Okefenokee Swamp

File:Aerial view of wetlands in Okefenokee.jpg

The name Okefenokee is attested with more than a dozen variant spellings of the word in historical literature. Though often translated as "land of trembling earth", the name is likely derived from Hitchiti oki fanôːki "bubbling water".{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-RnOijPup3YC&dq=hitchiti+okefenokee&pg=PA191 |title=Handbook of North American Indians: Languages |date=January 1, 1978 |publisher=Government Printing Office |isbn=9780160487743}}

The Okefenokee was formed over the past 6,500 years by the accumulation of peat in a shallow basin on the edge of an ancient Atlantic coastal terrace, the geological relic of a Pleistocene estuary. The swamp is bordered by Trail Ridge, a strip of elevated land believed to have formed as coastal dunes or an offshore barrier island. The St. Marys River and the Suwannee River both originate in the swamp. The Suwannee River originates as stream channels in the heart of the Okefenokee Swamp and drains at least 90 percent of the swamp's watershed southwest toward the Gulf of Mexico. The St. Marys River, which drains only 5 to 10 percent of the swamp's southeastern corner, flows south along the western side of Trail Ridge, through the ridge at St. Marys River Shoals, and north again along the eastern side of Trail Ridge before turning east to the Atlantic.

File:Canal_Run_shadows_(5179305812).jpg

The earliest known inhabitants of the Okefenokee Swamp were the Timucua-speaking Oconi, who dwelt in or on the margin of the swamp. The Spanish friars built the mission of Santiago de Oconi in order to convert them to Christianity. The Oconi's boating skills, developed in the hazardous swamps, likely contributed to their later employment by the Spanish as ferrymen across the St. Johns River, near the riverside terminus of North Florida's camino real.{{Cite book |last=Milanich |first=Jerald T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gLN7Y7XFFU8C&q=timucua+milanich+oconi&pg=PA43 |title=Timucua |date=August 14, 1996 |publisher=VNR AG |isbn=9781557864888 |pages=50, 202|quote=Anthropologist John Worth has suggested the Oconi, a group unrelated to the Oconee Indians of later times who spoke a Muskhogean language, were inland on the eastern edge of the Okefenokee Swamp.}}

Modern-day longtime residents of the Okefenokee Swamp, referred to as "Swampers", are of overwhelmingly English ancestry. Due to relative isolation, the inhabitants of the Okefenokee used Elizabethan phrases and syntax, preserved since the early colonial period when such speech was common in England, well into the 20th century.{{cite book |first= Cecile Hulse |last= Matschat |title= Suwannee River: Strange Green Land |publisher= University of Georgia Press |year= 1938 |page= 7}} The Suwannee Canal was dug across the swamp in the late 19th century in a failed attempt to drain the Okefenokee. After the Suwannee Canal Company's bankruptcy, most of the swamp was purchased by the Hebard family of Philadelphia, who conducted extensive cypress logging operations from 1909 to 1927. Several other logging companies ran railroad lines into the swamp until 1942; some remnants remain visible crossing swamp waterways. On the west side of the swamp, at Billy's Island, logging equipment and other artifacts remain of a 1920s logging town of 600 residents. Most of the Okefenokee Swamp is included in the {{convert|403000|acre|ha|adj=on}} Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

The largest wildfire in the swamp's history began with a lightning strike near the center of the refuge on May 5, 2007, eventually merging with another wildfire that began near Waycross, Georgia, on April 16 when a tree fell on a power line. Named the Bugaboo Scrub Fire, by May 31, it had burned more than {{convert|600000|acre|ha}}, or more than 935 square miles, and remains the largest wildfire in both Georgia and Florida history.{{cite web|url=http://www.gatrees.org/ |title=Georgia Forestry Commission Home Page |publisher=Gatrees.org |access-date= April 6, 2011}}{{cite web |url=http://www.news4jax.com/news4georgia/13390665/detail.html |title=Massive Blaze in S.E. Georgia Jumps Fire Lines |publisher=WJXT-TV |location=Jacksonville, Florida |date=May 25, 2007 |access-date=April 6, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524085018/http://www.news4jax.com/news4georgia/13390665/detail.html |archive-date=May 24, 2011 }}

