The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

Bound to the west by the lower Chattahoochee River, Williams Bluffs Preserve protects 1,980 acres near Blakely in southwest Georgia. The site is varied in composition, combining sandy uplands, bluffs, and floodplain forests. These diverse habitats host a wide range of natural communities, including some isolated limesink wetlands, spring runs, mature bottomland swamps, longleaf pine-wiregrass, and old-growth bluff forests that are dominated by beech and magnolia. Selected for its pristine nature, the preserve is home to numerous rare and imperiled plants and animals.

Rare plants at the site include the state-endangered Florida willow, cutleaf harvest-lice, trailing bean-vine, and mimic trillium. A wide variety of noteworthy animals inhabit the preserve from airspace to earth like bald eagles, Bachman’s sparrows, gopher tortoises, Apalachicola dusky salamanders, and Chamberlain’s dwarf salamanders.

Williams Bluffs Preserve is named for John Williams, an avid hunter and conservationist and husband of Myrtle Williams, who donated the land to The Nature Conservancy. First donating 868 acres in 1995, she added another 1,112 acres in 2005. Site management is conducted by staff and volunteers and incorporates a wide variety of activities like boundary marking, erosion control, and elimination of non-native invasive species. Prescribed burns maintain the fire-dependent longleaf pine communities.

Animals At Risk

• Gopher tortoise
• Bachman's sparrow
• Apalachicola dusky salamander
• Bald eagles
• Mississippi kites
• Southeastern American kestral
• Chamberlain's swarf salamander

Plants at Risk

• Cutleaf harvest-lice
• Florida willow
• Trailing bean-vine
• Mimic trillium

Ecosystems at Risk

• Longleaf pine-wiregrass ecosystem
• Old-growth bluff forests
• Mature bottomland forests
• Limesink depession complex
• Longleaf pine-slash pine flatwoods

Contact Information

Visits to the preserve must be arranged in advance. For more information, call Preeya Philipp at (404) 253-7216 or email pphilipp@tnc.org

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