Great Dismal Swamp National Heritage Area Act

Floor Speech

H.R. 1154, offered by Congressman McEachin, requires the Secretary of the Interior to assess the suitability and feasibility of designating a national heritage area comprised of cities and counties in Virginia and counties in North Carolina to be known as the Great Dismal Swamp National Heritage Area.

While many think of Washington, D.C. as a great dismal swamp, it is actually a marshy region on the coastal plain of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina that stretches roughly 37 miles north to south and covers an area approximately 750 square miles. The Great Dismal Swamp has a long history of Native American inhabitants and was a known route and destination for freedom seekers.

This measure already passed the House as an amendment to H.R. 803, the Protecting America's Wilderness and Public Lands Act earlier this Congress. I did not support the measure then because it had not gone through regular order and was being added to a package that created 1.5 million acres of new wilderness. You could say this measure was bogged down here in the swamp.

While this is not how the process should work, I am happy that this bill has now gone through regular order, and I would, therefore, urge adoption of the measure.

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