ATLANTA— The Georgia Department of Natural Resources proposed to add more than 100 species to the state’s protected species list, including the saltmarsh sparrow, Atlantic sturgeon, ornate chorus frog, Appalachian cottontail and patch-nosed salamander.

The proposed list follows the agency’s technical review of its 2025 State Wildlife Action Plan along with a public nomination period conducted earlier this summer.

“As the federal government dismantles protections for endangered species I’m glad to see that Georgia is stepping up to protect its wildlife,” said Laurel Jobe, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “I hope other states follow Georgia’s lead in prioritizing wildlife conservation. These rare plants and animals need our help more than ever to avoid extinction.”

Home to more than 4,000 species from the mountains to the coast, Georgia is one of the most biologically diverse states in the country. It shelters more than 70 federally protected species, and today’s proposal will expand the number of state-listed species to 423.

State listing under the Endangered Wildlife Act and Wildfire Preservation Act requires regulation of any activities that harass, capture or kill individual members of a protected species or destroy the species’ habitat on public lands. Georgia’s protected species list has not been comprehensively updated since 2006, leaving many species without protections that are critical for their survival.

Species who are proposed for state protections include tricolored bats, brook floater mussels, monarch butterflies, rusty-patch bumblebees, Altamaha bass, Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, Suwannee alligator snapping turtles, Ocmulgee trillium flowers and MacGillivray’s seaside sparrows.

Georgia also is proposing that the Alabama shad, mimic glass lizard and frosted flatwoods salamander be uplisted to endangered status, highlighting their great need for robust protection.

The agency is also proposing to take 51 species off of its protected species list, including two critically imperiled mussels, four fish and the gray bat, whose populations have improved but not fully recovered.

Georgia does not plan to include the American horseshoe crab, short-billed dowitcher or ruddy turnstone on the list. These animals have experienced widespread declines and depend on Georgia’s vibrant coastal ecosystems for their survival but will be denied much-needed protections.

The public can comment on Georgia’s proposed listings and delistings now until Sept. 20, 2026.