Ocmulgee Mounds National Park and Preserve Establishment Act

This bill creates a new “Ocmulgee Mounds National Park and Preserve” in Georgia by renaming the current national historical park as a national park and adding a new national preserve next to it. Both areas will be managed together. Land can only be added by buying from willing sellers, donations, or exchanges—no land can be taken by force. A detailed plan to guide the park and preserve must be finished within three years, with special care for sacred places and cultural landscapes important to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Hunting will be allowed in the preserve and fishing in the park and preserve, following state and federal rules, with temporary closures for safety or wildlife needs. The park will also protect access to sacred and cultural sites for Tribes.

The bill sets up an advisory council with Tribal, state, and federal members to help shape management, and it gives hiring preference for jobs at the site to members of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. About 126 acres owned by the Tribe will be held in trust by the United States for the Tribe’s benefit. The nearby Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge stays under its current agency, but cultural programs there can be coordinated with the Tribe. The bill also authorizes funding as needed to carry it out.

Key points

• Who is affected: Visitors, hunters and anglers, local communities in Georgia, and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
• What changes: Redesignates the historical park as a national park; creates a new national preserve; protects sacred sites and Tribal access; sets hiring preference for Tribal members; adds land only from willing sellers; creates an advisory council.
• When: The preserve is created once enough land is acquired and a public notice is published; the management plan is due within three years of enactment.