Species of Greatest Conservation Need - Draft List

One of the most important parts of developing the Connecticut State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) is identifying the Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) and State Assessment Priority Species (SAPS). Our 2015 State Wildlife Action Plan is currently being revised for 2025, and the process of updating the list of SGCN is underway! Select this link to provide feedback on the draft!

While SGCN or SAPS status carries no formal legal protections, it helps focus attention on vulnerable plants and animals, stimulate research of poorly known species (in the case of SAPS), and helps conservation efforts for declining species before they meet criteria for listing as threatened or endangered. SGCN include plants, invertebrates (like insects, snails, and mussels), and vertebrates (like birds, fish, mammals, and amphibians) that are:

• state-listed as threatened or endangered;
• vulnerable to threats based on their biological or habitat needs;
• low in abundance or limited in distribution; or
• currently not rare but showing declines in abundance or habitat.

SGCN and SAPS are ranked by their relative importance to help prioritize conservation and research efforts; each species is ranked as either most important, very important, or important.

With initial feedback from you and CT’s top wildlife and plant experts, a draft list is now available for further public review, and we would like your input! The updated draft list of SGCN includes 17 amphibians, 109 birds, 45 fish, 315 invertebrates, 30 mammals, 546 plants, and 18 reptiles. Please check out the draft list either as an Excel spreadsheet or PDF and provide your feedback on this form.

Content last updated on March 7, 2024.