Georgia residents oppose Okefenokee Swamp's UNESCO World Heritage bid

Federal agency says UNESCO status won’t transfer ownership of Okefenokee

The Okefenokee Swamp is poised to join the Grand Canyon and the Everglades as the United States’ 27th World Heritage Site, but the designation faces opposition from residents of the rural Georgia counties that surround the vast wetland. A United Nations committee will vote to formalize the designation early Saturday in South Korea.

According to the AP, some folks who live near the swamp would “just as soon skip” the designation. The opposition is not about the swamp itself — residents do love the Okefenokee. What they can’t bear is the United Nations.

Lawn signs bearing the slogan “Keep the U.N. (UNESCO) out of the Okefenokee” have dotted the roads around Ware and Charlton counties for several years, and the same slogan appears on T-shirts. Ware County Commissioner Barry Cox told the AP that the sentiment is widespread. Cox spent 40 years running the county’s vehicle maintenance shop before being elected in 2024.

Ware is one of three Georgia counties that surround the swamp, along with Charlton and Clinch. All three are rural and deep red, according to the AP. Trump received more than 70 percent of the vote in each county in the 2024 general election.

Trump’s “America First” agenda resonates in the area, while the United Nations does not, the AP reported. Trump announced in July 2025 that the U.S. would withdraw from UNESCO — the UN body that directs the World Heritage Sites program — at the end of this year because it’s focused on goals “at odds with our America First foreign policy,” according to the AP.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which owns and manages the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, has said the designation would not shift control. A World Heritage Site designation “increases a site’s significance to the world,” according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

In a 2024 explainer, the agency said, “Becoming a World Heritage Site does not confer any ownership or management authority to the United Nations,” according to the AP. “UNESCO only monitors the current conditions and potential threats to the designated properties,” the agency said. “The Refuge would continue to be wholly owned and managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service,” according to the AP.