A Road Running Southward: Following John Muir's Journey through an Endangered Land

"Engaging hybrid - part lyrical travelogue, part investigative journalism and part jeremiad, all shot through with droll humor." —The Atlanta Journal Constitution

In 1867, John Muir set out on foot to explore the botanical wonders of the South, keeping a detailed journal of his adventures as he traipsed from Kentucky southward to Florida. One hundred and fifty years later, on a similar whim, veteran Atlanta reporter Dan Chapman, distressed by sprawl-driven environmental ills in a region he loves, recreated Muir’s journey to see for himself how nature has fared since Muir’s time. Channeling Muir, he uses humor, keen observation, and a deep love of place to celebrate the South’s natural riches. But he laments that a treasured way of life for generations of Southerners is endangered as long-simmering struggles intensify over misused and dwindling resources. Chapman seeks to discover how Southerners might balance surging population growth with protecting the natural beauty Muir found so special.

Each chapter touches upon a local ecological problem—at-risk species in Mammoth Cave, coal ash in Kingston, Tennessee, climate change in the Nantahala National Forest, water wars in Georgia, aquifer depletion in Florida—that resonates across the South. Chapman delves into the region’s natural history, moving between John Muir’s vivid descriptions of a lush botanical paradise and the myriad environmental problems facing the South today. Along the way he talks to locals with deep ties to the land—scientists, hunters, politicians, and even a Muir impersonator—who describe the changes they’ve witnessed and what it will take to accommodate a fast-growing population without destroying the natural beauty and a cherished connection to nature.

A Road Running Southward is part travelogue, part environmental cri de coeur, and paints a picture of a South under siege. It is a passionate appeal, a call to action to save one of the loveliest and most biodiverse regions of the world by understanding what we have to lose if we do nothing.

ISBN-13: 9781642831948

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Island Press

Publication Date: 05-26-2022

Pages: 256

Product Dimensions: 6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

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.

Table of Contents

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
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