State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP)

State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs) serve as the nation's framework for proactively conserving fish and wildlife to prevent species from precipitous declines. As the State of South Carolina’s wildlife agency, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) is the entity charged with creating and updating the State’s SWAP. Led by a SWAP Coordinator and through rigorous taxa review by teams of scientists and other experts familiar with the State’s wildlife and plants, South Carolina’s latest iteration of the SWAP contains 1,773 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN), including federal and state threatened and endangered species and other rare or declining species. Plans must address Eight Required Elements, including a public review process. Revisions are required at least every ten years. In 2005 and 2015, each state, territory, and the District of Columbia completed SWAPs for approval by the US Fish and Wildlife Service as a condition for receiving federal funding through the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program used to implement those Plans. This grant program is explained on the USFWS website at https://www.fws.gov/program/state-wildlife-grants. South Carolina, along with most other states and territories, are finalizing their 2025 Plans. The SWAPs describe the states’ landscapes, habitats important to SGCN, key threats, needed conservation actions, and research and monitoring plans.

Additionally, South Carolina’s Supplemental Volume: Species and Guild Accounts, contains a compilation of written accounts, each following a standardized format where the authors describe the species, their status, population size and distribution, habitat requirements, challenges faced, conservation accomplishments thus far, conservation recommendations for future action, and how to measure success. These accounts are arranged by single species or as guilds if several species share a common habitat.

Draft State Wildlife Action Plan – Public Comment Notice

The following Draft State Wildlife Action Plan is available for public review and comment from August 8th through September 8th, 2025. Please note that this plan has not yet been approved by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. All comments received during the public review period will be considered, and appropriate suggestions will be incorporated into the plan prior to final approval by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.