Land & Conservation

A farmer’s daughter gets awakened to one scientist’s genius and passion

Why ancient woods matter for our health and the world’s—and where to seek them out for a restorative stroll

Captain Mike Ostrander leads river tours into one of the densest bald eagle populations in the Lower 48

The long-legged, brightly colored orb weavers are growing more common across the South. Here’s what to do—and what not to do—when you cross paths with one.

A Southern foraging staple cracks open a lifetime of memories

Generations apart, a shared devotion rises

After a multi-decade restoration effort, the charismatic herbivores roam Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Virginias—and fall is the best time to spot them

Binoculars up! These destinations celebrate the best in birdwatching when temps (finally) dip

A banner year for hatchlings, thanks in large part to an unlikely ally

An unlikely coalition helps the striking raptors soar again

The Port Royal Cypress Wetlands and Rookery is a stunning ecological success story

Safeguarding Helene-threatened salamanders, cultivating gulf oysters, boosting mallard habitat, and spreading native grasslands—the work of this year’s under-the-radar Southern eco-heroes is more important than ever

Venus flytraps are native to a tiny corner of the globe: the Coastal Plain of the Carolinas. As development threatens, one town—spurred on by one tireless botanist—has taken up the shovel to save the world’s most fascinating plant.

A kayaking guide at South Carolina’s Murrells Inlet enjoyed a rare sighting of a harbor seal—and has the photos to prove it

Reclaimed wood, native landscaping, and local art shine on fifty acres that will soon house a county park

The tiny flattened musk turtle lives within a single watershed in Alabama, and biologists are racing to study it before it’s too late

A mystical stroll through a rare, endangered mountain ecosystem brings one writer an afternoon of visual splendor

Stargazing in one of the last wild places on the Atlantic Coast

An age-old question answered…plus everything else you never knew about the South’s most epic epiphyte

The Nature Conservancy is replanting forests, rebuilding reefs, and preserving untamed places that have shaped generations