The Nature Conservancy in Georgia

Animals At Risk

Conasauga logperch
Frecklebelly madtom
Amber darter
Blue Shiner
Southern pigtoe
Finelined pocketbook

Plants at Risk

Large-flowered skullcap
Dwarf trillium
Eastern turkeybeard

Ecosystems at Risk

Chattahoochee National Forest
River Riparian Systems
Small rivers of the Cumberlands and Southern Blue Ride and Valley ecoregions

Directions

From I-75 to U.S. Forest Service Office in Chatsworth, GA
Get off Interstate 75 at Exit 336 and turn right onto U.S. Highway 41. Continue on U.S. Highway 41 as it changes to US-76/ GA-52/ N Dalton Bypass. Take a left onto GA-52 E/ US-76 E/ Chatsworth Road SE travel just over 7 miles and the U.S. Forest Service office is located on the left. Here you can stop and ask for specific directions to numerous camping sites, trails, and river drop-ins.

Contact Information

North Georgia Conservation Office
125 Redbud Road, NE
Suite 2
Calhoun, GA 30701
(706) 879-6027

The headwaters of the Conasauga River flow down the steep, forested slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northwest Georgia. The cool, clean water descends into Tennessee, pauses in deep pools, drops through a number of small rapids, then passes back into Georgia, where it feeds into the Oostanaula River, which eventually empties into Mobile Bay as the Coosa River. The Conasauga’s watershed covers around 500,000 acres, including almost 119,000 acres in the Chattahoochee and Cherokee national forests. It is one of the six most biologically diverse river systems in the entire United States

Nearly 50 protected species of animal call the river home. Rare and imperiled fish like the amber darter, blue shiner, frecklebelly madtom, and Conasauga logperch, which is found nowhere else in the world, generally inhabit the more rapidly flowing areas of the river in Chattahoochee National Forest. The 25 species of freshwater mussels are mostly found in more slowly moving waters in the valley and around private lands. The river hosts one of the last diverse populations of freshwater mussels in the whole Coosa River basin and includes some of the most imperiled species in North America like the southern pigtoe, triangular kidneyshell, finelined pocketbook, and Coosa moccasinshell.

The Nature Conservancy works with private landowners, industry, government agencies, and other conservation groups to protect the Conasauga River system, which is mostly intact but faces increasing pressures from incompatible development and agricultural practices, commercial contamination, and invasive species.. Preservation of the freshwater mussels remain a priority. Because they usually inhabit the areas of the river most susceptible to harmful run-off and higher levels of sediment, the Conservancy works with landowners to protect crucial habitat.

The Conservancy has also assisted the Tennessee Aquarium Research Institute in releasing more than 500,000 juvenile mussels. Other activities include permanently protecting land within the Chattahoochee National Forest, establishing permanent conservation easements and planting trees and shrubs to form buffers from agriculture.

Learn more about the Conservancy's on-going efforts to protect the Conasauga River watershed. Download a copy of the Conasauga River fact sheet (pdf, 1.58 MB).