Crayfish are widespread, low-trophic consumers that play disproportionate roles in shaping freshwater ecosystems. As ecosystem engineers, they influence bank stability, sediment dynamics, and habitat structure through burrowing, while simultaneously recycling nutrients and supporting higher trophic levels. Despite their ecological importance, many crayfish species remain poorly understood due to cryptic diversity, variable life histories, and limited historical survey effort. In Georgia, the last comprehensive crayfish assessments were conducted in the 1980’s, leaving major gaps in our understanding of species distributions, community structure, and conservation status. This project seeks to update and expand baseline knowledge of crayfish assemblages within the Altamaha River Basin (ARB), Georgia’s largest drainage and a historically diverse center of crayfish endemism. We are conducting systematic sampling across all 41 HUC10 watersheds in the ARB using a combination of passive trapping, active hand and net collection, and burrow excavation. At each site, we are also quantifying environmental variables, including water quality metrics and habitat structure, to evaluate the abiotic drivers shaping crayfish community composition. Although still in early stages, this work contributes to a broader regional effort to reassess crayfish diversity across Atlantic-draining basins in the southeastern United States. By generating contemporary, basin-wide data on species distributions and habitat associations, this project will provide essential context for understanding how crayfish influence watershed resilience and will inform future management and conservation strategies for native crayfish communities.