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Places We Protect

Okefenokee National Wildlife Preserve

Georgia

Closeup of an American alligator lying in a swamp.
American alligator An alligator rests within a swamp at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. © Tim Parkinson/Creative Commons

In 1978, a private company donated 14,849 acres of the swamp to The Nature Conservancy.

Overview

Description

Few areas can match the variety and sheer abundance of wildlife in the Okefenokee. Located in the southeast corner of Georgia, the Okefenokee Swamp spans around 700 square miles and is the largest swamp in North America. The swamp includes a wide range of habitats, including wet and dry prairies, cypress swamps, winding waterways and forested uplands. American alligators patrol the waters, and the land is also home to the endangered eastern indigo snake, among 60 other reptile species. In fact, these diverse habitats support a staggering number of species, including more than 400 vertebrates. Wading birds like blue herons, wood storks and white ibis frequent the swamps, as do more than 200 other types of bird. The swamp also contains the headwaters of two rivers: the Suwannee and the St. Mary’s rivers.

Access

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Highlights

More than 60 reptile species including the American alligator and eastern indigo snake; more than 400 vertebrates; more than 200 types of birds including blue herons, wood storks and white ibis

Explore our work in this region

Okefenokee Swamp

Okefenokee NWR The sunrises over swamp grasses. © David Walter Banks
Okefenokee NWR Cypress trees in the black swamp waters. © David Walter Banks
Okefenokee NWR A wooden walkway transects the swamp. © David Walter Banks
Okefenokee NWR Lilly pads float on black waters. © David Walter Banks

Experience the Okefenokee

 
Capturing the Allure of the Trembling Earth Paddling into the Heart of the Swamp

A Brief History of the Okefenokee Swamp

The Okefenokee has long been a home for people and nature. The swamp was occupied by indigenous peoples in the Weeden Island and Savannah periods around 500-1200, and at the time of Spanish settlement, Timucuan villages thrived in the area. The Okefenokee swamp later served as a Creek hunting ground, and as a temporary refuge for Seminole Indians during the Second Seminole War of the 1830s and 40s.

Logging of Okefenokee Swamp began in 1910, and over the next 25 years thousands of cypress, pine and red bay trees were cut.

Protecting the Okefenokee Swamp

Grassroots groups like the Okefenokee Society and Georgia Society of Naturalists rallied to protect the swamp in the 1920s and 30s and in 1937, president Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, which includes about 80% of the swamp.

In 1978, a private company donated 14,849 additional acres of the swamp to The Nature Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy in turn, then donated the land to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to be added to the wildlife refuge. Today, the refuge comprises 407,000 acres.

The Okefenokee belongs to all of us, and I am grateful to not just The Conservation Fund for protecting it, but also the hundreds of thousands of people who raised their voices in support of the Okefenokee and helped make this outcome possible.

Monica Thornton

Executive Director of The Nature Conservancy in Georgia.

Threats to the Okefenokee Swamp

Fast-forward to 2025, and the refuge has grown, expanding by 8,000 acres recently in response to a proposed titanium mine.

Facing the impacts of extractive mining and its effects on surrounding waters, groups like The Nature Conservancy worked to stop and slow a permit to perform dragline mining hundreds of acres at the swamp’s southeastern boundary. In a process that began in 2018, Georgia regulators issued draft permits in February 2024 with the promise of “minimal impact” to the swamp. From advocacy groups like Georgia Rivers, One Hundred Miles and St. Marys Riverkeeper to tourism businesses and municipal governments, Georgians and Floridians spoke up for nature. More than 250,000 people submitted comments against the mining project to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and to the state of Georgia, one of the largest public campaigns in the state.

In a last-chance effort to protect this Georgia jewel, The Conservation Fund reached a historic deal to buy the land from the mining company, adding nearly 8,000 acres of protected land in the watershed. TCF aims to transfer the land into government ownership and protection.

Executive Director's Message

 

Historic Land Deal Protects 8,000 Acres Near Okefenokee Swamp

Read our Statement

Contact Information

For more information about the Okefenokee Swamp, visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at www.fws.gov/okefenokee.

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