Late last month in South Korea, after more than four decades, Georgia’s Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, joining the likes of Yellowstone, Machu Picchu and the Great Barrier Reef.

“After 44 years, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is where it belongs,” Kim Bednarek, the driving force behind the nomination, told a room of swamp lovers, scientists and board members of the nonprofit she leads, Okefenokee Swamp Park.

In joining the list, the Okefenokee enters the rarified air of iconic places like the Galápagos Islands and the pyramids of Giza. The designation also gives Georgia its first World Heritage site and the U.S. its first natural site added in more than 30 years.

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