Contact Information
Rt.2, Box 3330
Folkston, GA 31537
912-496-7836
The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is a temple to biodiversity. It remains one of the oldest and most well preserved freshwater areas in America -- an area of 38 miles north to south and 25 miles east to west. The Okefenokee is frequently referred to as a swamp, but that word doesn't really do justice to a bewildering array of cypress forests, piney islands, lakes, and non-forested prairies. Within this varied terrain live thousands of different species of plants, birds, animals, reptiles, and insects. Highlights include an exuberant profusion of wading birds: herons, egrets, ibises, cranes and bitterns. In season, vast areas of waterlilies bloom in the prairies. Alligators laze along the sunny banks of the canoe trails. Song birds fill the air with the sound of life.The term swamp generally refers to bodies of water that are at a standstill -- stagnant even. In actuality, the Okefenokee is the slowly-moving headwaters of two important rivers: the Suwannee and the St. Mary's. Think of the swamp as structured sort of like a saucer set at a slight tilt. Over the years, peat, which is partly decayed vegetation, has built up, in some areas 15 feet thick. These deposits are so unstable in spots that one can cause trees and surrounding bushes to tremble by stomping the surface. In fact, Okefenokee is a European rendition of words meaning land of the trembling earth. The slow-moving waters of the Okefenokee are tea-colored from the tannic acid released by this slowly decaying vegetation. But no amount of description of individual natural processes will do justice to the awe-inspiring impact of the whole. A visit to the Okefenokee is bound to renew your appreciation for nature's creativity and profusion.
|
|
|
