Regional Director Cindy Dohner. Photo: USFWS.

Welcome to the home page for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Southeast Region. The Service’s Southeast Region (Region 4) is home to a rich diversity of natural resources spread across 10 states stretching from the Appalachian Mountains south to the Caribbean islands and west to the Ozarks, including the southern half of the Mississippi River Basin. The Regional Office is located in Atlanta, Georgia, a vibrant and exciting Southern city. Our region covers an area more than 430,000 square miles, which includes the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, as well as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

We invite you to explore the information, that we are happy to share with you here, about our activities throughout the Region. Our work supports the overall Fish & Wildlife Service mission, and one of our primary goals is to work as one within the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and shoulder to shoulder with the States and with our many other partners. In this way, we will achieve our vision of a better place for fish and wildlife and the people who enjoy them.

   Priorities of the Southeast Region: Fiscal Years 2011-2013

Southeast Facts and Figures

• 17.5 million acres in Southeast under federal ownership
• 322 federally listed endangered species
• 11.9 million refuge visitors (30% of the national total) in 2007
• 128 national wildlife refuges totaling 4 million acres
• 11 migratory bird offices, including 6 joint ventures with partners
• 14 national fish hatcheries
• 10 fishery assistance offices
• 14 ecological services field offices
• 30 law enforcement offices
• 1,309 full-time employees
• Regional budget breakdown (Fiscal year 2008):
  
  • Grants: $231.1 million
  • Resource Management: $150.3 million
  • No-Year: $80.7 million
  • Reimbursables: $0.8 million

Key Habitats and Ecosystems

The Southeast has a variety of diverse and unique ecosystems and habitats including coastal marshes, coral reefs, bottomland hardwoods, the Appalachian and Ozark Mountains, caves, and longleaf pine forests.

Our region is home to 26,000 miles of tidal shoreline and its coastal flats include 86 million acres of coastal habitat and fish and wildlife resources and coral reefs.

Conservation Successes and Challenges

• Carbon sequestration - We have launched a carbon sequestration program working with energy companies. The Service and its partners have added 40,000 acres to the National Wildlife Refuge System, restored a total of 80,000 acres, and planted more than 22 million native hardwood trees. To learn more about our work in carbon sequestration, please visit our climate change site.


• Southeastern Aquatic Resources Partnership (SARP) - More than two dozen state and federal fisheries conservation agencies and private conservation organizations are part of the most aggressive regional partnership in the National Fish Habitat Action Plan. The agency and partners are using landscape conservation tools to conserve and restore valuable populations of aquatic species across the Region.


• Water issues - Parts of the Southeast are facing historic drought conditions. Today, 34 percent of fish species and 90 percent of mussels in peril nationwide are in the Southeast. Water quality and quantity are affecting communities in ways unimaginable just 25 years ago. Longer more intense droughts in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, and across the Carolinas are impacting fish and wildlife, local economies, and citizens; and the Service is playing a key role in conservation solutions.


• Marine coastal issues - Accelerated climate change predictions for sea level rise along the tidal shoreline will impact fish, wildlife, and their habitats over the next 50 to 100 years. This will have significant impacts on this region’s two most extraordinary ecological restoration efforts – the Everglades and coastal wetlands along the Gulf Coast. More than 1.2 million acres of wetlands and marshes have been lost since 1932 along the Louisiana coast.

The Mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The mission of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, working with others, is to conserve, protect, and enhance fish and wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.

The Service manages the 150-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System comprised of 553 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management areas. It also operates 70 national fish hatcheries and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.