"The wild things and places belong to all of us."
-- J. Drew Lanham
Florida manatee swims in shallow water toward camera.
Welcome to Georgia ES

Latest News

Rufa red knot feeding along with other shorebirds
Endangered Species Act
Service finalizes recovery plan for threatened rufa red knot
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has finalized a recovery plan for the rufa red knot, a subspecies listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
Tricolored bat
State of the Bats
The 2023 State of the Bats report described the current conservation status and top threats facing North American bats.
A small stream flows under a bridge in a wooded area.
Federal Interagency Fish Passage Portal
The Federal Interagency Fish Passage Portal is a resource for anyone who needs information, funding, or technical assistance to improve fish passage and aquatic connectivity projects. We provide landowners and public lands managers the tools they need to access fish passage resources across the...
Rufa red knot feeding along with other shorebirds
Endangered Species Act
Service announces revised proposed critical habitat for the rufa red knot
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it has revised the proposed critical habitat rule for the rufa red knot. The revised proposal is based on new information received during the first comment period that resulted in the inclusion of additional units of critical habitat and corrections or...
Rufa red knot feeding along with other shorebirds
Endangered Species Act
Rufa red knot revised proposed critical habitat FAQs
Answers to expected questions about the revised proposed critical habitat rule for the rufa red knot
Freshwater mussel with a prominant spine at the top of its shell sits on a red net
Endangered Species Act
Altamaha Spinymussel
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces the availability of the draft recovery plan for the Altamaha spinymussel (Elliptio spinosa), a mussel found in the Ocmulgee, Altamaha and Ohoopee Rivers in Georgia. The mussel was federally listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in...
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About Us

A shallow pool with granite rocks and small plants floating at the water's surface
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At Georgia Ecological Services, we are working to protect and recover threatened and endangered plants, animals, and their habitats.

Our team is based out of three field offices located in Athens, Fort Benning, and Townsend, Georgia. With expertise ranging from mountains to estuaries, our biologists are working to conserve rare and imperiled species, like the Etowah darter and the eastern indigo snake, and promote the restoration of Georgia’s heritage landscapes, such as longleaf pine ecosystems. Learn more about our efforts at our Projects & Research page!

 

What We Do

pine trees
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We work with communities across Georgia and the southeastern United States to support conservation through: Endangered Species Listing and Recovery, Project Planning and Review, and Habitat Restoration.

To learn more about ways that you and your community can support conservation, check out our Projects & Research, and Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program ( National | Georgia ) pages. If you would like to submit a project for Endangered Species Act review, please visit our Planning & Consultation page.

Services
Butterfly rests on tall flowering plant.
ESA Section 7 Consultation

The purpose of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is to provide a means to conserve the ecosystems upon which endangered and threatened species depend and provide a program for the conservation of such species. The ESA directs all federal agencies to participate in conserving these species....

Service
Consultation and Technical Assistance
Mojave desert tortoise
Habitat Conservation Plans

Since two-thirds of federally listed species have at least some habitat on private land, and some species have most of their remaining habitat on private land, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has developed an array of tools and incentives to protect the...

Service
Consultation and Technical Assistance
Permits
Business Owner/Commercial Business
Government or Government Representative - Local Government
Government or Government Representative - State Government
Adult island marble butterfly resting on a blade of grass.
Candidate Conservation Agreements

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) considers candidate species to be those plants and animals that are candidates for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). These are species for which we have enough information regarding their biological status and threats to propose them as...

Service
Consultation and Technical Assistance
Land Management and Conservation Assistance
Species Management
Landowner - Commercial
Landowner - Individual
Juvenile gopher tortoise
Conservation Banking

Conservation banking is a market-based system for conserving species and their habitat. It consists of a partnership between a landowner, one or more government agencies, and the community of developers and others who implement or fund projects that adversely affect endangered or threatened...

Service
Consultation and Technical Assistance
Land Management and Conservation Assistance
Species Management
Landowner - Individual
Private Land Owners/Managers
Public Land Manager

Our Organization

A rocky shoreline of a river. The water is calm. Mist and green branches line the river.
The Ecological Services Program works to restore and protect healthy populations of fish, wildlife, and plants and the environments upon which they depend. Using the best available science, we work with federal, state, Tribal, local, and non-profit stakeholders, as well as private land owners, to...
Program
Baileys Crossroads,VA
Partners for Fish and Wildlife: Nevada Coordinator Susan Abele Meets with Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Member to Conduct a Site Visit at Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation
The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program provides free technical and financial assistance to landowners, managers, tribes, corporations, schools and nonprofits interested in improving wildlife habitat on their land. Since 1987, we have helped more than 60,000 landowners restore more than 7...
Program
Falls Church,VA
A duck flies over a tundra pond.
We use the best scientific information available to determine whether to add a species to (list) or remove from (delist) the federal lists of endangered and threatened wildlife and plants. We also determine whether already listed species should be reclassified from threatened to endangered (uplist...
Program
Baileys Crossroads,VA
Gathering of Puffins on brown rock
The Coastal Program is one of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s most effective resources for restoring and protecting fish and wildlife habitat on public and privately-owned lands. We play an important role in promoting the Service’s mission and priorities, delivering landscape-scale...
Program
Falls Church,VA

Our Species

Georgia is home to more than 70 species of plants and animals protected under the Endangered Species Act. 

