Alabama's Diverse Wildlife Resources
John Jensen
Alabama's lands and waters are rich with fish and wildlife. The state owes its biological wealth to an abundance of water, moderate climate and complex terrain, varying from the Cumberland Plateau in the north to the Coastal Plain in the south. Significant rainfall feeds more than 77,000 miles of rivers and streams. Alabama surpasses all eastern states in plant and animal diversity and exceeds any other state in diversity of freshwater fish and invertebrates.
Working Together for Alabama's Wildlife
The Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries compiled, coordinated, and integrated the best available scientific information on the status of Alabama's wildlife populations, and incorporated the concerns, recommendations, and existing conservation priorities of an array of public and private stakeholders. Throughout this two-year effort, the Division built upon the solid framework of the 2002 Non-game Symposium which assembled scientific experts and stakeholders to compile the best data on the full array of Alabama's wildlife species.
In ActionConserving Alabama's longleaf pine forests
Longleaf pine forests are considered one of the most endangered habitats in the country. Alabama's wildlife action plan identifies longleaf pine conservation as one of the state's priorities - providing habitat for dozens of species in need of conservation, including the flatwoods salamander, the eastern indigo snake, the mimic glass lizard, Rafinesque's big-eared bat, as well game species like the northern bobwhite and eastern wild turkey.
Alabama's wildlife action plan spells out what is needed for longleaf communities, including the restoration of longleaf pine on state-owned lands and coordination with federal and local agencies to conserve additional large tracts of longleaf forest. By working with partners like the US Forest Service, local land trusts, and The Nature Conservancy, the state will conserve and restore these high priority tracts, conserving habitat for hundreds of species of wildlife.
Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries
