All of these species are protected by the federal Endangered Species Act, and protected by Georgia state law as well.  There are multiple types of species that are protected and these include: plants, invertebrates, fish, reptiles & amphibians, birds, and mammals.  Below you will see some of the Endangered Species located in Georgia protected by the Federal Endangered Species Act.  Please view the Georgia Wildlife DNR’s endangered species list to see the different species covered by the Georgia State Laws.

Plants:

Threatened Species - likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future

Species:Pool Sprite, Little Amphianthus (Amphianthus pusillus)
Location: Granite outcrops in Georgia Piedmont
Habitat: Shallow pools on granite outcrops, where water collects after a rain. Pools are less than 1 foot deep and rock rimmed.

Species: Swamp pink (Helonias bullata)
Location:Rabun County
Habitat:Coldwater seepage swamps of the Blue Ridge (mountain bogs) with red maple, tag alder, purple pitcherplant, mountain laurel, and rosebay rhododendron

Species:Small whorled pogonia (Isotria medeoloides)
Location: Northeast Georgia mountain areas
Habitat: Partially shaded gaps in mixed deciduous-conifer woods with open understory and sparse herbaceous layer.

Species:Mohr’s Barbara’s-buttons (Marshallia mohrii)
Location: Floyd County
Habitat: Prairie-like grass-sedge communities over seasonally wet sandy clays; also margins of shale-bedded streams

Species:Kral’s water-plantain (Sagittaria secundifolia)
Location:Chattooga County
Habitat:Submerged in sandstone crevices and shoals or shallow pools in rapidly flowing streams; often found with riverweed (Podostemon)

Species: Large-flowered skullcap (Scutellaria montana)
Location:Catoosa, Dade, Floyd, Gordon, and Walker County
Habitat: Mature oak-pine forests with sparse understory

Species: Virginia spiraea (Spiraea virginiana)
Location:Dade and Walker County
Habitat: Streams on gravel bars, rocky ledges and bouldery rubble periodically flushed by high water

Endangered Species - A species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Species: Hairy rattleweed (Baptisia arachnifera)
Location: Brantley and Wayne County
Habitat: Sandy soils in open pine flatwoods, intensively managed slash pine plantations, and along road and powerline right-of-ways

Species: Smooth coneflower (Echinacea laevigata)
Location: Stephens and Habersham County
Habitat: Meadows and open woodlands on basic or circumneutral soils; often with eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) and button snakeroot (Eryngium yuccifolium)

Species: Black-spored quillwort (Isoetes melanospora)
Location: Granite outcrops in western half of Georgia’s Piedmont
Habitat: Shallow pools on granite outcrops, where water collects after a rain. Pools are less than 1 foot deep and rock rimmed.

Species: Mat-forming quillwort (Isoetes tegetiformans)
Location: Granite outcrops in eastern half of Georgia’s Piedmont
Habitat: Shallow pools on granite outcrops, where water collects after a rain. Pools are less than 1 foot deep and rock rimmed. 

Species: Pondberry (Lindera melissifolia)
Location: Baker, Chatham, Screven, and Wheeler County
Habitat: Shallow depression ponds of sandhills, margins of cypress ponds, and in seasonally wet low areas among bottomland hardwoods

Species: Canby’s dropwort (Oxypolis canbyi)
Location: Burke, Dooly, Lee, Jenkins, Screven, and Sumter County
Habitat: Peaty muck of shallow cypress ponds, wet pine savannahs, and adjacent sloughs and drainage ditches

Species: Harperella (Ptilimnium nodosum)
Location: Dooly, Greene, and Schley County
Habitat: Seeps on granite outcrops in the Piedmont; wet savannahs, ditches, and peaty fringes of pineland pools and cypress ponds in the Coastal Plain

Species: Michaux’s sumac (Rhus michauxii)
Location: Elbert, and possibly Cobb, Columbia, Muscogee, and Newton County
Habitat: Sandy or rocky open woods, usually on ridges with a disturbance history periodic fire, prior agricultural use, maintained right-of-ways