In 2011, the Honey Prairie Fire consumed {{convert| 309,200|acres|ha}} of land in the swamp.{{cite web|title=InciWeb: Honey Prairie Complex|url=http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/2214/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111015022133/http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/2214/|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 15, 2011|website=InciWeb|access-date=October 14, 2016}}

File:Okefenokee Canoe Map.gif

There are four public entrances:

• Suwannee Canal Recreation Area at Folkston, Georgia
• Kingfisher Landing at Race Pond, Georgia
• Stephen C. Foster State Park at Fargo, Georgia
• Suwannee Sill Recreation Area at Fargo, Georgia

In addition, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, Okefenokee Swamp Park, provides the northernmost access into the Okefenokee Swamp near Waycross, Georgia.

State Road 2 passes through the Florida portion between the Georgia cities of Council and Moniac.

The graded Swamp Perimeter Road encircles Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Gated and closed to public use, it provides access for fire management of the interface between the federal refuge and the surrounding industrial tree farms.

Many visitors enter the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge each year. The swamp provides an important economic resource to southeast Georgia and northeast Florida. More than 600,000 visitors from as many as 46 countries travel to the Okefenokee refuge each year to enjoy its unmatched wilderness. This tourism supports over 750 local jobs and contributes over $64 million to local economies.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

A 50-year titanium mining operation by DuPont was set to begin in 1997, but protests and public–government opposition over possibly disastrous environmental effects from 1996 to 2000 forced the company to abandon the project in 2000 and retire their mineral rights permanently. In 2003, DuPont donated the {{convert|16000|acre|ha}} it had purchased for mining to The Conservation Fund, and in 2005, nearly {{convert|7000|acre|ha}} of the donated land was transferred to Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.{{cite web |url=https://georgiarecorder.com/2019/08/08/public-pressure-killed-okefenokee-mining-plans-once-will-it-again/ |title=Public pressure killed Okefenokee mining plans once. Will it again? |last=Dunlap |first=Stanley |date=August 8, 2019 |publisher=Georgia Recorder |access-date=February 22, 2021}}

In 2018, Twin Pines Minerals LLC proposed another titanium mining operation near the Okefenokee Swamp. Over 60,000 people sent comments opposing the operation.{{cite web |url=https://www.mainstreetnews.com/madison/opinion/letter-sen-perdue-threatening-to-drain-the-wrong-swamp-georgia-s-world-famous-okefenokee/article_0512b34f-0982-5e53-85d2-19f213d1817b.html |title=LETTER: Sen. Perdue threatening to drain the wrong swamp, Georgia's world-famous Okefenokee |last=Marks |first=Josh |date=January 2, 2021 |website=Madison Journal Today |access-date=February 22, 2021}} Later, in 2020, a new rule by the first Trump administration reduced what was protected under the Clean Water Act, removing about {{convert |400 |acres| ha}} in the proposed mining site from federal protections.{{cite web |url=https://www.savannahnow.com/story/opinion/columns/2020/11/04/river-watchdog-federal-clean-water-law-changes-threaten-okefenokee/42992993/ |title=River watchdog: Federal clean water law changes threaten Okefenokee |last=Peck |first=Rena Ann |date=November 4, 2020 |publisher=Savannah Morning News |access-date= February 22, 2021}} The updated plan would include mining {{convert| 577.4| acres| ha}} for titanium and zirconium, {{convert| 2.9| miles| km}} southeast of the Okefenokee Refuge.{{cite web |url=https://twinpinesmineralscharlton.com/ |title=Twin Pines Minerals, LLC – Charlton County |author= |date=n.d. |publisher=Twin Pines Minerals, LLC |access-date= February 22, 2021}} However, in 2022, U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff blocked the proposed titanium mine after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service warned of severe potential damage to the wildlife refuge.{{cite news |last1=Mecke |first1=Marisa |title=Army Corps blocks mine near Okefenokee, cites failure to consult Muscogee Creek Nation |url=https://www.savannahnow.com/story/news/2022/06/03/army-corps-engineers-reverses-wetlands-decision-okefenokee-mine/7506056001/ |publisher=Savannah Morning News |date=June 3, 2022}}

