To introduce the DNR Wildlife Conservation Section’s fiscal 2025 report, here’s a message from section Chief Matt Elliott:
Call me biased. But from the Blue Ridge Mountains to Georgia’s barrier islands, the work that DNR’s Wildlife Conservation Section does each year to research and restore native wildlife not hunted or fished for and natural habitats is simply amazing.
These are the animals, plants and places we all treasure. And highlights from the work done in the last fiscal year are numerous.
Georgia Gopher Tortoise Conservation Initiative goal reached: 65 populations protected (Matthew Moore/DNR)
Those highlights, just released in the agency’s 2025 report, include helping reach a gopher tortoise milestone – 65 populations permanently protected! – coordinating completion of the 10-year State Wildlife Action Plan, rallying on public and private lands to help recover Hurricane Helene-ravaged habitats, and monitoring rare mammals, from massive North Atlantic right whales to fluff-and-ears Appalachian cottontails. We also teamed with others in DNR to add Upatoi Ravines Natural Area and Treat Mountain Wildlife Management Area with support from the Georgia Department of Transportation, the first fruits of a precedent-setting agreement that is benefiting wildlife, expanding outdoors recreation and improving transportation.
At the Wildlife Conservation Section, our focus in fiscal 2025 was both targeted and wide-ranging. We sampled north Georgia streams for environmental DNA to better understand threatened trispot darters. We also teamed with South Carolina and other partners to document coastal sites critical to red knot migrations that span hemispheres.
Long-distance migrants red knots tracked, underscoring key habitats (Linda Nong/DNR)
All of these efforts are part of a big picture: How do we conserve Georgia’s wild species and places now and for future generations.
Big picture, big mission. But none of it happens without you.
How so?
The Wildlife Conservation Section depends on fundraisers, donations and grants. That makes your support not only important but vital.
If you have an eagle, monarch or hummingbird tag on your car or truck. If you donate through the Georgia Wildlife Conservation Fund tax checkoff or round up a hunting or fishing license purchase at GoOutdoorsGeorgia.com. If you attend our annual Weekend for Wildlife fundraiser, volunteer with DNR or contribute in any other fashion, you continue this work.
For that support, we are extremely grateful.
To see how your involvement translates into conservation, I recommend you leaf through the 2025 report — either the full 85-page version or the six-page summary. Both explore a year of conserving Georgia’s nongame wildlife.
I think you’ll enjoy the journey.