LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The United Nations' list of World Heritage Sites is a bit longer this morning because of a newly added swamp. The Okefenokee Swamp straddles part of the border between Georgia and Florida, and it's been recognized for its universal value to humanity. It joins other places on the list like the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and India's Taj Mahal. Georgia Public Broadcasting's Jillian Magtoto takes us to the swamp.
(SOUNDBITE OF BOAT ENGINE CHUGGING)
JILLIAN MAGTOTO, BYLINE: Boating on a water trail into the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is like going back in time.
JOSH HOWARD: You're not going to have cellphone service. You don't even see the glow of the cities.
MAGTOTO: Josh Howard was raised in nearby Charlton County, one of four Georgia and Florida counties where the refuge sits. It's peaceful here, and he likes it that way.
HOWARD: It's just a really dark, quiet spot. You're not going to hear trains or cars.
MAGTOTO: Just our boat, which causes alligators to slink away and frightens a green heron.
HOWARD: When they get nervous, a green mohawk comes up on the top of their head.
MAGTOTO: Though the swamp never gets completely quiet.
HOWARD: The swamp has its own sounds and music that it plays going to bed and when you're waking up. It's just different things. You know, you may hear wild turkeys in the uplands in the mornings, and then at night, you got barred owls and pig frogs and everything else.
MAGTOTO: After we cut the engine about two miles in, we're gliding on dark water, reflecting pine trees like black glass.
HOWARD: The canal we're on right now is the Suwannee Canal. Yeah, there's a turtle there.
MAGTOTO: Cue the swamp music of crickets and frogs.
(SOUNDBITE OF CRICKETS CHIRPING)
MAGTOTO: This is the sound of a swamp so big it's twice the size of all five boroughs of New York City. It's the largest subtropical freshwater wetland left in the entire Northern Hemisphere. It was spared from major development because the swamp is elevated and its water doesn't drain easily, creating a unique ecosystem.
HUNTER BARBER: This is almost exactly how it was hundreds of years ago.
MAGTOTO: Hunter Barber's family has been here for seven generations. He's also on the boat and works for Okefenokee Swamp Park. He says the number of visitors has slowed in recent years.
BARBER: We had folks from all different nationalities come out. When COVID hit, that's never really bounced back.
MAGTOTO: But now he's hopeful. On Saturday, the United Nations Committee officially listed the swamp as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, alongside Yosemite, the Everglades and the ruins at Pompeii.
BARBER: We're able to share it with other folks and get a chance to tell our story about why we think this place is so special.
MAGTOTO: A new Okefenokee partnership formed last year across the three towns where you can enter the swamp. One of those towns is Waycross. Its tourism manager, Patrick Simmons, says a few new hotels and a handful of chain restaurants are already popping up.
PATRICK SIMMONS: The year before last, we had a Fairfield Inns open and then a - we've got two new Wawas in town, which is, you know, pretty significant. And I got to feel like some of that is driven by the designation.
MAGTOTO: But UNESCO vice chair and director of culture, Mike Robinson, says that the development has to be balanced against the real purpose of the designation.
MIKE ROBINSON: The bottom line of the World Heritage Convention is it's not about attracting tourists. It's about protecting the heritage.
MAGTOTO: Our swamp guide and Okefenokee local Josh Howard doesn't think that will be an issue.
HOWARD: I don't think we're going to be an Orlando or anything.
MAGTOTO: But he does want to see more visitors. And, he says, if the UNESCO listing gets more people to see this quiet, dark, last-of-its-kind, watery corner of the world, that's good.
For NPR News, I'm Jillian Magtoto in the Okefenokee.
(SOUNDBITE OF NICK BROBAK'S "DOWSING") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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