The

protected areas Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

cover almost one million acres (4,000 km²) of the state. These areas are managed by different federal and state level authorities and receive varying levels of protection. Some areas are managed as wilderness while others are operated with acceptable commercial exploitation. On the Federal level, Georgia contains 1

Biosphere Reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

, 15 National Park Service Managed Sites, 1 National Forest and 8 Wildlife Refuges. Georgia is home to 63 state parks, 48 of which are

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

s and 15 that are National Historic Sites, and many state

wildlife preserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

s, under the supervision of the Georgia Department of Parks and Recreation, a division of the

Georgia Department of Natural Resources The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is an administrative agency of the U.S. state of Georgia. The agency has statewide responsibilities for managing and conserving Georgia’s natural, cultural, and historical resources, and has fiv ...

.Georgia Department of Natural Resources gadnr.org
Accessed December 15, 2007

Federal-level protection agencies

Georgia's federally protected areas are managed by agencies within the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

. The agencies which govern nationally protected places in Georgia are the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

; the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

; the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's ...

; and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Preserve.

Areas managed by the National Park Service

Georgia has many protected areas and historic sites within its borders which fall under the purview of the National Park Service. These areas include *

Andersonville National Historic Site Andersonville may refer to: Places United States * Andersonville, Georgia, site of an American Civil War prisoner of war camp ** Andersonville National Historic Site, Confederate prisoner of war camp in Georgia holding Union soldiers *Andersonvi ...

in Andersonville *

Appalachian National Scenic Trail The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian ...

Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area Arabia Mountain, a part of Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area, is the northern of two peaks in the Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve, in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. A low saddle separates it from Bradley Mountain, several ...

Augusta Canal National Heritage Area The Augusta Canal is a historic canal located in Augusta, Georgia, United States. The canal is fed by the Savannah River and passes through three levels (approximately total) in suburban and urban Augusta before the water returns to the river at v ...

Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (CRNRA) preserves a series of sites between Atlanta and Lake Sidney Lanier along the Chattahoochee River in Georgia, U.S. The 48-mile (77 km) stretch of the river affords public recreation opport ...

near

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

and the * Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park at Fort Oglethorpe. *

Cumberland Island National Seashore Cumberland Island National Seashore preserves most of Cumberland Island in Camden County, Georgia, the largest of Georgia's Golden Isles of Georgia, Golden Isles. The seashore features beaches and dunes, marshes, and freshwater lakes. The nation ...

near Saint Marys *

Fort Frederica National Monument Fort Frederica National Monument, on St. Simons Island, Georgia, preserves the archaeological remnants of a fort and town built by James Oglethorpe between 1736 and 1748 to protect the southern boundary of the British colony of Georgia from Spanis ...

St. Simons Island St. Simons Island (or simply St. Simons) is a barrier island and census-designated place (CDP) located on St. Simons Island in Glynn County, Georgia, United States. The names of the community and the island are interchangeable, known simply as ...

Fort Pulaski National Monument Fort Pulaski National Monument is located on Cockspur Island between Savannah and Tybee Island, Georgia. It preserves Fort Pulaski; during the American Civil War, the Union Army successfully tested rifled cannon in combat in 1862 there, the suc ...

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

* Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor * Jimmy Carter National Historic Site near

Plains In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands. In ...

* Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park near

Kennesaw Kennesaw is a suburban city northwest of Atlanta in Cobb County, Georgia, United States, located within the greater Atlanta metropolitan area. Known from its original settlement in the 1830s until 1887 as Big Shanty, it became Kennesaw under its ...

Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park covers about 35 acres (0.14 km2) and includes several sites in Atlanta, Georgia related to the life and work of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Within the park is his boyhood h ...

in Atlanta * Ocmulgee National Monument at Macon and the *

Trail of Tears National Historic Trail The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the "Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. As part of the Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, Mus ...

