Moment in nature: Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge
"Sunday Morning" takes you today to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia. Videographer: Charles Schultz.
Located at the headwaters of the Suwannee and St. Mary's Rivers, Okefenokee was established as a refuge for migratory birds and a breeding ground for other wildlife in 1936. Encompassing nearly half a million acres, it is one of the world's largest intact freshwater ecosystems.
The swamp, a peat-filled bog that includes cypress forests, blackgum forests and shrubs, provides habitat for such threatened or endangered species as wood storks, red-cockaded woodpeckers, American bald eagles and American alligators. There are 70 islands within the waters of the refuge, and 60,500 acres of prairies which are normally flooded with six to 18 inches of water.
For more info:
- Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Folkston, Ga.