The July 26 front-page article “Okefenokee becomes a World Heritage site” prominently noted the addition of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge to the UNESCO World Heritage List, making it the 27th World Heritage Site in the United States. Unfortunately, Okefenokee might be the last such addition for years to come.
The United States led the development of the World Heritage concept and began nominating its sites when the World Heritage List was inaugurated in 1978 at a meeting in Washington. But the Trump administration announced last year that the United States will withdraw from UNESCO on Dec. 31, though the U.S. government remains a party to the World Heritage Convention, under which nations submit their sites for designation.
Preparation of the Okefenokee nomination dossier was officially authorized in 2023, and it was submitted to UNESCO during the final days of the Biden administration. The official list of potential U.S. World Heritage sites features 16 locations, but the Trump administration has not advanced any further nominations.
The office within the National Park Service that guided the development of the nomination documents for U.S. sites was gutted by the Trump administration, and staff with years of knowledge of and experience with the complex nomination process left the agency. Unless the Trump administration takes steps to rebuild this capacity, worthy U.S. sites might no longer receive this important international recognition, or the economic benefits from increased tourism that usually result from it.
Stephen Morris, Washington
The writer is a former director of the National Park Service’s Office of International Affairs.