How to Read a Historic Cemetery
Old burial grounds record more than names and dates. A short guide to what the stones, the layout and the gaps between them are te…
Learn
Birds, plants, history and how to visit — written for people who want to know more than a sign can hold.
History
05
What a Champion Tree Actually Is
The designation is more specific than 'very big tree', and the measuring system behind it is worth understanding.…
The Place Names of the Eastern Shore
French, Spanish, Creek and English names sit side by side on the same map, and each layer records who was here.…
Researching a Family Buried on the Eastern Shore
Where the records are for early Baldwin County, and what to do when the stone and the register disagree.…
Land Grants and How the Eastern Shore Was Divided
Why property lines on this coast follow Spanish surveys, and what that has to do with a preserve existing at all.…
Birds, Plants and Trails
14
The Mobile Bay Jubilee: What It Is and How to Behave When One Happens
A phenomenon that happens regularly in only two places on Earth, and one of them is the water at the edge of this preserve.…
Spring Migration on the Eastern Shore: What Arrives and When
Birds crossing the Gulf make landfall here exhausted. A few weeks each spring, the oaks fill with species that spend the rest of t…
Fall Migration: The Quieter, Longer Season
Spring gets the attention. Autumn brings more birds, over more weeks, in harder-to-identify plumage — and a different kind of rewa…
How a Live Oak Lives Three Hundred Years
The tree that defines this coast is built on a strategy completely different from the oaks most people know.…
Spanish Moss Is Not a Moss, and It Isn't Killing Your Tree
The most misunderstood plant on the Gulf Coast, and the most common reason people damage healthy oaks.…
Birds You Can See Here in Any Month
Migration gets the attention, but a coastal preserve holds a permanent population worth learning first.…
Winter on the Bay: Waterfowl and the Season Nobody Visits
The coldest months bring species that are here at no other time, to a shoreline with almost nobody on it.…
Invasive Plants on the Gulf Coast and Why They Matter Here
A short list of the plants doing the most damage to coastal Alabama woodlands, and what a small preserve can realistically do abou…
What a Watershed Does, and Why This One Reaches Your Driveway
Everything that falls on the land upstream arrives in the bay. That single fact explains most of what a shoreline preserve is prot…
Wading Birds: A Field Guide to Standing Very Still
Herons and egrets are the most visible birds on a bay shoreline and among the most commonly misidentified. Here's how to sort them…
Native Plants for a Gulf Coast Yard
What to plant instead of the nursery standards, and why it changes what lives in your garden.…
Citizen Science: Turning a Walk Into Data
eBird, iNaturalist and a phone are enough to make your observations useful to researchers — and to the preserve itself.…
Reducing Runoff From Your Own Property
Practical changes at the scale of a single yard, and why they add up on a shoreline watershed.…
What Happens to Coastal Woodland After a Hurricane
Damage, recovery and the temptation to clean up too thoroughly.…
The Foundation
05
Volunteering at a Small Preserve: What Actually Helps
The honest list of what a preserve of this size needs, including the unglamorous work that matters most.…
Why Small Preserves Matter More Than Their Acreage Suggests
The conservation argument for protecting modest parcels, which is stronger than the size of them implies.…
Giving to a Small Non-Profit: Where the Money Actually Goes
What a donation to an organisation this size pays for, why unrestricted gifts are worth more than restricted ones, and what to ask…
Legacy Giving and Land Conservation: The Basics
How land and money left in a will fund the things annual budgets never reach — and the questions to ask first.…
What a Preserve Actually Does Between Visits
Most of the work is invisible to visitors, happens on a schedule nobody sees, and costs money that isn't obvious.…
Visiting
08
Your First Visit: What to Expect
A short, practical guide for anyone coming to the preserve for the first time.…
Birding for People Who Have Never Done It
What you actually need, what you don't, and how to have a good first morning rather than a frustrating one.…
Visiting With Children
A preserve is not a playground, which is either a problem or the whole point depending on how you approach it.…
Photographing a Coastal Preserve
Light, timing and restraint. What works on this particular kind of site, and what the preserve asks of photographers.…
Visiting in Summer on the Gulf Coast
Heat, humidity and insects are the real constraints. Here's how to have a good visit anyway.…
Trail Etiquette in a Preserve, and Why It Differs From a Park
The rules at a preserve are stricter than at a park, and the reasons are specific rather than bureaucratic.…
Accessibility: What to Know Before You Come
An honest description of the terrain and facilities, so visitors can decide for themselves.…
A Year at the Preserve: What to Look For, Month by Month
The site changes considerably across the year. Here is roughly what is happening and when.…