The Piedmont Region of Georgia

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The Piedmont Region of Georgia
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Piedmont Region
The Piedmont region covers about 1/3 of Georgia,
or 18,100 square miles.
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Piedmont Region
Northwest of the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the
East Gulf Coastal Plain, the Georgia Piedmont
cuts across the state. The Piedmont is marked by
a hilly landscape in the north. Where it touches
the Appalachian regions, it is around 1,500 feet
above sea level. The land loses elevation to the
southeast, where the hills become more gently
rolling and the land is only about 400 feet above
sea level.
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Piedmont Region
The clear difference in landscape where the
southeastern edge of the Piedmont meets the
Atlantic Coastal Plain and the Gulf Coastal Plain
is called the Fall Line. It is along this line
that the rivers flowing from the higher
elevations of the Piedmont fall to the lower
Coastal Plains forming waterfalls and rapids.
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Piedmont Region

• Did you know?
• The Piedmont Region lies in the foothills of the
  Appalachian Mountains and hosts a variety of
  ecosystems.
• The Piedmont is known for its weathered,
  nutrient-poor soils.
• Before the early 1800s, the region was covered in
  hardwood forests and a thick, nutrient-rich
  topsoil. The Creek Indians utilized a relatively
  sustainablesystem of farming, creating
  significant impacts on forests and landscapes but
  also keeping their population within limits.
• With the arrival of European settlers,
  agriculture expanded quickly, with forests being
  cleared and cotton being grown in almost any
  place that was flat enough to plow. This exposed
  the land to erosion leaching of nutrients,
  causing the valuable topsoil to wash away.

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Piedmont Region

• Did you know?
• By the 1930s the soil was tired and spent. Small
  farms went out of business and cotton fields were
  abandoned.
• Forestry became the main form of agriculture
  instead of cotton farming, and so the forests of
  the Piedmont were replaced by a forest
  dramatically simplified from those that existed a
  hundred years earlier.
• Urban growth between 1930 and 1960 also brought
  changes to the Piedmont. When cities get bigger
  and little thought is given to environmental
  effects, the land is paved with hard surfaces and
  drainage patterns are changed.

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Piedmont Region - Economy

• The economy of the Piedmont Region is strong. It
  has an abundance of business and industry. Our
  state capital is located in this region. Which is
  the home of many businesses and corporations.
  Including the world's second busiest airport in
  the world, Coca-cola headquarters and CNN
  headquarters. The region is also known for its
  production of wheat, soybeans, corn, and poultry.
  It was also known as the cotton belt of the
  antebellum days ( the period before the civil
  war).

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Piedmont RegionPlant Animal Life

• This area is home to an abundance of plants and
  animals.  Some of the trees that are common in
  this area are peach, pecan, oak and pine.  Many
  species make this vast region their home
  including raccoons, opossum, squirrels, deer,
  foxes, snakes and turkeys.   Some birds one might
  see include woodpeckers, blue jays, cardinals,
  our state bird the brown thrasher, and our
  favorite, hummingbirds.

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