Apalachicola River and Bay

Apalachicola River and Bay program area   Apalachicola River © Eric Blackmore Learn more about this project with the Online Field Guide.

The Apalachicola River is formed by the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers, which flow from the Appalachian foothills to Apalachicola Bay, one of the most productive and pristine estuaries in the Northern Hemisphere.

Wildlife

• The Apalachicola River supports the highest diversity of freshwater fish species in the state.
• The river’s basin holds the second highest concentration of amphibian and reptile species in North America. 
• Pine woodlands provide habitat for the world’s largest population of red-cockaded woodpeckers. 
• The bay’s barrier islands are nesting grounds for sea turtles and shore birds and provide a critical resting and feeding area for migrating birds and butterflies. 
• Rare species include fire-back crayfish, Apalachicola dusky salamander, flatwoods salamander and Gulf sturgeon

Rare Plants

• Florida torreya
• Florida yew trees
• Few-flowered croomia
• Florida anise
• Gentian pinkroot

Threats

• Rapid development; forest destruction, conversion and fragmentation; and fire suppression threaten the lands surrounding the Apalachicola River and Bay. 
• On the river, reservoir operations and water withdrawals from the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers have changed the Apalachicola’s natural flow, threatening the survival of native species and cutting off the state’s largest forested floodplain. 
• Navigational channel dredging that destroys river habitat and increases bank erosion. 
• Dams on the rivers block fish from important spawning and nursery habitat.

Conservancy Action
The Conservancy works at a large scale to conserve and restore the lands and waters of the Apalachicola River and Bay region.

• Since 1968, the Conservancy has helped protect more than 190,000 acres here including 50 miles of riverfront. 
• The Conservancy is working with the states of Florida, Alabama and Georgia to forge an agreement that will lead the way for the future of aquatic conservation throughout the Southeast. 
• With the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other partners the Conservancy is working to develop fish passages and modify dam operations so that fish species, including the endangered Gulf sturgeon, can find their way to spawning grounds.
• The Conservancy is leading an effort to coordinate invasive, non-native species management and control on a watershed-wide scales with more than 24 public and private partners in the region.

Torreya State Park © Jeff Ripple

• Apalachicola Bluffs & Ravines Preserve, Liberty County (Open to the public)
• Calhoun Spigellia Preserve, Calhoun County
• John S. Phipps Preserve, Franklin County
• Jeff Lewis Wilderness Preserve, Franklin County
• Eastpoint Preserve, Franklin County

Future Goals
To protect the Apalchicola River and Bay, the Conservancy will:

• continue to work with willing landowners on behalf of state partners to purchase additional acres critical to maintaining a healthy Apalachcicola River and Bay system and develop a corridor of conservation land from the Apalachicola Bay to Georgia; 
• expand efforts to restore the biologically rich longleaf pine and wiregrass forests throughout the region and will share scientific expertise with our public and private land management partners;
• work with partners to develop restoration plans to repair river areas damaged by dredging and navigation; and 
• remove a dam and restore a steephead stream at Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve to restore aquatic habitat and develop expertise in stream restoration.

For More Information
To learn more about the Apalachicola River and Bay, call our Northwest Florida Program office at P.O. Box 393, Bristol, FL 32321, (850) 643-2756. 

Learn more about the Apalchicola Bluffs and Ravines preserve, including visiting hours and directions.