The Okefenokee Swamp was listed as one of America's Most Endangered Rivers in 2020{{cite news |last1=Landers |first1=Mary |title=Okefenokee named among 'most endangered' rivers |url=https://www.savannahnow.com/story/news/coronavirus/2020/04/14/okefenokee-named-among-most-endangered-rivers/1342259007/ |access-date=August 8, 2023 |work=Savannah Morning News |date=April 14, 2020}} and again in 2023 on account of the mining threats.{{cite news |last1=Mecke |first1=Marisa |title=American Rivers names Okefenokee in Top 10 most endangered rivers |url=https://www.savannahnow.com/story/news/environment/2023/04/18/okefenokee-listed-american-rivers-top-10-most-endangered-due-to-mine/70116344007/ |access-date=August 8, 2023 |work=Savannah Morning News |date=April 18, 2023}}

The Okefenokee Swamp is part of the Southeastern conifer forests ecoregion. Much of the Okefenokee is a southern coastal plain nonriverine basin swamp, forested by bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) and swamp tupelo (Nyssa biflora) trees. Upland areas support southern coastal plain oak domes and hammocks, thick stands of evergreen oaks. Drier and more frequently burned areas support Atlantic coastal plain upland longleaf pine woodlands of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris).{{cite map|map=Land Cover Viewer|map-url=http://gis1.usgs.gov/csas/gap/viewer/land_cover/Map.aspx|title=National Gap Analysis Program|author=United States Geological Survey|author-link=United States Geological Survey|publisher= United States Geological Survey|access-date=February 8, 2013}}

The swamp has many species of carnivorous plants, including many species of Utricularia, Sarracenia psittacina, and the giant Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis. A species of mushroom-like fungus Rogersiomyces okefenokeensis {{Au|J.L. Crane & Schokn. 1978}} is found in the swamp.

The Okefenokee Swamp is home to many wading birds, including herons, egrets, ibises, cranes, and bitterns, though populations fluctuate with seasons and water levels. The swamp also hosts numerous woodpecker and songbird species.{{cite web|title=Bird Checklists of the United States: Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge|url=http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/chekbird/r4/okefeno.htm|publisher=US Fish and Wildlife Service|access-date=March 28, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140422193826/http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/chekbird/r4/okefeno.htm|archive-date=April 22, 2014}} Okefenokee is famous for its amphibians and reptiles such as toads, frogs, turtles, lizards, snakes, and an abundance of American alligators. The oldest known alligator, named "Okefenokee Joe" after environmentalist Okefenokee Joe, died in September 2021, at almost 80 years of age.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2021/09/11/okefenokee-joe-alligator/|access-date=March 30, 2023|title=Okefenokee Joe, 'an amazing old' alligator named after a Georgia singer, has died|first=María Luisa|last=Paúl|date=September 11, 2021|newspaper=The Washington Post}}{{Cite web|date=September 12, 2021|title=Okefenokee Joe, an alligator believed to be as old as WWII, passes away|url=https://www.fox5dc.com/news/okefenokee-joe-an-alligator-believed-to-be-as-old-as-wwii-passes-away|access-date=2021-09-19|website=FOX TV Digital Team}} The Okefenokee Swamp is also a critical habitat for the Florida black bear.

