Currently, federal legislators in Georgia are pushing forward a bill, known as “H.R. 2345”, in the United States House of Representatives to upgrade the existing Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park in the state to a national park and preserve. This initiative has garnered support from a bipartisan group of 13 congressmen from Georgia, with two Democratic senators also proposing similar legislation to establish the state’s first national park.
If the bill passes in the House, the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park will become another newly established national park and preserve since the creation of the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia in 2020.
One common misconception about the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park is that upgrading it to a national park would mean simply changing the name without any other alterations in terms of scope, resources, and planning. However, the reality is quite different.
The bill aims to integrate multiple surrounding pieces of public and private land, such as Bond Swamp NWR, three wildlife management areas in Georgia, and the existing Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park, to create a larger-scale national park and preserve spanning across central Georgia along the Ocmulgee River.
With the inclusion of these lands, the new park’s area could potentially reach up to 80,000 acres. Thus, this is not merely a renaming effort but a reimagining involving integration, expansion, and functional redesign.
Additionally, the plan envisions the national park and preserve coexisting, allowing local residents to continue activities like hunting and fishing within the preserve.
The Ocmulgee River basin is one of the most significant historical and cultural areas in the United States. With over 12,000 years of continuous human habitation, this region holds artifacts suggesting some of the earliest indigenous populations in the southeastern United States. The Ocmulgee Mounds are among the most crucial religious center sites of the Mississippian Culture, dating back to around 900 AD and serving as a hub of civilization at that time.
In the 1930s, the site witnessed one of the largest archaeological excavations in American history, with 800 personnel from the Civilian Conservation Corps unearthing over 2.5 million artifacts, leading to its designation as a national monument.
Moreover, the land has ties to American military history, having been a site of conflicts like Queen Anne’s War, the Yemisi War, the Civil War, and serving as prisoner-of-war camps during the World Wars.
From the end of the American Revolutionary War until the 1830s Indian Removal, the Ocmulgee River was the border of the United States, marked by the Black Shears Line featuring ten military fortifications to counter British and indigenous threats.
Furthermore, it’s considered the birthplace of the Muscogee Creek Nation and boasts the only indigenous traditional cultural preservation area east of the Mississippi River. The proposed bill would involve joint management of the park by the Creek Nation and the National Park Service, making it one of the only four such dual management units in the country, enabling the Creek Nation to reconnect with their ancestral lands, participate in park management, and share their history and culture.
Beyond its cultural and historical value, the region also harbors rich ecological resources. The Ocmulgee River basin features extensive bottomland forests, endangered chalk prairies, wildlife corridors, a population of black bears unique to Georgia, along with 200 bird species, 100 fish species, 80 reptiles and amphibians, and 50 mammal species.
According to a report commissioned by the National Parks Conservation Association titled “New Study: Creation of Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Would Bring Economic Growth to Middle Georgia,” an estimated sixfold increase in visitation, a projected $206.7 million economic benefit over the next 15 years, support for 3,171 jobs, creation of $33.5 million in tax revenue, with around 90% of the benefits stemming from visitor spending. These figures illustrate the significant economic boost that establishing a national park will bring to the local community.
In March, the H.R. 2345 resolution received bipartisan support in Congress, with only one Georgia congressman not participating in the endorsement.
On July 9th, the sponsor of the bill, federal congressman from Georgia Austin Scott, told Newsweek, “If H.R. 2345 passes, Georgia will establish its first and only national park and preserve.”
“Designating these mounds as a national park will ensure their long-term protection, allowing generations of Americans and Georgians to enjoy the rich history and culture of our state. Additionally, the preserve outlined in the bill also safeguards Georgia’s natural resources and provides more fishing and hunting opportunities for future generations of Georgians,” he added.
Seth Clark, the executive director of the Ocmulgee National…