The largest snake in North America lives in Georgia and is considered threatened. Now federal dollars will help pay to give the snake more land to roam-on and hopefully increase the population.
The Eastern Indigo Snake can grow to 11 feet. It lives in South Georgia in an area around Fort Stewart.
Now the federal government is spending nearly 1.5 million dollars to access a 900 acre tract of land adjacent to protected areas. An expert on snakes, UGA Professor John Maerz says the Indigo needs a specific habitat.
“Upland areas to den and to find rattle snakes and to get down in gopher tortoise burrows and stuff. But they also need wetlands particularly as juveniles to feed and find prey. So they need lots of land.”
Maerz says it’s hard to protect snakes because many people don’t like them. The grant is part of 66-million in federal dollars being used to conserve habitat of threatened and endangered species across the United States.

Tags: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Eastern Indigo Snake, Dr. John Maerz