Species: Green pitcher plant (Sarracenia oreophila)
Location: only extant population in Towns County
Habitat: Open seepy meadows, along sandy flushed banks of streams, and in partially shaded red maple-blackgum low woods or poorly drained oak-pine flatwoods

Species: American Chaff-seed (Schwalbea americana)
Location:Baker and Dougherty County; extirpated from Baldwin, Early, Pike, Miller and Worth 
Habitat:Fire-maintained wet savannahs in the Coastal Plain with grass pinks, colic root, huckleberry and gallberry; grassy openings and swales of relict longleaf pine woods in the Piedmont

Species:Fringed campion (Silene polypetala)
Location: Bibb, Crawford, Decatur, Taylor, Talbot, Twiggs, Houston and Upson County 
Habitat: Mature hardwood or hardwood-pine forests on river bluffs, small stream terraces, moist slopes and well-shaded ridge crests

Species: Cooley’s meadowrue (Thalictrum cooleyi)
Location: Worth County
Habitat:Fine sandy loam in open, seasonally wet mixed pine-hardwoods and in adjacent wet savannahs; in Georgia, may be restricted to roadsides and powerline right-of-ways

Species: Florida torreya  (Torreya taxifolia) 
Location: Decatur County 
Habitat:Beech-magnolia forests and mixed hardwoods on middle slopes of steep ravines with nearly permanent seepage (steepheads) 

Species: Persistent trillium (Trillium persistens)
Location:Habersham, Rabun, and Stevens County 
Habitat: Either in mixed pine-hemlock-hardwood forests growing with Viola hastata and Rhododendron maximumor in mixed oak-beech forests; restricted to Tallulah-Tugaloo River system

Species: Relict trillium (Trillium reliquum) 
Location: Fall Line and Southwest Georgia  
Habitat: Hardwood forests; in the Piedmont, found in either in rich ravines or adjacent alluvial terraces with other spring-flowering herbs

Species: Tennessee yellow-eyed grass (Xyris tennesseensis)
Location: Bartow, Floyd, Gordon, and Whitfield County
Habitat: Gravelly open, calcareous, seepy margins and wet meadows along spring-fed headwater streams

Invertibrates:
Threatened Species - likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future

Species: Purple bankclimber (Elliptoideus sloatianus)
Location: Chattahoochee, Flint, and Ochlockonee Rivers
Habitat: Rivers and streams; usually found in moderate currents over sand, sand mixed with mud, or gravel substrates, swept free of silt by the current.  

Species: Fine-lined pocketbook(Hamiota altilis)
Location:Chattooga, Conasauga, Coosa, Etowah Rivers
Habitat: Bradytictic. High quality, free-flowing rivers and creeks; usually found in stable substrates of sand, gravel, and cobble in flowing currents.

Species: Alabama moccasinshell(Medionidus acutissimus) 
Location:Chattooga, Conasuaga, Coosa, Etowah Rivers
Habitat: Bradytictic. Streams and small rivers; usually found in gravel and cobble substrate of shoals in moderate to fast-flowing velocities.

Endangered Species - A species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Species: Fat three-ridge (Amblema neislerii)
Location: Flint River
Habitat: Endemic to ACF basin. Main channels of Flint River; usually found in substrates ranging from gravel to a rocky rubble mixture of sand and sandy mud to a mixture of sand, sandy/clay substrates in slow to moderate currents.

Species: Upland combshell (Epioblasma metastriata) 
Location:Chattooga, Conasauga, Etowah, Oostanaula Rivers
Habitat: Bradytictic. High quality, free-flowing rivers and large creeks; usually found in stable gravel-cobble substrate of shoals in medium to fast current velocities.

Species: Southern acornshell (Epioblasma othcaloogensis) 
Location:Chattooga, Conasuaga, Oostanaula Rivers
Habitat: Bradytictic. High quality upland streams or rivers; usually found in stable substrates of sand, gravel, and cobble in flowing shoal areas.

