Stephen C. Foster State Park lies in the heart of the Okefenokee Swamp in Charlton County. The 120-acre park is just a fraction of the 438,000-acre wetland comprising the swamp but is something of a gateway to the swamp and offers visitors the opportunity to get out on the water to see it up close or some hiking for those who may prefer to see their alligators from a little further away.
Thanks to a federal grant from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), the park will be getting a $1.6 million upgrade, including water and power infrastructure and trail improvements.
“Like so many Georgians, paddling and camping near the Okefenokee was a formative outdoor experience from my childhood,” said U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-GA. “I’m delivering these resources to upgrade the tourist experience with more options for Georgia families and to conserve the precious natural environment at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.”
In addition to the LWCF funding, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-GA, has announced nearly $500,000 in funding from the 2023 annual government spending package that will go towards collecting and preserving the historical records from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 1433. Company 1433 was a New Deal-era group of nearly 200 black workers who helped to develop the refuge from 1937-1941. The group built bridges and roads, planted trees and developed some of the recreational facilities still in use today. For young, black men in the South at the time during the late days of the Depression, an opportunity at the CCC offered a path for consistent work.
“The Okefenokee region was a crucial safe haven for many Black Americans in the New Deal era,” said Senator Raphael Warnock. “This all-Black Civilian Conservation Corps revitalized the broader region, which is important and often overlooked in our state’s history. I was proud to secure federal funds to ensure the stories of these patriotic Americans will be preserved and digitized to inspire future generations.”
For those that might have missed it, the funding from the senators comes just a couple weeks after the National Park Service (NPS) announced their intention to nominate the Okefenokee for inclusion on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List. Currently, there are 25 sites across the U.S. on the World Heritage List – with none in Georgia. Relatively few even in proximity for that matter. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the closest site to Georgia on the list, followed by Mammoth Cave in Kentucky.
The announcement from the NPS notes that inclusion on the list does not impose legal restrictions on the owners or neighbors of the site, and further, the U.N. has no management authority or ownership rights of any kind. Think of it a little like the National Historic Register. The listing would undoubtedly though be a boon for the already bustling tourism industry in the region, just a stone’s throw from the Georgia and northern Florida coast.
