Georgia’s two U.S. senators and two members of the U.S. House from South Georgia Wednesday reintroduced legislation to establish the Ocmulgee Mounds as the state’s first national park.

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources passed the bill last November, but it had to be reintroduced because a new Congress took office in January.

The area is the ancestral home of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and has been inhabited continuously by humans for more than 12,000 years.

“Ocmulgee Mounds is a living testament to our intertwined histories and a robust source of economic and cultural vitality,” said Sen. Raphael Warnock, who is sponsoring the bill along with Sen. Jon Ossoff and U.S. Reps. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, and Sanford Bishop, D-Albany. “Local leaders and everyday Georgians have been waiting for Congress to act and now is the time.”

“We made unprecedented progress last Congress toward creating Georgia’s first ever national park,” Ossoff added. “I look forward to working alongside Congressman Scott, Sen. Rev. Warnock, Congressman Bishop, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and local leaders to successfully establish Georgia’s first national park.”

The House version of the bill is being cosponsored by every other member of Georgia’s 14-member House delegation except Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens.

The bipartisan, bicameral push for the Ocmulgee Mounds National Park and Preserve Bill is earning broad support from local leaders in Middle Georgia.

“The opportunity to make the historic Ocmulgee Mounds a national park is so important to us because we have been included, we have been shown the respect of collaboration, and because of that we feel confident that the living history that will be told here is authentic and has the power to elevate Georgia forever,” said David Hill, principal chief of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

“Tens of millions of private dollars have been leveraged to conserve the precious cultural and ecological resources of the Ocmulgee Corridor,” added Seth Clark, mayor pro tempore of Macon and executive director of the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative. “This bipartisan legislation allows us to continue to grow the Middle Georgia economy … and authentically preserve some of the most culturally significant sites in the country.”

Capitol Beat is a nonprofit news service operated by the Georgia Press Educational Foundation that provides coverage of state government to newspapers throughout Georgia. For more information visit capitol-beat.org.