Okefenokee Swamp supporters urge aggressive refuge expansion to stop mining
Supporters of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) plan to add about 22,000 acres to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge asked the agency Monday to consider a larger expansion to permanently prevent mining there.
The FWS unveiled the planned expansion in October, which would allow the agency to negotiate with owners of the land who are willing to either sell their property to the federal government or establish a conservation easement.
The expansion would not directly affect the Georgia Environmental Protection Division's decision whether to grant Alabama-based Twin Pines Mineral a permit to open a titanium mine along Trail Ridge adjacent to the Okefenokee Swamp's eastern rim.
However, the mine's opponents have seized upon the expansion as an opportunity to stop the mine, much as the DuPont Chemical Co. abandoned plans for a mine there during the 1990s and donated 6,700 acres of its land to the refuge.
'With this FWS process, we can return to the only strategy that will guarantee the swamp's permanent protection: land acquisition,' Josh Marks, president of Georgians for the Okefenokee, said Monday night during an online public hearing on the expansion plan.
Marks and other speakers urged the FWS to think beyond the 22,000acre expansion and include other land adjacent to the refuge owned by Rayonier Inc. and Toledo Manufacturing.
'Thousands of acres are still vulnerable,' said Christian Hunt, senior policy analyst for the nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife. 'Mining threatens to destroy all the qualities the refuge was created to protect.'
Scientific research has shown a mine would threaten water levels inside the largest blackwater swamp in North America, increase the risk of wildfires, harm wildlife, and release toxic contaminants into nearby surface and groundwater.
Twin Pines officials say the project would not harm the Okefenokee.
Opposition to the proposed mine has galvanized Georgians across the state. More than 90 members of the state House of Representatives have sponsored legislation aimed at protecting the Okefenokee from mining, and elected officials representing 20 local governments have passed resolutions opposing the mine.
Michael Lusk, who manages the refuge for the FWS, said agency officials have discussed expanding the refuge to include all of Trail Ridge but are sticking with the proposed 22,000acre expansion for now.
Lusk said the FWS does not intend to seize any private property through the government's power of eminent domain, something it hasn't done since the 1970s.
'Nothing in this proposal compels anyone to sell their land,' he said. 'If they're a willing seller, we can talk to them about selling it or setting up a conservation easement.'
