National Park Service Invites Public Input for Great Dismal Swamp National Heritage Area Feasibility Study

The National Park Service (NPS) invites the public to provide input on a study to determine the feasibility and suitability of designating a future National Heritage Area that includes the Great Dismal Swamp and other areas in the state of North Carolina and the Commonwealth of Virginia. The 60-day comment period for the Great Dismal Swamp National Heritage Area Feasibility Study will extend from March 19 to May 19, 2025.

Visit https://parkplanning.nps.gov/GreatDismalSwamp for more information about the study, including survey questions.

Input from the public is both necessary and critical to this study. The study team seeks to learn more about the region from the people who know it best. The information, interest, and inquiries received from the public help inform the overall work of assessing the Great Dismal Swamp study area as a potential National Heritage Area.

The Great Dismal Swamp National Heritage Area Feasibility Study was authorized by Public Law 117-331 in January 2023, which directed the Secretary of the Interior to evaluate the natural, historic, cultural, scenic, educational and recreational resources of an area, including and close to the Great Dismal Swamp. The legislation identified the following cities and counties as part of the study: the North Carolina counties of Camden, Currituck, Gates, and Pasquotank, the Virginia cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Suffolk and Isle of Wight County.

The feasibility study will also assess the evidence of community support, including businesses, residents, nonprofit organizations and government agencies. The study will gather and assess the region’s unique and important American stories, how they can be experienced by the public and how a coordinating entity could organize a potential National Heritage Area if Congress were to designate one. The study is expected to run through 2026. The study’s assessment, along with any recommendations from the Secretary of the Interior, will be reported to Congress.

The project newsletter is available on the NPS project website at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/GreatDismalSwamp.

To inform the public about the study and solicit comments, the National Park Service will host three virtual meeting opportunities:

• Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. ET
• Wednesday, March 26, 2025, at noon ET
• Wednesday, March 26, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. ET

Before each meeting, NPS will post online links to the meetings on the project website.

In addition to participating in the virtual meetings, comments may be submitted in the following ways:

NPS Project Website: Visit https://parkplanning.nps.gov/GreatDismalSwamp and click “Links” on the left. Then click “Open for Comment.”

U.S. Postal Service: National Park Service, Denver Service Center
Attn: Great Dismal Swamp NHA / Julie Bell
1 Federal Center, Building 50
P.O. Box 25287
Denver, CO 80225

The transformation from a million-acre wilderness that supported Native populations for millennia to its current state as a partially protected wildlife refuge highlights the significant environmental changes that have occurred since European colonization.

The name itself, given by William Byrd II, reflects the colonial perspective on wetlands, which were often viewed as worthless or dangerous rather than as the biodiverse ecosystems we recognize today. The subsequent exploitation of the swamp’s resources through timber harvesting, canal construction, and agricultural development follows a pattern seen in many American wetlands.

It’s particularly interesting how the swamp served multiple cultural roles throughout history – from Native homeland to refuge for those escaping enslavement, connecting it to the Underground Railroad. The current conservation efforts and cultural heritage work seem to be attempting to acknowledge and preserve these multiple layers of significance.

The Great Dismal Swamp’s location spanning the Virginia-North Carolina border and its hydrological connections to both the James River and Albemarle Sound make it an important regional watershed. The wildlife refuge status for a portion of the remaining swamp represents an important step in preserving what remains of this unique ecosystem.