Number: 1998-18
WHEREAS, the citizens of the United States of America are the owners of our federal public lands and, by law, have a say in how our National Wildlife Refuges are managed; and
WHEREAS, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is one of the great, intact, freshwater wetlands left on the planet, encompassing nearly 400,000 acres, 90% of which are protected as wilderness; and
WHEREAS, the Okefenokee is home to more than 1,000 plant and animal species, including the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker and wood stork; and the rare keystone species, the gopher tortoise; and
WHEREAS, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the adjacent Osceola National Forest in Florida constitute one of the largest intact habitats for the Florida black bear, a candidate species for federal listing, and represents potential habitat for the Florida panther and whooping crane; and
WHEREAS, the Okefenokee is one of the most popular refuges, attracting more than 400,000 people annually from around the world, who contribute nearly $60 million to the local economy; and
WHEREAS, two important rivers, the Suwannee and the St. Mary’s, have their headwaters in the Refuge and provide critical recreational opportunities for both Georgians and Floridians alike; and
WHEREAS, DuPont’s proposal to mine Trail Ridge, the natural dam which formed the Okefenokee and which runs along its eastern boundary, 24 hours a day, for 50 years, poses the gravest risk ever to the Swamp’s survival; and
WHEREAS, DuPont’s mine would risk the water quality and quantity of the Swamp and St. Mary’s River, potentially altering the hydrology of thousands of acres of wetlands and wildlife habitat, including endangered species habitat, and damage the wilderness experience for countless visitors and therefore hurt the local tourist economy;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in its Annual Meeting assembled March 19-22, 1998, in Alexandria, Virginia, hereby joins Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, Georgia Governor Zell Miller, and the Georgia Board of Natural Resources in calling on DuPont to permanently abandon their proposed mine next to the Okefenokee Swamp and donate their fee simple ownership in or place a conservation easement on the land to the National Wildlife Refuge, and to support the Trail Ridge system lying just east of Okefenokee Swamp being maintained in conservation land uses, including silviculture, through either conservation purchase or landowner incentives to buffer the Okefenokee ecosystem from possible deleterious development of Trail Ridge; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation urges the United States Congress to expand Authorized Acquisition Boundary of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge to include Trail Ridge from Georgia State Highway 94 to U.S. Highway 1.