Species: Shiny-rayed pocketbook
Location: Chattahoochee, Flint, and Ochlockonee Rivers
Habitat: Rivers and streams; usually found in sand, sand mixed with mud, or gravel substrates in moderate currents.

Species: Coosa moccasinshell (Medionidus parvulus)
Location:Chattooga and Conasuaga Rivers
Habitat: Bradytictic. High quality streams and small rivers; usually found in stable gravel and cobble substrates in flowing shoals.

Species: Gulf moccasinshell (Medionidus penicillatus) 
Location: Chattahoochee, Flint, and Ochlockonee Rivers
Habitat: Medium streams to large rivers; usually found in areas with slight to moderate current over sand and gravel substrates; may be associated with muddy sand substrates around tree roots.

Species: Ochlockonee moccasinshell (Medionidus simpsonianus)
Location: Ochlockonee River; Grady and Thomas Counties
Habitat: Medium streams to large rivers; usually found in areas with slight to moderate current over sand and gravel substrates; may be associated with muddy sand substrates around tree roots.

Species: Southern clubshell (Pleurobema decisum) 
Location: Conasauga, Coosa, Coosawattee, Etowah, Oostanaula Rivers
Habitat: Tachytictic. Rivers and large streams with a moderately high gradient; usually found in cobble, gravel, and sand substrates in shoals and runs.

Species: Southern pigtoe (Pleurobema georgianum) 
Location:Chattooga, Conasauga, Oostanaula Rivers
Habitat: Tachytictic. High quality rivers and large streams; usually found in cobble, gravel, and sand substrates in shoals and runs.

Species: Oval pigtoe(Pleurobema pyriforme) 
Location: Chattahoochee, Flint, and Ochlockonee Rivers
Habitat: Endemic to ACF basin. River tributaries and main channels; usually found in slow to moderate currents over silty sand, muddy sand, sand, and gravel substrates.

Species: Triangular kidneyshell (Ptychobranchus greeni) 
Location:Chattooga, Coosa, Etowah Rivers
Habitat: Bradytictic. High quality rivers and large streams; usually found in shoals and riffles with rapid current.

Fish:

Threatened Species - likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future

Species: Blue shiner (Cyprinella caerulea)
Location: Conasauga River and tributaries above Dalton and the Coosawattee River in Gilmer County
Habitat: Medium to large clear cool streams with gravel-rubble-small boulder substrate

Species: Cherokee darter (Etheostoma scotti) 
Location: Warm water creeks in the Etowah River system
Habitat: Shallow water (0.1-0.5 m) in small to medium creeks (1-15 m wide) with predominan

Species: Goldline darter (Percina aurolineata)
Location: Upper Coosawattee River system above Carter’s Reservoir in Gilmer County
Habitat: Main channel of rivers in white-water rapids > 2-3 feet deep

Species: Snail darter (Percina tanasi)
Location:Catoosa County
Habitat: Adults live/spawn in shallow shoal areas over large smooth gravel. Larvae drif

Endangered Species - A species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Species: Shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum)
Location: Coastal rivers (primarily Altamaha, Ogeechee, Savannah Rivers)
Habitat: Atlantic seaboard rivers

Species: Etowah darter (Etheostoma etowaha)
Location: Etowah River system
Habitat: Shallow riffle habitat, with large gravel, cobble, and small boulder substrates. Usually found in medium and large cool water creeks or small rivers (15-30 m wide) with moderate or high gradients and rocky bottoms.
  
Species: Amber darter (Percina antesella)
Location: Etowah and Conasauga Rivers; last taken in Etowah River in 1980
Habitat: Gentle riffle areas over sand and gravel substrate that becomes vegetated prim

Species: Conasauga logperch (Percina jenkinsi)
Location: Conasauga River
Habitat: Pool areas with flowing water and substrates of rubble, gravel and sand; spawns

Reptiles:

Threatened Species - likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future

Species: Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta)
Location: Coast
Habitat: Nests on Georgia’s barrier island beaches. Forages in warm ocean waters and river mouth channels worldwide. 

