Land & Conservation

Chains that once saved the Witness Tree, an ancient live oak in Orangeburg County, South Carolina, are now choking it. This week, arborists will install a complex new support system to give the tree new life.

Ocelots nearly vanished from the United States. Now, scientists are combining decades of research with a pioneering breeding program to restore one of America’s rarest species to the ranchlands of the Lone Star State.

Among the longleaf pines of Alabama’s Conecuh National Forest, biologists have spent decades trying to save the inky, elegant, and elusive “emperor of the forest”

The resilient mother-calf duo is winning hearts off the coast of Charleston

Like Indiana Jones with a camera, the photographer and adventurer Stephen Alvarez descends into otherworldly caves to discover, illuminate, and preserve millennia-old drawings

After six months of rehab on Georgia’s Jekyll Island, the Kemp’s ridley–loggerhead internet sensation is back at sea

Global exports of mullet roe have helped the town of Cortez stay afloat

Beauty, science, evolution, drama, and spirituality mingle in David George Haskell’s stunning new book on how flowers came to be—and shaped everything that came after them

Braking for a Lone Star State rite of spring

As the Southeast endures a record dry spell, homeowners can offer animals a respite

As avian species hang in the balance, what’s past is prologue

Photographer David Wright is fresh off his annual sojourn to the Georgia barrier island where bobcats, shorebirds, and dolphins roam and John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette tied the knot

These harbingers of spring are more unique than anything you’ll find in a basket

The scaly intruder required a slow-motion security escort

How a landlocked Southern state became home to one of the world’s richest beds of shark fossils

After a surprise gap year overseas, the stowaways have returned safely to Florida

Her longevity hints at a century-long lifespan most of her species will never reach

The Beadel House, a symbol of pioneering fire ecology in the Red Hills, was consumed by the wild blaze

Vibrant spring gatherings put the South’s most special blooms in the spotlight

Through the tales of those shaped by its waters, shaded by its cypress trees, and calling for its protection, Georgia’s ancient swamp still speaks