned by Twin Pines. The company wants to mine for titanium sands on a 600-acre portion of Trail Ridge, a line of mineral-rich dunes that run along the swamp’s eastern edge.

Even with an expansion, tens of thousands of acres of Trail Ridge are still privately owned and could, in theory, draw interest from other miners. Some members of the public and conservationists had urged the government to try to acquire an even larger swath.

Over the years, earlier bids by large corporations to mine near the swamp have been stopped.

Josh Marks, president of advocacy group Georgians for the Okefenokee, called the boundary expansion “a critical development in the drive to protect the Okefenokee Swamp from mining.”

“The expansion of the ONWR’s acquisition boundary, including the TPM property, is a critical development in the drive to protect the Okefenokee Swamp from mining. As someone who fought DuPont’s massive strip-mining proposal in the 1990s and helped add part of the DuPont property to the refuge, I know firsthand the vital role that land acquisition has and must play in safeguarding this world-class resource.”

Marks urged Gov. Brian Kemp to deny permits for Twin Pines. Kemp’s office has consistently referred comment to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, which is weighing the company’s permits.

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