Okefenokee Swamp
The Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow, 438,000 acre (1600 km²), peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia-Florida border in the United States. A majority of the swamp is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee Wilderness.
Location and history
It is the largest peat-based "blackwater" swamp in North America. The name means "trembling earth" in a Native American language, a reference to its spongy bogs. The swamp 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 Okefenokee Swamp and drains at least 90% of the swamp's watershed southwest towards the Gulf of Mexico. The St. Marys River, which drains only 5 - 10% 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. The Suwanee Canal was dug across the swamp in the late nineteenth century in a failed attempt to drain the Okefenokee. After the 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 also ran train tracks into the swamp until 1942, remnants of which can still be seen crossing swamp waterways. On the west side of the swamp, Billy's Island,logging equipment and other artifacts remain of a 1920's logging town of 600 residents. Most of the Okefenokee Swamp is included in the 403,000-acre (1630 km²) Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
There are four public entrances or landings to the swamp:
- 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 private attraction, Okefenokee Swamp Park, provides access near Waycross, Georgia
State Road 2 passes through the Florida portion between the Georgia cities of Council and Moniac.
Tourism
Many visitors enter the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge each year. The swamp provides an important economic resource to southeast Georgia and northeast Florida. About 400,000 people visit the swamp annually, with many guests from such distant locations as Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, China and Mexico. Service providers at the Refuge entrances and several local outfitters offer guided tours by motorboat, canoe and kayak.
Dupont titanium mining operation
A 50-year titanium mining operation by DuPont was set to begin in 1997, but protests and public/government opposition over the possibly disastrous environmental effects throughout 1996-2000 caused the company to abandon the project in 2000 and retire their mineral rights forever. In 2003, DuPont donated the 16,000 acres (65 km²) it had purchased for mining to The Conservation Fund, and in 2005, nearly 7,000 acres (28 km²) of the donated land was transferred to Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
Wildlife
The Okefenokee Swamp is home to many wading birds, such as herons, egrets, ibises, cranes and bitterns, though populations fluctuate with water levels. Okefenokee is famous for its abundant American alligators and it is a critical habitat for Florida black bear.
Trivia
- In Walt Kelly's comic strip Pogo, the characters made their home in the Okefenokee Swamp.
- In Piers Anthony's Xanth novels, the fantasy realm of Xanth is a parallel universe of Earth's Florida, and includes a mirror of the Okefenokee, called the Ogre-fen-ogre Swamp.
- The Okefenokee Swamp is considered to be one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia.
- The fictitious 1947 Roger Rabbit cartoon, The Wet Nurse, is supposedly set in the "OkeyDokey Swamp", as a tribute to the Okefenokee Swamp.
- A track called '3 AM at the Border of the Marsh from Okefenokee' is included on the 1976 album Stratosfear from electronic music pioneers Tangerine Dream.