Georgia conservationists gathered over the weekend in a hotel ballroom in the scenic city of Busan, South Korea, to celebrate a major victory for one of the state’s most treasured natural wonders. The Okefenokee Swamp in south Georgia, one of the most unique and best-preserved wetland ecosystems on the planet, has been named a World Heritage site by UNESCO, becoming the first of its kind in Georgia and the first natural site in the U.S. added in more than three decades. It joins natural and man-made wonders like the Grand Canyon, Versailles, and the Great Barrier Reef. The expectation is that the title will bring eyeballs and tourism to Charlton, Clinch and Ware counties, all of which contain parts of the 400,000-acre swamp. A projection from a conservation group says it expects tourism to rise to between 1.4 million and 1.6 million by 2035, up from about 800,000 a year today.
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