{"id":17246,"date":"2023-02-02T12:30:42","date_gmt":"2023-02-02T17:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&#038;p=17246"},"modified":"2023-02-02T12:30:43","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T17:30:43","slug":"sen-ossoff-rep-buddy-carter-launch-bipartisan-push-to-make-okefenokee-wildlife-refuge-a-world-heritage-site","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-rep-buddy-carter-launch-bipartisan-push-to-make-okefenokee-wildlife-refuge-a-world-heritage-site\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>Sen. Ossoff, Rep. Buddy Carter Launch Bipartisan Push to Make Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge a World Heritage Site<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Lawmakers urge Department of Interior to nominate the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge as a UNESCO World Heritage site<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>The United States first&nbsp;recommended the Refuge for the honor in 2008<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Washington D.C.&nbsp;<\/strong>\u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is launching a bipartisan push to make the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge a UNESCO World Heritage Site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Ossoff and Congressman Earl L. \u201cBuddy\u201d Carter (R-GA-01) are urging the U.S. Interior Department to nominate the Okefenokee Refuge for the honor,&nbsp;a crucial step&nbsp;in getting considered by UNESCO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Ossoff and Rep. Carter are joined by Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock and Representatives Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (D-GA-02), Hank Johnson (D-GA-04), Nikema Williams (D-GA-05), Lucy McBath (D-GA-07), and David Scott (D-GA-13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA UNESCO World Heritage Site designation for the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge would encourage environmental protection and economic prosperity for the region. It would support efforts to protect and preserve the Refuge\u2019s natural and cultural resources and further important scientific exploration and analysis,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Sen. Ossoff, Rep. Carter, and the Georgia lawmakers wrote.&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Okefenokee holds significant cultural importance to Native American tribes, including the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The Refuge contains at least 74 Native American mounds and is in the process of being recognized as a Traditional Cultural Property for its relevance to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation\u2019s culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Refuge was first placed on the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/whc.unesco.org\/en\/tentativelists\/?action=listtentative&amp;state=us&amp;order=states\">U.S. World Heritage Tentative<\/a>&nbsp;List in 2008&nbsp;and&nbsp;recommended&nbsp;for a World Heritage Site designation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Click&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/23.02.01-FINAL-Okefenokee-World-Heritage-Site-Letter1.pdf\">aqu\u00ed<\/a>&nbsp;to read the letter.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lawmakers urge Department of Interior to nominate the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge as a UNESCO World Heritage site The United States first&nbsp;recommended the Refuge for the honor in 2008 Washington D.C.&nbsp;\u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is launching a bipartisan push to make the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sen. Ossoff and [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17246","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/17246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/17246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17248,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/17246\/revisions\/17248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}