| Listed Species in Burke
County | ||||
| Species | Federal Status | State Status | Habitat | Threats |
| Bird | ||||
| Red-cockaded
woodpecker Picoides borealis | E | E | Nest in mature pine with low understory vegetation (<1.5m); forage in pine and pine hardwood stands > 30 years of age, preferably > 10" dbh | Reduction of older age pine stands and encroachment of hardwood midstory in older age pine stands due to fire suppression |
| Wood
stork Mycteria americana | E | E | Primarily feed in fresh and brackish wetlands and nest in cypress or other wooded swamps | Decline due primarily to loss of suitable feeding habitat, particularly in south Florida. Other factors include loss of nesting habitat, prolonged drought/flooding, raccoon predation on nests, and human disturbance of rookeries. |
| Reptile | ||||
| Gopher tortoise Gopherus polyphemus | No Federal Status | T | Well-drained, sandy soils in forest and grassy areas; associated with pine overstory, open understory with grass and forb groundcover, and sunny areas for nesting | Habitat
loss and conversion to closed canopy forests. Other threats include mortality
on highways and the collection of tortoises for pets. |
| Amphibian | ||||
| Flatwoods salamander Ambystoma cingulatum | T | T | Adults and subadults are fossorial; found in open mesic pine/wiregrass flatwoods dominated by longleaf or slash pine and maintained by frequent fire. During breeding period, which coincides with heavy rains from Oct.-Dec., move to isolated, shallow, small, depressions (forested with emergent vegetation) that dry completely on a cyclic basis. Last breeding record for Burke County was in the 1940's. | Habitat destruction as a result of agricultural an silvicultural practices (e.g., clearclutting, mechanical site preparation), fire suppresion and residential and commercial development. |
| Invertebrate | ||||
| Atlantic pigtoe mussel Fusconaia masoni | No Federal Status | E | Found in unpolluted, fast-flowing water in coarse sand/gravel substrate. | |
| Fish | ||||
| Shortnose sturgeon1 | E | E | Atlantic seaboard rivers | Construction of dams and pollution, habitat alterations from discharges, dredging or disposal of material into rivers, and related development activities. |
| Plant | ||||
| Canby's dropwort Oxypolis canbyi | E | E | Peaty muck of shallow cypress ponds, wet pine savannahs, and adjacent sloughs and drainage ditches | Loss or alteration of wetland habitats |
| Georgia plume Elliottia racemosa | No Federal Status | T | Sand ridges, dry oak ridges, evergreen hammocks, and sandstone outcrops in a variety of sandy soil conditions ranging from moist to very dry | |
| Indian olive Nestronia umbellula | No Federal Status | T | Dry open upland forests of mixed hardwood and pine | |
| Ocmulgee skullcap Scutellaria ocmulgee | No Federal Status | T | Forested terraces, hardwood slopes and riverbanks of tributaries to the Ocmulgee, Oconee, and Savannah Rivers | |
| Rosemary Ceratiola ericoides | No Federal Status | T | Driest, openly vegetated, scrub oak sandhills and river dunes with deep white sands of the Kershaw soil series | |
| Sweet
pitcher-plant Sarracenia rubra | No Federal Status | E | Acid soils of open bogs, sandhill seeps, Atlantic white-cedar swamps, wet savannahs, low areas in pine flatwoods, and along sloughs and ditches | |
1This species is the responsibility of the National Marine Fisheries Service.