| Listed Species in Union
County | ||||
| Species | Federal Status | State Status | Habitat | Threats |
| Bird | ||||
| Bald eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus | T | E | Inland waterways and estuarine areas in Georgia. An active bald eagle nest was located in Union County in 1999. No active nests in 2000-2001 | Major factor in initial decline was lowered reproductive success following use of DDT. Current threats include habitat destruction, disturbance at the nest, illegal shooting, electrocution, impact injuries, and lead poisoning. |
| Reptile | ||||
| Bog turtle1 Clemmys muhlenbergii | T | T | Bogs, swamps, ponds, and marshy meadows with standing or slow-moving water and soft muddy bottoms. Requires a soft, muddy substrate in which to burrow and grassy, marshy areas with adequate cover (so excluded from closed-canopy streams). | |
| Fish | ||||
| Blotched chub Erimystax insignis | No Federal Status | T | Large young, juveniles and adults inhabit moderate to swift runs and riffles of unsilted gravel and rubble substrates in medium to large streams (sometimes rivers). Young first occupy shallow areas. | |
| Plant | ||||
| Fringed gentian Gentianopsis crinita | No Federal Status | T | Shallow, near-neutral soils in damp, sunny meadows underlain by magnesium rich rock; often in disturbed grassy areas along roads and powerlines | |
| Golden seal Hydrastis canadensis | No Federal Status | E | Rich woods and cove forests in the mountains | |
| Manhart sedge Carex manhartii | No Federal Status | T | Middle elevation (2000-4000') in slightly acidic to circumneutral soils supporting cove hardwoods of basswood, yellow buckeye, and silverbell | |
| Northern star flower Trientalis borealis | No Federal Status | E | Northern hardwood forests at high elevations; associated with mountain maple (Acer spicatum) and holly (Ilex montana) | |
| Purple
sedge Carex purpurifera | No Federal Status | T | Mixed mesophytic or cove hardwoods with a wide array of canopy species, rich vernal flora, and calcareous soils | |
| Small
whorled pogonia Isotria medeoloides | T | T | Partially shaded gaps in mixed deciduous-conifer woods with an open understory and sparse herbaceous layer. Red maple, chestnut oak, tuliptree, and white pine or Virginia pine are dominant canopy trees. Two populations were found in the county in 1991, but a third population has been extirpated | Habitat loss and overutilization for scientific and private collections |
| Three-toothed cinquefoil Sibbaldiopsis tridentata | No Federal Status | E | Full sun in rock crevices on high elevation mountains and balds | |
1A draft emergency rule to list the northern population of this species (New England area) as endangered and the southern population (Southern Virginia to Northern Georgia) as threatened due to similarity of appearance was published in the Federal Register on November 4, 1997.