Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is one of over 560 protected wildlife refuges throughout the United States. The very first National Wildlife Refuge system was established at Pelican Island, a small island on Florida’s Atlantic coast, in the early 1900s by President Theodore Roosevelt in an attempt to protect native birds from market hunting. Today, the system spans across the country and protects nearly 95 million acres of land.
The Okefenokee Swamp, roughly translated to “Land of the Trembling Earth,” was initiated into the National Wildlife Refuge system in 1937 and encompasses around 400,00 acres of bog and swamp land.
The area is rich with history, and has evidence of Native American residency as early as 1000 B.C. The name “Land of the Trembling Earth” can perhaps be linked to the unique ecosystem homed at the Okefenokee Swamp, which includes longleaf pines, hardwood hammocks, and cypress swamps, wet prairies, and thick peat-layers.
The peat layers, which float along the top of the swamp, are thick bands of organic material formed by the decomposition of plants in water. In the swamp, it takes about 50 years for one inch of peat to form. The peat ranges in depth from thin layers at the edges of the swamp and islands to more than 15 feet in places. The average depth of the peat is 5-10 feet. Unstable peat masses will tremble, hence the swamp’s moniker.
The wildlife refuge and park are home to a vast number of aquatic and land animals, maintaining status as one of the most well preserved and intact freshwater ecosystems in the world. While at the park, guests have the chance to see American alligators, red-cockaded woodpeckers, sandhill cranes, gopher tortoises, and almost 400 other species.
This swamp has the distinction of birthing two notable river formations, the St. Mary’s River, and the Suwanee River. The St. Mary’s River flows east to the Atlantic and forms the Georgia-Florida border, while the Suwannee River flows south through Florida to the Gulf of Mexico. In the late 1800s, the state of Georgia granted the Okefenokee land to the Suwanee Canal Company, who wanted to make a profit by draining the swamp and selling timber. Although a ditch was cut through the ridge, it was never cut down to the water level of the swamp. The diggings exposed many small springs which created a flow of water running back into the swamp instead of away from the swamp. This gave rise to stories that when the canal was finished, the water from the Saint Mary's would flow back into the swamp.
The park offers many options for canoeing, hiking, biking, kayaking, and camping. One of the most popular parts of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is the swamp park train known as “The Lady Suwannee” or the Okefenokee Railroad. This 1.5 mile track runs along the edge of a portion of swamp through multiple points of interest, including Pioneer Island, and circles through a large part of the Okefenokee Swamp.
To learn more about the options for exploration at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, visit fws.gov/refuge/okefenokee.
