Macon Magazine

R ight here in our own backyard, the sacred and culturally rich ancestral homeland of the Muscogee-Creek Nation stands ready to welcome and espouse the change in designation from Ocmulgee National Historical Park to the state's first National Park and Preserve. "We have never forgotten where we came from," said James Floyd, former principal chief of the Muscogee- Creek Nation. "The lands around the Ocmulgee River will always and forever be our ancestral homeland, a place we consider important and sacred." The Muscogee-Creek Nation represents more than 93,000 Muscogee and Yuchi citizens and is the fourth largest tribe in the United States, according to Floyd. Though its capitol is located in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, the Muscogee-Creek nation has direct ties to its deeply rooted cultural and political origins in the Ocmulgee River Corridor in Georgia. "Muskogean people are the descendants of the mound builders and indigenous people who have occupied the Ocmulgee Old Fields in the Fall-Line regions of the Ocmulgee River and Macon Plateau for more than 17,000 years," Floyd recalled. "Despite forced removal, war, allotment, boarding schools and generations of colonization, the Muscogee and Yuchi people are still alive and thriving in Oklahoma. However, we have never forgotten where we came from." Principal Chief David Hill said the significance of reconnecting with the tribe's homelands means a great deal to the Muscogee-Creek people. "The Ocmulgee lands, those surrounding the river, will always and forever be our ancestral homeland," he said. "The Muscogee-Creek Nation shares the vision with our local partners to see the first and only National Park and Preserve in Georgia." The tribe supports a collaborative multi-agency approach to preserve, protect, manage and identify appropriate areas within the corridor to create a new National Park Service Principal Chief of the Muscogee-Creek Nation David Hill, left, and Second Chief Del Beaver 38 maconmagazine.com | DECEMBER/JANUARY 2022

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