State designates land for first new park in more than a decade

FARGO - This tiny town on the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp soon will be the home of Georgia&#39;s first new state park in more than 10 years. <br> <br> The park will be located on a 317-acre tract about 18 miles southwest of Stephen C. Foster State Park, which is surrounded by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. <br> <br> The new facility is slated to open in summer 2003 and will feature an ``eco-lodge&#39;&#39; consisting of motel-type rooms and dormitories to host school groups, said Burt Weerts, director of Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites. <br> <br> The lodge, to be built on 5-foot-high pilings, was designed by Garland Reynolds, the Gainesville architect who also designed Len Foote Hike Inn at Amicalola Falls State Park. <br> <br> In recent years the state has sought land along the Chattahoochee River and other sites for future parks, Weerts said. <br> <br> Superior Pine Products Co. in December donated the land to be used for the Fargo park, tentatively named Suwanee River State Park, and the Legislature allocated $5.6 million last year for it. <br> <br> Fargo, located in southeast Georgia, has a population of about 380.