File:Sarraceniaceae - Sarracenia minor-2.jpg|Okefenokee giant hooded pitcher plant

File:Southern Green-striped Grasshopper, Chortophaga viridifasciata. female (38381521246).jpg|Green-striped grasshopper

File:Southeastern Lubber Grasshopper - (Romalea microptera) (38664887256).jpg|Eastern lubber grasshopper nymph

File:American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) (24706862448).jpg|A large American alligator

File:Okefenokee Wildlife.jpg|White-tailed deer

{{Main|Bugaboo Scrub Fire}}

More than {{convert|600000|acre|ha}} of the Okefenokee region burned from April to July 2007. Essentially the entire swamp burned, but the degrees of impact are widely varied. Smoke from the fires was reported as far away as Atlanta and Orlando.

Four years later, in April 2011, the Honey Prairie wildfire began when the swamp was left much drier than usual by an extreme drought. As of January 2012, the Honey Prairie fire had already scorched more than {{convert|315000|acre|ha}} of the {{convert|438000|acre|ha|adj=on}} Okefenokee, sending volumes of smoke across the southern Atlantic seaboard and with an unknown impact on wildlife. With the drought still continuing, the massive Honey Prairie fire continued to burn at only 75% containment.{{cite web|title=Honey Prairie Complex|url=http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2214/|publisher=InciWeb Incident Information system|access-date=February 2, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125032410/http://inciweb.org/incident/2214/|archive-date=January 25, 2012}}
{{cite web|title=Honey Prairie Complex Fires|url=http://www.fws.gov/okefenokee/Honey%20Prairie%20Fire.html|publisher=U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service|access-date=February 2, 2012}}
{{cite web|title=Okefenokee's birds undeterred by fires|url=http://www.ajc.com/lifestyle/okefenokees-birds-undeterred-by-1290702.html|work=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution|access-date=February 2, 2012}} On April 17, 2012, the Honey Prairie Fire was finally declared out. Thousands of firefighters, refuge neighbors, and businesses contributed to the safe suppression of this fire. At the peak of fire activity on June 27, 2011, the Honey Prairie Complex had grown to {{convert|283673|acre|ha}} and had 202 engines, 112 dozers, 20 water tenders, 12 helicopters, and 6 crews with a total of 1,458 personnel assigned. Over the duration of the fire, there were no fatalities or serious injuries. Firefighters managed to contain most of the fire within the boundaries of the 402,000 acre Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, with only {{convert|18206|acre|ha}} burned outside the refuge.http://www.fws.gov/okefenokee/PDF/honey%20prairie%20fire%20declared%20out.pdf{{dead link|date=July 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

On April 6, 2017, a lightning strike started the West Mims Fire,{{cite web|url=http://www.ajc.com/news/local/georgia-wildfire-forces-evacuations-ash-reaches-jacksonville/hgUH2UliL0YV6lgSrk9Z1L/

|access-date=2017-05-19|title=South Georgia wildfire forces evacuations; ash reaches Jacksonville|date=May 19, 2017|publisher=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution}} which burned about {{convert|152000|acre|ha}}.{{cite web|url=http://www.firehouse.com/news/12335831/ga-firefighters-report-progress-against-west-mims-fire-in-okefenokee-firefighter-news|access-date=2017-05-19|title=GA Firefighters Report Progress Against West Mims Fire in Okefenokee|date=May 19, 2017|publisher=Firefighter News|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170518165458/http://www.firehouse.com/news/12335831/ga-firefighters-report-progress-against-west-mims-fire-in-okefenokee-firefighter-news|archive-date=May 18, 2017}}

