The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released a good proposal that would expand the 438,000-acre Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia by 22,000 acres. The proposed expansion includes lands currently held by Twin Pines Minerals.
Twin Pines Minerals is seeking permits to open a proposed 8,000-acre titanium and zirconium strip mine on the Okefenokee’s eastern edge. This proposed mine would be located on Trail Ridge, a geological formation that holds back the waters of the Okefenokee, and therefore threatens the hydrological integrity of the entire Okefenokee Swamp. Thankfully, Wilderness Watch members and supporters have previously sent over 35,000 emails to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plus 30,000 emails to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, urging them to reject the mine.
The 354,000-acre Okefenokee Wilderness makes up almost 90 percent of the wildlife refuge and is one of the largest Wilderness areas in the East. The Okefenokee Wilderness, part of one of the world’s largest still intact blackwater swamp ecosystems and important habitat for native wildlife such as black bears, American alligators, and red-cockaded woodpeckers, is a National Natural Landmark, a Wetland of International Importance, and is listed as a tentative UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Water is critical to the well-being of the Okefenokee. The proposed mine could impact thousands of acres of wetlands, which would forever change the unique ecosystem of the Swamp. Wilderness values like solitude, silence, and remoteness could be impacted by the close proximity of industrial mining activity and associated development.
Wilderness Watch is urging the FWS to approve this expansion. If approved, this would allow the agency to negotiate with Twin Pines Minerals to acquire the company’s lands and mineral rights and save the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Wilderness from the dangerous impacts posed by the proposed mine.
