Warm Springs (Georgia)
Plan Your Visit
Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery is just one of the many field stations of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service whose mission is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.
While visiting us, be sure to visit our aquarium, walking trail, outdoor display pools, and wetland ponds where you can see an alligator, fish, and carnivorous plants. The hatchery also features a butterfly habitat to attract Monarch Butterflies and other pollinators. Accessible restrooms, drinking water, and parking are available.
The hatchery has a walking trail that goes along the perimeter of the grounds offering views of production ponds, streams, birds, and other wildlife. Follow the road between the production ponds to the tree line in the back of the property. You will cross a bridge over the stream and follow trail markers through the woods along the property line back to the front of the production ponds. Be sure to stop at the gazebo.
Educational opportunities for groups exist during visits to learn more about hatchery operations and resource issues.
Activities
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Featured Species
Get Involved
Whether you want to further conservation, learn more about nature or share your love of the outdoors, you’ve come to the right place. National fish hatcheries provide many opportunities for you to help your community and fish and wildlife by doing what you love.
The Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery is always seeking qualified volunteers/interns to help with daily operations/projects. Our volunteers are individuals of all ages and skill sets who want to give back to their communities and have a hand in species and habitat restoration.
Services
The role of our hatchery is recovery of species that have become imperiled. Our mission is to remedy impacts of manmade dams that have altered a stream’s natural reproductive capability; to recover threatened or endangered populations; to restore inter-jurisdictional fish populations; and to support depleted recreational fish populations in Federal and state waters.
Warm Springs NFH produces fish, freshwater mussels, tortoises, and frogs for recovery programs within the state of Georgia and throughout the Southeast Region. Every year, the hatchery stocks thousands of fish in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Florida. Gopher tortoises and gopher frogs are released every year across the state of Georgia.
About
Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery was established in 1899. The hatchery's primary recovery focus occurs in Georgia, but work performed benefits species throughout the 10-state Southeast Region. The hatchery restores and manages inter-jurisdictional coastal and riverine fishes such as Striped Bass, Alligator Gar, and Lake Sturgeon. Species such as Striped Bass and Lake Sturgeon are vital to fishery resources of the Southeastern United States and the Atlantic Coast managed in cooperation with the various state game and fish agencies. The hatchery works with many partners including the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to recover Sicklefin Redhorse in North Carolina. The hatchery recovers species listed under the Endangered Species Act, such as freshwater mussels. Recovery efforts also include candidate ESA species and state listed species such as Gopher Tortoises and Gopher Frogs.