• The name "Okefenokee" has appeared many times in American pop culture, including Walt Kelly's comic strip Pogo, where the characters made their home in the Okefenokee Swamp, and Scooby-Doo, in which Scooby-Dum comes from the Okefenokee as well.
• The 1941 movie Swamp Water, directed by Jean Renoir, starring Walter Brennan and Walter Huston, and based on the novel by Vereen Bell, was shot on location in the Okefenokee near Waycross, Georgia.
• The 1952 movie Lure of the Wilderness, a remake of Swamp Water starring Jeffrey Hunter, Walter Brennan (reprising his Swamp Water role), and Jean Peters, was set in the Okefenokee Swamp.{{cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lure-of-the-wilderness/|access-date=July 21, 2013

|title=Lure of the Wilderness|publisher=Rotten Tomatoes}}

• In 1974, two LP recordings of the sounds of the swamp were released as disk 6 of the Environments series.
• Tales of the Okefenokee was a mill chute ride at Six Flags Over Georgia that ran from 1967 to 1980, with theming inspired by the Uncle Remus stories of Joel Chandler Harris.{{Citation |title=Defunctland: The History of the Terrifying Splash Mountain Predecessor, Tales of the Okefenokee | date=March 7, 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rghHLkqVE0A |access-date=2023-05-15}}
• The 1976 movie Gator, starring and directed by Burt Reynolds, and the title song of the same name by Jerry Reed, are set in the Okefenokee swamp. {{Citation |title=Jerry Reed – Gator |url=https://genius.com/Jerry-reed-gator-lyrics |access-date=2025-02-20}}
• An illustrated children's book, Deep in the Swamp by Donna M. Bateman (2007), describes the plant and animals of the Okefenokee Swamp.{{Cite web |title=Deep in the Swamp |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/258676.Deep_in_the_Swamp |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=Goodreads}}

{{Portal|Georgia (U.S. State)}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last1= Afable |first1= Patricia O. |first2= Madison S. |last2= Beeler |name-list-style= amp |year= 1996 |chapter= Place Names |editor-first= Ives |editor-last= Goddard |volume= 17: Languages |title= Handbook of North American Indians |editor2-first= William C. |editor2-last= Sturtevant |location= Washington, D.C. |publisher= Smithsonian Institution}}
• {{cite book |title=Timucua Chiefdoms of Spanish Florida. Volume 2: Resistance and Destruction|last= Worth|first= John E.|year= 1998|publisher= University Press of Florida|isbn= 0-8130-1574-X|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MRYBQtnEqQkC|access-date=July 7, 2010}}
• {{cite book |last= Nelson |first= Megan Kate |year= 2005 |title= Trembling Earth: A Cultural History of the Okefenokee Swamp |location= Athens |publisher= University of Georgia Press}} This is a readable book from a professional historian that covers the history of the human interaction with the swamp from about 1700 to the 1940s, very good background for those planning a visit.

{{refend}}

{{Commons category|Okefenokee Swamp}}

• [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-649&sug=y GeorgiaEncyclopedia.org: Natural History of the Okefenokee Swamp]
• [http://www.fws.gov/okefenokee/ FWS.gov: Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge website]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100429232135/http://www.gorp.com/parks-guide/okefenokee-national-wildlife-refuge-outdoor-pp2-guide-cid9246.html Gorp.com: Okefenokee Swamp and National Wildlife Refuge]
• [http://www.okefenokeeadventures.com/ Okefenokee Adventures website]
• [http://www.okefenokee.com/ Okefenokee Pastimes website]
• [http://www.okeswamp.com/ Okefenokee Swamp parks website]
• [http://www.okefenokeenation.com/ Okefenokee Nation website]
• [http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/charlton/okefenokee-swamp Charlton County: Okefenokee Swamp historical marker]

{{Protected areas of Georgia (U.S. state)}}

{{Rivers of Florida}}

{{Rivers of Georgia (U.S. state)}}

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Category:Flooded grasslands and savannas

Category:Swamps of Florida

Category:Swamps of Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:National Natural Landmarks in Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:Landforms of Charlton County, Georgia

Category:Landforms of Clinch County, Georgia

Category:Landforms of Ware County, Georgia

Category:Pogo (comic strip)