. Although these are occasionally referred to as national parks, these are not true "National Parks" in the strictest sense. There are 417 units managed by the National Park service (including those 15 in Georgia listed above,) of which 59 are officially designated National Parks as of 2018, none of which are in Georgia.

National Forests

The U.S. Forest Service oversees the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in northern Georgia. The forest is actually two U.S. National Forests combined, the Oconee National Forest and Chattahoochee National Forest. The area of the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest is 865,855 acres (3,504 km²), of which the Chattahoochee National Forest comprises 750,502 acres (3,037 km²) and the Oconee National Forest comprises 115,353 acres (467 km²). The county with the largest portion of the forest is

Rabun County, Georgia Rabun County () is the north-easternmost county in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,883, up from 16,276 in 2010. The county seat is Clayton. With an average annual rainfall of over , Rabun County has the ...

, which has 148,684 acres (602 km²) within its boundaries.

Wildlife Refuges

Several Wildlife Refuges in Georgia are overseen by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Preserve. The areas under that agencies care are the *

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is a 402,000‑acre (1,627 km2) National Wildlife Refuge located in Charlton, Ware, and Clinch Counties of Georgia, and Baker County in Florida, United States. The refuge is administered from offices ...

which oversees the

Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge The Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a 4,049 acre (16.4 km²) National Wildlife Refuge located in Lanier County, Georgia. Banks Lake is a natural pocosin or Sink (geography), sink of ancient geologic origin. The refuge was established i ...

* Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge and

Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, located south of Macon, Georgia, United States, was established in 1989 to protect, maintain and enhance the forested wetland ecosystem of the Ocmulgee River floodplain. It opened to the public in 2000 and c ...

*the

Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex The Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex administers seven wildlife refuges between Georgia and South Carolina. Over 56,000 acres (230 km2) of refuge land along a 100-mile coast line are administered by the complex. The complex includes seven r ...

which oversees several different refuges including **

Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge The Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located in McIntosh county in Georgia. The refuge was established to provide a nature and forest preserve for aesthetic and conservation purposes. The refuge is one of ...

** Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge **

Savannah National Wildlife Refuge The Savannah National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located in Chatham and Effingham counties in Georgia and Jasper County in South Carolina. Of the total area, is in Georgia and is in South Carolina. The refuge was establish ...

** Wassaw National Wildlife Refuge **

Wolf Island National Wildlife Refuge Wolf Island National Wildlife Refuge, located approximately off the coast of Darien, Georgia, in McIntosh County, was established on April 3, 1930 to provide protection and habitat for migratory birds. The barrier island refuge consists of Wolf ...

. **

Tybee National Wildlife Refuge Tybee National Wildlife Refuge was established on May 9, 1938, by an executive order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as a breeding area for migratory birds and other wildlife. Located in the mouth of the Savannah River, the refuge began as a ...

** Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge

State level protected areas

The Georgia state park system was founded in 1931. The first two areas to be designated as state parks were

Indian Springs State Park Indian Springs State Park is a 528-acre (2.14 km²) Georgia state park located near Jackson and Flovilla. The park is named for its several springs, which the Creek Indians used for centuries to heal the sick. The water from these spring ...

and Vogel State Park. Other parks in Georgia include, but are not limited to, A.H. Stephens Historic Park in Crawfordville; Bobby Brown State Park in Elberton and Skidaway Island State Park in

. In 2006, over thirteen million people visit Georgia's state parks.

Biosphere Reserve

Marsh on Cumberland Island, nearby Plum Orchard Four of Georgia's protected areas are part of the Carolinian-South Atlantic Biosphere Reserve.U.S Biosphere Reserve Contacts
Accessed December 28, 2007 They are: *

and

Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary is one of the largest near shore live-bottom reefs in the southeastern United States. The sanctuary, designated in January 1981, is located off Sapelo Island, Georgia, and is one of 14 marine sanctuaries and m ...

* Little St. Simon's Island

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Protected Areas Of Georgia (U.S. State)