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Pinhook Swamp - Okefenokee Swamp
July 2000:
Good News!!!!! The Suwannee River Water Management
District just agreed to acquire 15,500 acres of the Pinhook Swamp in an
area known as Sandlin Bay in the western side of the swamp in northern
Columbia County, Florida.
PINHOOK SWAMP IS INTEGRAL PART OF
PINHOOK, OSCEOLA, GREATER OKEFENOKEE ECOSYSTEM
There are two world class, world famous
wetland systems in Florida, one at the south end and one at the north
end. The one at the south end is the Everglades. The one at the north
end is the Pinhook, Osceola, Greater Okefenokee (POGO) ecosystem. Everyone
knows a lot about the Everglades and everyone associates it with Florida.
Everyone has also heard of the Okefenokee, but it is associated with Georgia.
And, indeed, most of the Okefenokee is in south Georgia, just above the
Florida line. But the entire wetlands ecosystem that includes the Okefenokee
also covers a large area in North Florida.
Just as the Everglades starts with the Kissimmee River, which flows into
Lake Okeechobee which then flows, or rather used to flow, into and through
the Everglades, the Okefenokee ecosystem begins in the watersheds of east
central Georgia, part of which are protected in the Dixon Memorial State
Forest. These waters flow into and through the Okefenokee and Pinhook
Swamp, then into the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers.
The POGO ecosystem as a whole, with all of its parts fully protected and
connected, is large enough and healthy enough to remain a vibrant and
viable natural ecosystem supporting globally significant populations of
pond cypress trees, pitcher plants, alligators, wood storks, carpenter
frogs, canebrake rattlesnakes, black bears and many more wild species.
But, like the Everglades, the POGO ecosystem has some problems that need
to be solved. Fortunately, unlike the Everglades, the problems would seem
to be relatively easy and relatively inexpensive to solve. The two basic
problems are:
1. The entire ecosystem needs to be protected from massive alteration
or pollution by human endeavors. This is, of course, true of any natural
ecosystem.
2. The ecosystem needs to be united as a complete, fully protected,
viable unit. This is also true of any natural ecosystem.
For POGO, this means getting the Pinhook Swamp area into public ownership
as part of the Osceola National Forest. This process has already been
started and has been named the North Florida Wildlife Corridor (Pinhook
Swamp) Acquisition Plan. The Nature Conservancy bought a significant
part of the area, which has since been purchased by the Forest Service
in addition to several other small tracts. But, as of now, the Georgia
part of the POGO Ecosystem is still not really connected to the Florida
part. Until the two parts become one whole unit, the ecosystem is in
danger of being fragmented and severely damaged. It will take perhaps
$100 million to completely unite this ecosystem for all time.
FDE, along with the other members of the POGO Coalition (see side bar),
is strongly in favor of achieving connection of the ecosystem, and will
strongly advocate land acquisition until the POGO ecosystem is protected.
Credits: By Bob Simons, a forester, community ecologist, land and wildlife
management consultant and FDE Trustee.
The POGO Coalition
This is a coalition of individuals and
conservation organizations united in the mission to work to protect the
health, integrity, connectivity, biodiversity, and natural processes of
the ecosystem encompassing the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Osceola
National Forest, Dixon Memorial State Forest, and upper Suwannee River
and St. Marys River floodplains in Southern Georgia and Northern Florida
in partnership with public and private landowners and managers. Organizational
members include the following:
Florida Defenders of the Environment
Florida Audubon Society
Duval Audubon Society
National Wildlife Federation
Florida Federation of Garden Clubs
Friends of the St. Marys
Garden Club of Georgia
National Wildlife Refuge Association
Okefenokee Bird Club
Okefenokee Pastimes
St. Johns County Audubon Society
Florida Panther Society
Okefenokee No Mining Pact Signed
Corporation's plan to mine titanium dioxide, a common white pigment, along
the eastern boundary of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. The mining
was to occur along the Trail Ridge, a sand bar that literally helps make
the Okefenokee a truly unique ecological resource. Environmentalists expressed
serious concern about the impact the mining operation might have on the
hydrogeologic integrity of this delicate and biologically rich ecosystem.
Since that time, DuPont assisted with formation
of a "collaborative process" to bring together various stakeholder
interests, including environmental, business, regional, tribal, and mining.
The purpose was to develop a solution or option that would meet the needs
of all stakeholders. On February 5, 1999, 20 of the 25 stakeholder organizations
participating in the collaborative process signed a pact that could eliminate
the prospect of mining in the area. This "No Mining Scenario"
provides for the following:
* Acquisition of 10,000 acres of the proposed project area for expansion
of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
* Retirement of titanium dioxide mining rights on all 39,000 acres of
the proposed project area.
* Establishment of the Okefenokee Education and Research Center.
* Support for improved roads, historic
preservation and tourism development, and economic stability in Charlton
County.
The POGO Coalition supports the No Mining Scenario with several stipulations,
including assurances that all lands involved in the settlement are protected
from future incompatible development. Reaching agreement on the No Mining
Scenario is cause for celebration, since its implementation could lead
to long-term protection of the Okefenokee Swamp. However, there are still
major financing details to be worked out, and some have concerns that
it may amount to environmental "greenmail," or payment to a
company to not to undertake an activity that poses a serious threat to
a significant natural resource. The final details of this agreement will
determine whether or not it provides a good precedent for resolving future
proposed mining activities in sensitive areas.
The above information has been provided
by the Florida Defenders of the Environment.
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