MEET OUR AWESOME
Staff
At the core of the Okefenokee Swamp Park and Okefenokee Adventures are the people. We invite you to meet the individuals who make our organization so wonderful. Their talents, integrity, ethical values and commitment to the environment in which they operate is the foundation of our organization.
OSP Inc.
Martin Cheatham
Martin Cheatham started in March 2016 with the Okefenokee Swamp Park as the Assistant General Manager. However, after the purchase of Okefenokee Adventures, he was promoted to the role of Director of Finance for the entire Okefenokee Swamp Park, Inc. organization in January 2021. He came to the Okefenokee after a career in municipal parks & recreation with stops along the way at Effingham County Recreation & Parks in Springfield, GA and Manatee County Parks & Recreation in Bradenton, FL.
His last stop before Waycross was the City of Bremen (GA) Parks & Recreation Department where he spent over seven years, first as the Superintendent of Athletics and then as the Director of Parks & Recreation for five years. He is still active with both the National Recreation & Parks and Georgia Recreation & Parks Associations, as well as being a Certified Parks & Recreation Executive. In addition to his roles with the organization, he currently serves on the Ware County Recreation Board, is the Arts & Tourism Day Chair for Leadership Waycross and serves on the Waycross-Ware County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He is a graduate of Auburn University (Bachelor of Arts in History-2002) and twice from Georgia Southern University (Master of Science in Sport Management-2006 & Master of Business Administration-2023).
When he is not at the park he enjoys spending time with his family, wife Krista and son Luke, and their two dogs Oreo and Dolly Parton, or cheering on the Auburn University Tigers in everything. He loves working for the Okefenokee Swamp Park, Inc., because of the smiles you get to see on the faces of the guests as they experience getting to see an American Alligator up close during a family vacation or school field trip.
Levi Welling
Levi has a Bachelor of Science degree in Recreation Administration from Pittsburgh State University (Kansas). Conservation, sustainability, and environmental education are the passions that inspire him to bring energetic enthusiasm to the workplace each day. Levi is known for his positive attitude and tireless work ethic. With the recent expansion of the Okefenokee Swamp Park Inc’s footprint in the region and refreshed mission, to provide visitor access and interpretive education that inspires conservation advocacy for the Okefenokee Swamp, Levi is a welcome addition to the management team.
Levi enjoys spending time with his wife, Marilou, son Theodore, and two dogs, Thornton and Eliot. Fishing, birding, camping, live music, and adventuring highlight his downtime hobbies, while kayak fishing dominates most off days.
Katie Antczak
Okefenokee Adventures
DJ Mlodozeniec
DJ Mlodozeniec’s adventurous life has led him to the Okefenokee. His love for the outdoors began around the time he learned how to walk. DJ’s childhood was spent catching frogs and turtles, fishing, and exploring the Northern hardwood forests of Western New York. An avid outdoorsman, fisherman, and birder, DJ discovered a passion for swamp environments after multiple excursions to the Everglades. An employment opportunity in the Okefenokee Swamp captured DJ’s eye, and he now serves the organization as the Environmental Education Coordinator at Okefenokee Adventures.
DJ leads boat tours, extended and overnight paddle excursions, and helps develop environmental programming for the organization. He loves the alligators and barred owls of the swamp, and routinely photographs them with his wildlife camera
Jenny Smith
Jenny grew up north of Okefenokee Swamp in the little country town of Waresboro, Georgia. Jenny studied Biology and Wildlife Management at Waycross College and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. Jenny has worked as a Park Naturalist for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources at Laura S. Walker State Park and Skidaway Island State Park. Jenny has also worked in California State parks at Silverwood Lake State Recreation Area and in the Mendocino Woodlands State park. Jenny joined the OSP team as an Interpretive Naturalist at Okefenokee Adventures and now holds the title of Lead Naturalist, offering overnight excursions, extended tours and training new OSP naturalists. She lives her professional life by the mantra “Conservation through education.”
Danielle Wilkinson
Danielle Wilkinson is a native of Charlton County, GA. She has strong family ties to the area and to the Okefenokee Swamp. Starting at an early age, she began exploring the Okefenokee and taking paddle trips on the St Marys River with her parents and siblings. This sparked a fire in her that has grown into a passion for the outdoors and specifically, for this great swamp. As an adult, she continues to share her love for the Okefenokee with her husband and kids.
Danielle began working in the Café at Okefenokee Adventures for about two years following high school. After leaving Okefenokee Adventures, Danielle lived near Statesboro, Georgia for a time, but her roots would always bring her home to Southeast Georgia and the Okefenokee Swamp.
In the summer of 2021, Danielle returned to Okefenokee Adventures serving as a Guest Relations Specialist. She served in this role through January of 2022 before being promoted to her current role. Danielle now proudly serves as Assistant Guest Services Coordinator with Okefenokee Adventures.
Danielle is excited to be partnered with an organization that shares in her passion of helping people from all around the world experience the beautiful Okefenokee Swamp, as well as spark a desire in others for the conservation of not only the Okefenokee, but for the plants, animals, and rivers that rely on it.
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
– The Lorax
Okefenokee Swamp Park
Colleen Goff
Colleen Goff is from San Diego, California, and received a B.S. in Environmental Natural Resources with a focus in Conservation Biology from Clemson University. As an alligator enthusiast to the extreme, she has caught and tagged over 70 alligators. Colleen has been involved in several alligator projects in South Carolina, including an undergraduate urban alligator project investigating coastal alligator-human interactions, and currently volunteers with the UGA Alligator research project in the Okefenokee. Additionally, she has been a naturalist on several barrier islands leading kayaking tours, nature programs, and research. Colleen joined the Okefenokee Swamp Park from Jekyll Island, GA, where she developed a love for environmental education. ” I hope to bring new and exciting things to the Okefenokee Swamp Park with my passion for getting people out into nature to educate and appreciate!”
William Baumler
No stranger to wetlands ecology or pine flatwoods, William Baumler hails from Marco Island in South Florida and joins Okefenokee Swamp Park as the new Environmental Education Coordinator. Holding a B.S. in Biology and Natural History from the University of Florida, he has a special fascination with invertebrates, biogeography, and the ecologies of liminal areas between biomes. After an academic stint in UF’s entomology department studying freeze-tolerance and metabolic enzymes, William has worked with AmeriCorps in New Hampshire, leading team education and backcountry trail construction crews. He lived off-grid in a national forest in Oregon, providing multi-day and onsite environmental programs for all ages at Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center. He also managed the floor of Montbell, Asia’s largest outdoor recreation retailer, in the US’ flagship store in Colorado, and even taught English in Japan for two years to make the most out of his minor, Japanese Studies, after college. William is pleased to leave the aridity of Colorado and return to the Southeast, where his main goals are to excite visitors about peat production in the swamp as a vehicle for long-term carbon storage and promote the Waycross Okefenokee communities as state leaders in educational ecotourism.