Our team of biologists at Georgia Ecological Services are the national lead for recovery efforts for 17 federally threatened or endangered species. We also work with other federally protected species that occur in our service area – including threatened and endangered species for which other offices have the recovery lead, and species protected under other laws, such as the bald eagle, protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Low growing plant with three mottled leaves growing radially and dark purple flowers at the center

Relict trillium is a rhizotomous perennial plant that can be identified by its whorl of three leaves that sit on an S-shaped hairless stem (Chafin 2007). The ovate to elliptic leaves have distinctive shades of light green, dark green, bronze-green, and dark purple and will often show a silver...

FWS Focus
Species
Kingdom
Plantae
Taxonomic Rank
Species
A jet black snake with reddish orange coloring around it's face on sandy soil

Average adult size is 60-74 inches (152-188 cm), record is 103.5 inches (262.8 cm). Adults are large and thick bodied. The body is glossy black and in sunlight has iridescent blue highlights. The chin and throat is reddish or white, and the color may extend down the body. The belly is cloudy...

FWS Focus
Species
Kingdom
Animalia
Taxonomic Rank
Species
A baby tortoise perches in grass and looks at the camera.

The gopher tortoise is a large, (shell 15 to 37 centimeters or 5.9 to 14.6 inches long) dark-brown to grayish-black terrestrial turtle with elephantine hind feet, shovel-like forefeet, and a gular projection beneath the head on the yellowish, hingeless plastron or undershell (Ernst and Barbour...

FWS Focus
Species
Kingdom
Animalia
Taxonomic Rank
Species
A fish with an elongate thin body and dark blue-black horizontal stripe swims in a clear stream.

The blue shiner is a medium-sized minnow that grows to about 100 millimeters (4 inches) in total length. Males are larger than females. Nonbreeding males and females are dusky blue with pale yellow fins. The scales are diamond-shaped and outlined with melanophores. The lateral line is distinct....

FWS Focus
Species
Kingdom
Animalia
Taxonomic Rank
Species
A small thin-bodied fish with a pointed snout, rounded fins, dark saddles, and mottled pattern along its sides.

The Etowah darter is a small, percid fish (1.6-2.2 inch, adult size) that is moderately compressed laterally and has a moderately pointed snout with a terminal, obliquely angled mouth. The body ground shade is medium brown or grayish olive. The lower opercle and branchiostegal rays have a pale...

FWS Focus
Species
Kingdom
Animalia
Taxonomic Rank
Species
Small bodied fish with a blunt snout, rounded fins, three saddles, and a blotched mottled pattern along the sides of its body.

The trispot darter is a small bodied, benthic fish ranging in size from 1.3 – 1.6 inches as adults. The darter has three prominent black dorsal saddles, pale undersurface, and a dark bar below the eye. Scattered dark blotches exist on the fins rays. During the breeding season, males are a...

FWS Focus
Species
Kingdom
Animalia
Taxonomic Rank
Species
A fish with dark brown vertical stripes across its body rests on a bed of small pebbles and gravel.

The Conasauga logperch is a large darter that reaches up to 5.25 inches in length (133 mm). It has a fleshy, pig-like snout, with a tip that extends beyond the upper jaw. There is a prominent tear drop below each eye and a large spot at the base of the caudal fin. The dorsal and caudal fins are...

FWS Focus
Species
Kingdom
Animalia
Taxonomic Rank
Species

Projects and Research

A forested landscape undergoing a prescribed fire
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Our team supports conservation at multiple scales, from on-the-ground species monitoring and habitat restoration to broader landscape-level planning.

Learn more about our projects and initiatives.

 

Our Library

Looking for a specific document? Check out our Library Collections.

Snail darter in hand.
Post-Delisting Monitoring in the Southeast
This library includes background information about post-delisting monitoring (PDM) and recent PDM plans released for species in the southeast.
Library Collection
6 Items
Smal flock of white and grey shorebirds in the water. Photo appears to be taken from a distance
Avoiding and Minimizing Incidental Take of Migratory Birds
To better protect migratory bird populations and provide more certainty for the regulated public, the Service seeks to address human-caused mortality by providing information on beneficial practices to avoid and minimize the incidental injury and killing of migratory birds. The U.S. Fish and...
Library Collection
11 Items

Get Involved

Eric Prowell speaking to a group about the Etowah River
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We rely on strong partnerships and collaboration with state and local governments, non-profit organizations, industry and academic communities across Georgia and the southeast.

Learn more about our partners and how to get involved.

Location and Contact Information