America Could Get Its First New National Park in Years: What to Know

Georgia is getting closer to passing a resolution that would establish the first National Park in the state.

If House Resolution 2345 passes, Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park would also become the first newly established National Park and Preserve in the country since 2020, when New River George National Park and Preserve was established in West Virginia.

“For Georgians, this is a legacy investment in both our natural environment and local economies,” Seth Clark, executive director of the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative, told Newsweek.

“National Park and Preserve status will drive sustainable tourism, expand and protect hunting and fishing access, create good jobs, protect private property rights, and generate long-term economic growth for Middle Georgia,” he added.

“The passage of H.R. 2345 would establish Georgia’s first and only National Park
and Preserve, culminating almost a century of public-private partnership,” Representative Austin Scott, sponsor of the bill, told Newsweek.

“We are proud of the history they represent, what that history means to Georgia, and we want the country and the world to know about, and visit, the land,” he added.

Newsweek has contacted the National Parks Conservation Association and the National Park Service via email for comment.

Why It Matters

The efforts to designate Ocmulgee Mounds in central Georgia as a National Park and Preserve have lasted over a century. The mounds were built in the 900s by the ancestors of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, which has since partnered with lawmakers and conservation groups to push for the designation.

Now, Georgia lawmakers are throwing their weight behind passing necessary legislation to upgrade the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park into a National Park and Preserve.

Not only are 13 lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, cosponsoring the House resolution, but two Georgia senators (Democrats) have also brought forward their own similar legislation, in a major effort to establish the first National Park in the state, the Savannah Morning News reported.

The Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park in Macon, Georgia, on August 22, 2022.

Sharon Johnson/AP

What To Know

House Resolution 2345 received bipartisan support in Congress in March with only one of Georgia’s House members not cosponsoring the bill.

Currently, Ocmulgee Mounds is a national historic site, a designation that “tends to concentrate on one historical feature, rather than multiple buildings or locations,” James Brooks, a professor of history at the University of Georgia, told Newsweek.

“National Historical Parks are the next step up from National Historic Sites, and they exist for the same basic purpose as historic sites, but tend to be larger in area,” Brooks said.

The change in designation to the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park, which spans over 700 acres, would increase the area of land protection to a total of 54,000 acres along the Ocmulgee River, supporters say.

This would make the region a “protected landscape, rather than just location,” Brooks said.

When discussing his bill, Representative Scott also highlighted the “positive national security implications of the proposed boundary expansion,” which would increase to include land near Robins Air Force Base.

He said this would “preserve installation operational areas and land use compatibility for military maneuvers.”

Hunting and fishing access would also be protected and expanded in the preserve boundary, Scott said, adding that his bill “prioritizes public hunting and fishing access, while protecting states’ rights in regulation and private property rights of middle Georgians.”

Just over 5 percent of the state is in the federal registry, much of which is land in Georgia’s “critical military bases,” Scott said. “This establishment of a national preserve will only increase the federal land inventory of Georgia by about 0.018 percent.”

Brooks added that the new park, if the legislation passes, will also be the first comanaged National Park Service unit with the Muskogee Creek Nation Historic Preservation office—which he described as “pathbreaking” management.

What People Are Saying

Representative Scott told Newsweek: “Establishing the mounds as a National Park will ensure that they are protected and preserved for years to come, allowing generations of Americans and Georgians to enjoy our state’s rich history and cultures. Additionally, the proposed preserve protects Georgia’s natural resources and expands hunting and fishing opportunities for generations of Georgians to come.”

He added: “We want to bring people to Georgia to experience our state and the great things it has to offer. The Ocmulgee Mounds are a perfect example of what that can look like. We also want to preserve the history and culture that has helped shape our state into what it is today.”

Seth Clark, executive director of the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative, told Newsweek: “Designating Ocmulgee Mounds as a National Park and Preserve is critical to conserving some of the most ecologically and culturally significant landscapes in the United States. It protects vital wildlife corridors, wetlands, and river systems through local collaboration. This bipartisan piece of legislation is about smart, locally driven conservation through partnerships with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, local and state governments, and local industry—and the window to act is now.”

He added: “This designation would be a model for how local communities can leverage conservation to drive economic revitalization. It shows that protecting land and creating opportunity aren’t in conflict—they go hand in hand. Middle Georgia has been leading by example. and can serve as a model for the fulfillment of the goals of President Trump’s recently announced Make America Beautiful Again Commission—but only if Congressman Austin Scott’s bipartisan legislation to allow our region to fulfill this potential is passed this year.”

Lincoln R. Larson, a professor in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management at North Carolina State University, told Newsweek: “National Park status affords a greater productive status than National Monument status, and given the Trump Administration’s stated to desire to shrink public lands and reduce protections bestowed on them for drilling, development, and other purposes, conversion to National Parks whenever possible is good for conservation.”

Larson added: “Ultimately I think that, in addition to protecting Ocmulgee, this resolution sends a larger message that parks and protected areas are not a partisan issue, and that everyone in this country should, and does, care about them.”