State / Commonwealth / Territory - Marine Managed Areas (MMAs)

G E O R G I A

Highlighted MMAs: State Wildlife Management Areas

Altamaha Wildlife Management Area
The Altamaha Wildlife/Waterfowl Management Area includes Chambers Island, Champney Island, Rhetts Island, Rabbit Island, Rockedundy Island, and Broughton Island, as well as Cathead Creek and Lewis Island Natural Area.

Protected under Georgia game & fish statutes, the Altamaha Wildlife Management Area is part of an extensive conservation effort to protect one of the most pristine ecosystems in the world. The Altamaha River is a large, slow-moving river more than 20 million years old, flowing through tidally influenced freshwater marshes, cypress swamps, historic rice fields, and some of the South’s last remaining hardwood bottomlands.

Crossed only five times by roads and twice by rail lines, the Altamaha basin is home to myriad species of plants and animals. At least 125 species of rare or endangered plants and animals live in the Altamaha basin, including the bald eagle, swallow-tail kite, shortnose sturgeon, manatee, gopher tortoise, and seven species of mussels that live nowhere else in the world. Another endemic species is Radford's dicerandra, which grows along Altamaha's sand ridges. Florida corkwood’s only known population in Georgia also grows in the Altamaha basin.

In addition to the ecological and economic importance of the Altamaha basin as a natural resource, it serves a variety of recreational functions, as well. Recreational activities include sport fishing, hunting, bird-watching, photography, canoeing, kayaking, and other types of boating.

The Altamaha Wildlife Management Area is protected by the Game management section of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division. Also involved in the larger management of the Altamaha River and its watershed are The Nature Conservancy, McIntosh Sustainable Environment and Economic Development Initiative, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. EPA, International Paper, and Georgia Power Company.

Relevant Agencies/Programs:

Marine Managed Area Systems:

(top)