‘Okefenokee’ song released to help save swamp from mining

ATHENS — Rena Ann Peck, the executive director of Georgia River Network, is the voice of Georgia rivers in many ways. And now Peck has lifted her voice in song in her latest attempt to raise the visibility of the Okefenokee Swamp and the threat of mining to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, the birthplace of the St. Marys and Suwannee Rivers.

Peck, Jim Woodcox and musician Michelle Malone wrote “Okefenokee,” a war cry and rallying cry to protect the Okefenokee Swamp from proposed mining. A preview of “Okefenokee” was shared on WABE’s City Lights with Lois Reitzes in November, and a full version of “Okefenokee” recorded by Michelle Malone will be on Spotify this month.

Peck has spoken up for the protection of the Okefenokee Swamp since 2019 when she first heard of a proposal to mine on Trail Ridge. This earthen dam on the eastern border of the swamp serves as a dam holding water in the swamp. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service warns that mining on Okefenokee’s Trail Ridge would dewater wetlands inside Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. In the coming weeks, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division will determine whether or not to grant Twin Pines Minerals LLC a permit to mine titanium sands on Okefenokee’s Trail Ridge.

In response, Peck wrote “Okefenokee” to further fuel the public outcry in opposition of mining on Trail Ridge.

“This is my war cry,” she said. “Singing it fortifies the fire in my heart to save the wild heart of Georgia, our Okefenokee Swamp.

“Okefenokee” transports listeners deep inside the Okefenokee Swamp and sends them paddling black water trails, running barefoot on old Trail Ridge, and wondering what will happen to the wild heart of Georgia. The response uses the refrain from a Muscogee (Creek) hymn and African American spiritual that sings, “this may be the last time we do not know.” Keith Richards also borrowed this phrase from the spiritual for The Rolling Stones’ hit “The Last Time.”

“Okefenokee” was written when Peck went to a songwriters course in France conducted by Malone. Together, Peck, Malone and musician Jim Woodcox co-wrote “Okefenokee” with an eerie and mysterious feel of the swamp. The song is a war cry and also an old fashioned swamper’s holler, calling out to relatives across the wilderness to respond.

“Rena’s heart for the Okefenokee brought out something inside my heart to cry out for protection of Georgia’s wild heart, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge,” Malone said. “As a native Georgia peach, my favorite music includes sounds of the South. Our song ‘Okefenokee’ honors the homeland of many Georgians with influences from a Muscogee hymn and African American spiritual with a swamp rock vibe.”

“I can’t think of anyone better to sing the song than Michelle Malone, a native of Georgia who raises her voice for the protection of her homeland and the homeland of native peoples,” Peck added. “The only better person to sing it would be Kermit the Frog, who was born in the Okefenokee Swamp.”

The National Park Service is nominating the Okefenokee to be recognized by the United Nations as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which will increase tourism to the largest blackwater swamp in the nation. The name Okefenokee itself is a Muscogee word meaning “trembling earth and shaking waters.”

Native Americans have existed in the area longer than the swamp itself, and Muscogee Nation Chief David Hill recently named Okefenokee’s Trail Ridge a sacred site.

“The world values the Okefenokee, but will Georgia protect it?” Peck asked. “When international visitors come to Georgia, they want to experience the homeland of Martin Luther King Jr. and Scarlett O’Hara, and the land of alligators in the Okefenokee Swamp. The Okefenokee is part of Georgia’s brand.”

Interested persons can take action, learn more and donate to the fight to save the swamp at garivers.org/protectokefenokee. Listen to the full recording by Michelle Malone on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94zk5HcEeEg.

“OKEFENOKEE”

A week in a canoe only a slice you’ll see

Paddling black water, gators eyeing me

Spanish moss in a tupelo tree

A bald cypress on wounded knee

Oh oh oh oh oh Okefenokee (2x)

I was raised running barefoot on this old Trail Ridge

Picking wild rice and fishing is how we lived

My family’s home is sacred, cypress paradise

Sometimes when I’m alone I scream into the night

Oh oh oh oh oh

Okefenokee (2x)

If they mine for titanium

They’ll steal the water from the swamp

Oh oh Georgia’s wild heart

The miners want to dig away the old beach sand

Where the water’s held back by Trail Ridge dam

Muscogee trail is sacred hunting grounds

Well the swampers still holler over Indian mounds

I can hear the sandhill cranes

I can see the stars

Oh oh oh oh oh

Okefenokee

Oh oh oh oh oh

Okefenokee

Okefenokee

If they mine for titanium

They’ll destroy the swamp

Oh oh

Georgia’s wild heart

This may be the last time we do not know

This may be the last time I don’t know

This may be the last time I don’t know

This may be the last time we do not know

This may be the last time we do not know (3x)

(while louder war cry stanzas below overlap)

Will we let them mine Trail Ridge?

Mining will destroy the swamp

Will we let them mine Trail Ridge?

Mining will destroy the swamp

Special Photo: Georgia River Network