More than 160 years after her great-great-grandfather settled on a patch of land surrounded by water in the Okefenokee Swamp, Sheila Carter takes visitors on guided canoe tours for firsthand looks at the swamp’s abundant alligators and stilt-legged birds wading among blooming water lilies.
Even when she’s not working, Carter often paddles the tea-colored waters to find peace amid the vastly unspoiled wilderness. She fears it could be irreparably harmed if a mining company is allowed to dig for minerals just outside the Okefenokee, home to the largest U.S. wildlife refuge east of the Mississippi River.
“I’ve paddled the swamp all my life,” said Carter, whose ancestors first came to the Okefenokee in 1858. “They cannot 100% guarantee they would not destroy or harm the swamp. And I don’t want them there.”
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