Species: Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas)
Location: Coast
Habitat: Rarely nests in Georgia. Generally found in fairly shallow waters (except when migrating) inside reefs, bays and inlets. North American distribution is from Massachusetts to Mexico and from British Columbia to Baja California.

Species: Flatwoods salamander (Ambystoma cingulatum) 
Location: Coastal Plain
Habitat: Breeding habitat are isolated pond cypress dominated depressions often with a smaller component of blackgum or slash pine. These ponds are isolated within pine forests. Suitable wetlands have a marsh-like appearance with sedges and grasses growing throughout and other herbaceous species in the shallow water edges. A relatively open canopy resulting from seasonal prescribed burns is necessary to maintain appropriate vegetation, which serves as cover for salamander larvae and their aquatic invertebrate prey.

Species: Eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon corais couperi)
Location: South Georgia
Habitat: During winter, den in zeric sandridge habitat preferred by gopher tortoises; during warm months, forage in creek bottoms, upland forests, and agricultural fields

Endangered Species - A species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Species: Leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
Location: Coast
Habitat: Rarely nests in Georgia. Visits often coincide with periodic abundance of cannonball jellyfish. Distributed worldwide in tropical and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Most pelagic of the sea turtles.

Species: Hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata)
Location: Coast
Habitat: Migrates through Georgia’s coastal waters. Frequents rocky areas, reefs, shallow coastal areas, lagoons, and narrow creeks and passes. Distribution is in tropical and subtropical seas of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans

Species: Kemp’s ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempi)
Location: Coast
Habitat: Outside of nesting season primarily found in the nearshore and inshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico, although immatures have been observed along the Atlantic as far north as Massachusetts. Next off Tamaulipas, Mexico.

Birds:

The Bald Eagle has been delisted but it is still protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. We have guidance available here.

Threatened Species - likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future

Species: Piping plover (Charadrius elodus)
Location: Coastal beaches
Habitat: Winters on Georgia’s coast;
prefers areas with expansive sand or mudflats (for foraging) in close proximity to a sand beach (for roosting) 

Endangered Species - A species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Species: Kirtland’s warbler (Dendroica kirtlandii)
Location: Transient on coast during migration  
Habitat: Migrates through Georgia to wintering grounds in the Bahamas

Species: Wood stork (Mycteria americana)
Location: Southeast wetlands
Habitat: Primarily feed in fresh and brackish wetlands and nest in cypress or other wooded swamps

Species: Red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis)
Location: Mature pine forests statewide 
Habitat: Nest in mature pine with low understory vegetation (<1.5m); forage in pine and pine hardwood stands > 30 years of age, preferably > 10″ dbh

Mammals:

Endangered Species - A species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Species: Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis)
Location: Coast
Habitat: Calve in shallow coastal waters from November to March (primarily January to March). Critical habitat designated from the shoreline out 5-15 nautical miles between approximately the mouth of the Altamaha River to Sebastian Inlet, Florida

Species: Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)
Location: Coast
Habitat: Coastal waters during migration

Species: Gray Bat (Myotis grisescens)
Location: Northwest and west Georgia
Habitat: Colonies restricted to caves or cave-like habitats; forage primarily over water along rivers or lake shores

Species: Indiana Bat (Myotis sodalis)
Location: Extreme northwest Georgia
Habitat: Hibernate in caves; maternity colonies of 25-100 females are found in riparian and upland woods within hollow trees or limbs, under the bark of dead trees (such as red oaks) or under the bark of live trees (such as shagbark hickory); forage in riparian, upland, and floodplain areas

Species: West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus)
Location: Coast
Habitat: Coastal waters, estuaries, and warm water outfalls

This information was provided by the US Fish and Wildlife Organization.