Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1523410
June/July 2024 | maconmagazine.com 93 N O W I N C O N G R E S S : a bipar tis an Ocmulge e Mounds bill to create Ge orgia's first National Park and Preserve L O C A L B U Z Z I n a politically divided America, the aisle- crossing, intergovernmental push to create Ocmulgee Mounds National Park and Preserve is a chance to prove the positive power of unity – within Congress, between the United States government and tribal governments like the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and for everyone in the heart of Georgia. The Ocmulgee Mounds Park and Preserve Establishment Act aims to establish the boundaries of the current Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park as well as surrounding Central Georgia areas into a National Park and Preserve, representing a major step forward in a decades- long campaign for National Park status and nearly a century of preservation advocacy for the site and its historic, cultural, economic, ecological, recreational, and military relevance. The legislation was introduced to Congress on May 1, 2024, by U.S. Democratic Senators Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock, alongside Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr., and Republican Congressman Austin Scott. It was co-sponsored by four Democrat and six Republican members of Georgia's congressional delegation. That's the entire Georgia congressional delegation, minus one, and a near-even split across party lines. Sen. Ossoff , the bill's primary champion, told GPB News, "At a moment of such political division and even hatred, this is the tonic that Georgia needs right now – to see the entire delegation lining up, Republicans and Democrats, behind this initiative." "Ocmulgee Mounds is a living testament to our intertwined histories and a robust source of economic and cultural vitality, so I'm proud to support the bipartisan, bicameral eff orts to establish Ocmulgee Mounds as Georgia's fi rst National Park and Preserve," said Sen. Reverend Warnock in a news release. "I want to thank Congressmen Scott and Bishop for their yearslong eff orts on this in the U.S. House, as well as Senator Ossoff for BY SIERRA STARK STEVENS ABOVE The 2024 park map submitted to Congress by Sen. Osso . Photo courest of the O ce of U.S. Senator Jon Osso . A large-scale version is available at osso .senate.gov.