Mountain Bogs National Wildlife Refuge

Mountain Bogs National Wildlife Refuge is part of an effort by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, other conservation organizations and individual citizens to protect southern Appalachian bogs. The bogs are recognized hotspots for biodiversity. They support rare and declining plants and animals, including five on the federal endangered species list – 1) the bog turtle, North America’s smallest turtle; 2) the green pitcher plant; 3) the mountain sweet pitcher plant; 4) the swamp pink plant; and 5) the bunched arrowhead plant. Conserving the bogs is a key step in recovering these plants and animals and getting them off the endangered species list. The refuge is made up of small parcels of privately owned lands across as many as 30 sites in Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Clay, Graham, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Transylvania, Wilkes, and Watauga counties in North Carolina; and Carter and Johnson counties in Tennessee.