A Road Running Southward

Dan Chapman is a writer, reporter, and lover of the outdoors. He grew up in Washington DC and Tokyo, the son of a newspaperman and an English teacher. He worked for Congressional Quarterly, The Winston-Salem Journal, The Charlotte Observer, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has also reported from Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. He currently writes stories about conservation in the South for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Introduction: Ghosts, Skeeters, and Rye
Savannah, Georgia—Muir spent a half-dozen hungry and desperate, yet historically important, nights in the city’s famed
Bonaventure Cemetery. A latter-day visit to the land of the dead underscores the South’s peril, and its promise.
Chapter 1: Who Is John Muir?
Atlanta, Georgia—A brief biography of the botanist, inventor, rambler, writer, cofounder of the Sierra Club, father of the national
park system, and conscience of the environmental movement.
Chapter 2: A New South Reckoning
Louisville, Kentucky—Muir crosses the Ohio River and into history. The land of bourbon, horses, and highways epitomizes the
South’s sprawling environmental problems.
Chapter 3: The South’s Incredible Biodiversity Is Threatened and Endangered
Cave City, Kentucky—Mammoth Cave National Park, and the Green River, are filled with natural wonders. Some species are
disappearing. Some are already gone. And some are making a comeback.
Chapter 4
A Celebration of Muir Turns Toxic
Kingston, Tennessee—The annual Muir Fest is overshadowed by the nation’s worst coal ash disaster and the South’s checkered
legacy of cheap energy.
Chapter 5: “The Mountains are Calling”—and They’re Not Happy
Coker Creek, Tennessee—The saga of the southern Appalachians as they succumb to the very forces that make them popular —
with deadly consequences.
Chapter 6: More Rain, More Heat, and More Trouble
Boone, North Carolina—A warming world forces trees, trout, and rare flowers higher up into the mountains. Climate change hits
the hills in unpredictable and alarming ways.
Chapter 7: Water Wars
Suches, Georgia—Georgia, Alabama, and Florida have been fighting for a generation over the Chattahoochee River. Farmers,
oystermen, kayakers, and sturgeon are threatened by the loss of this increasingly precious natural resource.
Chapter 8: The Deeper the River, the Greater the Pain
Augusta, Georgia—Globalization demands a deeper Savannah River and compounds the environmental damage done previously by dams, developers, cities, farmers, and factories.
Chapter 9: A Coastal Playground Is Disappearing
Tybee Island, Georgia—Rising seas. Ghost forests. Sunny-day flooding. Salty tap water. Bigger hurricanes. There’s not enough
money to save the coast from a warming world.
Chapter 10: Where Hogs Rule and Turtles Tremble
Ossabaw Island, Georgia—Invasive species—wild boar, Burmese pythons, tegu lizards, lionfish, northern snakeheads, melaleuca
trees, laurel wilt—march relentlessly across the South. A marksman aims to save at least one endangered species.
Chapter 11: Take My Water, Please
High Springs, Florida—The aquifer running from Savannah to Miami is under siege from overuse, pollution, and saltwater
intrusion. Yet Florida all but gives away billions of gallons a year to private profiteers.
Chapter 12: The End of the Road
Cedar Key, Florida—Development imperils one of Florida’s last wild places. Science, though, offers hope for the future.
Acknowledgments
Further Readings
About the Author