Group’s $60 million land purchase spares Okefenokee from impact of titanium mining

By T.S. Carter |

GEORGIA —The Conservation Fund, a national land preservation organization, says the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge has gained a new lease on life with an Alabama company’s termination of plans to dig a titanium mine near the Okefenokee.

Persuading Twin Pines Minerals LLC not to dig adeep earth mine on Trail Ridge cost The Conservation Fund $60 million. The preservation was worth the steep price, the nonprofit organization said in a press release.

Turtles in the Okefenokee Swamp

by Stacy Funderburke photo

“Georgia’s Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is a special place and one of the most important natural treasures in Georgia. It’s the kind of place that sticks with us and sustains us — a destination for nature lovers and home to unique plants and wildlife like alligators, wood storks and bald eagles,” said Stacy Funderburke, vice president of the central Southeast region at The Conservation Fund, or TCF.

“By purchasing this land from Twin Pines, The Conservation Fund will ensure that the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge remains wild and unspoiled for all Americans.”

The conservation group’s acquisition ends the imminent threat of mining at this location. The purchase ends a six-year effort by Georgians and folks across the South to protect North America’s largest blackwater swamp from mining.

The purchase is critical to protect the nearly half-million-acre Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, which includes over 350,000 acres of designated wilderness. The Conservation Fund said that mining along Trail Ridge, the eastern edge of the blackwater swamp, would have threatened the water table of the larger refuge and severely impacted the St. Mary’s River watershed, which drains the eastern side of the refuge.

Efforts to preserve the black water swamp don’t stop here, the organization said.

“The work to permanently protect the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is an all-hands-on-deck effort, and everyone in the conservation community has a role to play,” said Funderburke. “After some of our most dedicated partners exhausted every other avenue to save the swamp, The Conservation Fund stepped in to buy this site from Twin Pines and prevent the biggest threat to the refuge in the last 30 years.”

A 2024 report commissioned by TCF underscored how the swamp drives economic development in the region. It found that over 800,000 people visit the Okefenokee each year, spending $91.5 million in Ware, Charlton, and Clinch counties.

Thanks to efforts by Okefenokee Swamp Park and local partners, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge could soon receive UNESCO World Heritage Site status in recognition of its natural significance and biodiversity, more than doubling visitation.

Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue recently urged the Trump administration to support the UNESCO designation. Activating this precious resource to accommodate these new visitors will support additional jobs and economic opportunities in the region, Funderburke said.

The effort to protect the Okefenokee has been a top priority for organizations across Georgia and the Southeast. The Georgia-based organization One Hundred Miles has been a key supporter in the efforts leading to this outcome.

Alligators in the Okefenokee Swamp

by Stacy Funderburke photo

“Twin Pines’ decision to sell their land to a conservation buyer instead of to a mining company is a respectable response to the hundreds of thousands of voices who have spoken out against the mining proposal,” said Megan Desrosiers, president and CEO of One Hundred Miles.

“One Hundred Miles is grateful and proud to have been part of the effort to bring together funders, environmental organizations, and citizens from across the country together to protect the swamp.”

This purchase, Funderburke said, was possible “thanks to an incredible outpouring of support from the Holdfast Collective, the Cox Foundation and many others.”

TCF has a long history of working to protect the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. A deal the organization forged with DuPont in the early 2000s stopped a different titanium dioxide mine in its tracks and helped grow the refuge.

In 2019, Twin Pines sought permission to mine near the Okefenokee Swamp, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers required an environmental impact statement. In response, Twin Pines withdrew and resubmitted a smaller project proposal. Three years later, the Army Corps shifted permitting authority back to Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division. EPD still has not approved Twin Pines’ permit.