The Secret South

“What we do up here in the headwaters around Birmingham impacts everything on down,” Wegleitner says. He and his colleague Alana Reynolds, a watershed coordinator at TNC, manage and work with partners on stream-bank protection and restoration projects that reduce the amount of sediment reaching the water. And they work with cities and private landowners to protect highly sensitive and localized species, like the federally endangered watercress darter, which has only a few remaining strongholds; one is on a golf course.

The water travels two main pathways down to the Gulf—the Alabama and the Tombigbee rivers. Life abounds in the tributaries. In the Cahaba River, for example—the state’s longest free-flowing river—a rare white lily blooms and prehistoric alligator snapping turtles ambush their prey. The Nature Conservancy has created three preserves along this Alabama River tributary, plus teamed up with state and federal agencies to create the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge.

“There is this whole cascade of interconnected life,” says Throneberry. A self-identifying “river hippie and fish guy,” Throneberry spends hours on his boat, conducting both on-the-ground restoration and survey work, and landscape-level planning: He’s working to identify key dams that block animals’ passage and planning for how connectivity can be restored for all the species that need it, including mussels, whose larvae travel and disperse on the gills of host fish. His favorite place is the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, where the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers meet.

This delta is threaded by streams and home to towering cypress trees, alligators, fish and turtles like the Alabama red-bellied cooter. “This is the nexus for all these migratory species that we want to get back running up the rivers, too, like sturgeon and mullet,” Throneberry says, “a key piece of the puzzle.” The Nature Conservancy scored a major win here in February 2024 when it acquired nearly 8,000 acres in the heart of the delta. It has been named the E.O. Wilson Land Between the Rivers Preserve, after the legendary conservationist and Alabama native.

After passing through the delta, the water flows into the saltwater estuaries of Mobile Bay. Here, TNC’s Assistant Coastal Programs Director Mary Kate Brown leads and coordinates projects with partners like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to restore eroding shorelines and barrier islands, protecting key rookeries for nesting migratory seabirds and boosting coastal resilience.

From 1,000 feet up in a single-engine airplane, the barrier islands and Mobile Bay give way to the delta, a low-slung forest laced with serpentine waterways. Three egrets glide above the Alabama River, their flight path mirroring the bends of the water below. The birds fly north, where the delta rises into the uplands, and eventually on to the rolling foothills of the Appalachians and Turkey Creek with its colorful host of fish. This freshwater system is a mosaic of hidden life—delicate yet resilient, and ours to protect.

“Alabama is the epicenter of aquatic biodiversity in North America. The turtles, the fish, the crayfish, the mussels—this is the only place in the world where they can live and thrive,” says Throneberry. “The time to act is now.”