Header picture of Okefenokee Nationwide Wildlife Refuge, Georgia | Michael Lusk / USFWS

Within the coronary heart of south Georgia lies the Okefenokee Nationwide Wildlife Refuge, a sprawling panorama of over 400,000 acres. With its vibrant ecosystem and distinctive historical past, the refuge is a treasured nationwide useful resource. Nevertheless, the corporate Twin Pines Minerals has threatened to destroy this very important nationwide wildlife refuge.

For the previous few years, the Nationwide Wildlife Refuge Affiliation has been combating to guard the Okefenokee Nationwide Wildlife Refuge from a harmful mining operation. The proposed mining mission by Twin Pines Minerals might devastate the Okefenokee Swamp and its inhabitants, which embrace endangered species just like the red-cockaded woodpecker and the jap indigo snake.

In November 2022, the Nationwide Wildlife Refuge Affiliation and different environmental companions filed a lawsuit in opposition to the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers and Michael Connor, in his official capability as Assistant Secretary of the Military for Civil Works, looking for declaratory aid for his or her alleged arbitrary and capricious reinstatement of permitted jurisdictional determinations in violation of the Administrative Process Act. You may learn extra in regards to the lawsuit right here >>

The Okefenokee Nationwide Wildlife Refuge will not be solely ecologically necessary but in addition economically vital. The refuge attracts 1000’s of tourists every year, producing thousands and thousands of {dollars} for the native financial system. The proposed mining mission would hurt the setting and negatively influence the native financial system.

Twin Pines lately launched its draft mining land use plan together with a 60-day remark interval for involved residents and Okefenokee advocates to voice their considerations and opposition to Twin Pines’ mining proposal. That is the newest improvement in a protracted battle to guard the Okefenokee Nationwide Wildlife Refuge from harmful mining operations. We should proceed to face up for this nationwide treasure and urge Georgia’s Environmental Safety Company to take motion by March twentieth, 2023.

We can’t enable the Okefenokee Nationwide Wildlife Refuge to be destroyed. Take motion now and phone Georgia’s Environmental Safety Company to demand that they defend the refuge for generations to return.