MACON, Ga. – Yesterday, the U.S. National Park Service, an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), released its Special Resource Study of the Ocmulgee River Corridor. This report was initiated in response to legislation that was authored by U.S. Representative Austin Scott (GA-08), Representative Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-02), and former U.S. Senators Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and David Perdue (R-GA), which was signed into law in 2019.

The report is the next step in a process through which Representatives Scott, Bishop, and now U.S. Senators Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Rev. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), along with local leaders, are continuing efforts to designate a national park in this area.

"Designating the Ocmulgee Mounds as a National Park and Preserve will help protect our state's history and have a lasting, positive economic and cultural impact in Middle Georgia," Scott said. "I look forward to examining the findings of the Department of the Interior study with Rep. Bishop and our colleagues in the Senate so we can better preserve these cultural and environmental areas of our state for future generations."

"The Ocmulgee Mounds remain a cultural and archeological treasure to our state and nation. I am pleased to see the work started over a decade ago continues today," said Rep. Bishop. "I look forward to reviewing the study with my colleagues and local leaders so that we can continue our work to protect and preserve the legacy of this site's past inhabitants for current and future generations. I will continue this bipartisan, bicameral effort with my colleague in the House, Austin Scott, as well as our new Senators, Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock, as we move forward to honor the Muscogee Creek Nation and our country's indigenous peoples as well as ensure that Americans can enjoy this site's natural beauty and learn about its heritage."

Ocmulgee National Monument in Macon, Georgia, was originally authorized by Congress in 1934 to protect a fraction of the lands commonly known as the 'Old Ocmulgee Fields,' upon which certain Indian mounds of great historical importance are located. The legislation envisioned a large park of approximately 2,000 acres, but local citizens could finance the acquisition of only 678 acres by the time it opened in 1936. By 2014, the Ocmulgee National Monument contained 702 acres.

Representatives Scott and Bishop, along with former Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA), first authored the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Boundary Revision Act in 2014. That bill authorized the special resources study.

The legislation also sought to expand the boundaries of the Ocmulgee Mounds National Monument from 702 acres to over 2,800 acres, as well as change its name to the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park. Both changes were intended to protect additional archeological resources, increase name recognition, and draw more visitors to Middle and Southwest Georgia.

Though the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Boundary Revision Act was first introduced in 2014, it was reintroduced in subsequent Congresses and approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016 and 2017. The U.S. House also passed the bill in 2019, and that year, it was signed into law and formally enacted (P.L. 116-9).

The DOI report can be found here.

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