| Listed Species in Emanuel
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 | ||||
| Eastern indigo snake Drymarchon corais couperi | T | T | During winter, den in xeric sandridge habitat preferred by gopher tortoises; during warm months, forage in creek bottoms, upland forests, and agricultural fields | Habitat loss due to uses such as farming, construction, forestry, and pasture and to overcollecting for the pet trade |
| 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 Emanuel County was in the 1940s. | Habitat destruction as a result of agricultural an silvicultural practices (e.g., clearclutting, mechanical site preparation), fire suppresion and residential and commercial development. |
| Plant | ||||
| Dwarf witch-alder Fothergilla gardenii | No Federal Status | T | Low, flat, swampy areas, especially shrub-dominated margins of upland swamps (pocosins), Carolina bays, pitcherplant bogs, wet savannahs, and Atlantic white-cedar swamps | |
| 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 | |
| Parrot pitcher-plant Sarracenia psittacina | No Federal Status | T | Acid soils of open bogs, wet savannahs, and low areas in pine flatwoods | |
| Pickering's morning-glory Stylisma pickeringii | No Federal Status | T | Coarse white sands on sandhills near the Fall Line and on a few ancient dunes along the Flint and Ohoopee 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 | |