MACON, Ga. — The Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative has hired a new director of advocacy. She has roots as the former Muscogee Creek Nation Chief of Staff.
Many different American Indian cultures occupied land at the site for years, including peoples of the Muscogee Creek Nation.
"I'm excited to bring that voice of my ancestors that were here before and make sure that those true stories are told,” said Tracie Revis.
Revis, a citizen of the Muscogee Creek Nation and part of two tribes – Yuchi and Muscogee Creek – has deep roots in Macon. Now, she’s the new director of advocacy at the park.
"We can all kind of learn and to continue to keep growing, and taking care of this beautiful land here and making sure it is always here for those that come after,” she said.
In the early 2000s, the Ocmulgee National Park Preserve Initiative formed to push for the final designation of park and preserve status. Their end goal is to reach national park and preserve status, which would make it the first one in Georgia.
"The nation wants the stories to be told, but we also want to respect the history that was here as well. There is a way that we can live together and to tell that history," said Revis.
Seth Clark, the executive director of the Ocmulgee National Preserve Initiative, says the goal is to preserve up to 50-80,000 acres in the Ocmulgee flood plain.
He says this new partnership with the nation is long overdue.
"It's filling a void that's been here for a very long time and it is a step in the process of this community atoning for one of the most heinous acts in American history, which was the removal of the people that were here for 17,000 years before we got here,” said Clark.
Revis sees her role as carrying on her ancestors' legacy.
"I'm excited about the opportunity of what this looks like for the conservation and the preservation. There's hunting and fishing and its beautiful land, but there is a lot of archeological cultural importance here and we want to make sure that's protected as well," she said.
A National Park and Preserve status is currently being assessed by a Congressionally mandated National Park Service Special Resource Study. The designation of National Park and Preserve status is possible and anticipated through an act of Congress in 2022.
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