'Our homelands are important': Muscogee Nation works to deepen involvement with Okefenokee Swamp

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July 6th, 2022

From left to right: Larry Woodward, deputy manager of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge; Emmon Spain, NAGPRA coordinator for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation; Turner Hunt, preservation manager for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation; Rick Kanaski, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Regional Historic Preservation Officer; Susan Heisey, Supervisory Refuge Ranger at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge; and Haley Messer, Regional Archeologist with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (Courtesy of USFWS)

A little over an hour into his first visit to the Okefenokee, after a boat ride through cypress trees draped with Spanish moss and a turn through a carpet of white swamp lilies floating on the dark water, all under the gaze of alligators along the edges, Turner Hunt said he was already impressed by the swamp.

“It’s a beautiful place,” he said. “It’s good to get here and get to experience this, see the plants, see the animals.”

Hunt, the preservation manager for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, was on a tour with officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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