An 8,000-acre nature preserve in the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta — one of the most biodiverse places on Earth — will be named for one of Alabama’s most famous scientists: E.O. Wilson.
The Nature Conservancy and the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation announced Tuesday that the nature preserve in Clarke County, purchased last year, will be called the “E.O. Wilson Land Between the Rivers Preserve.”
“There is nobody more associated with the Delta than E.O. Wilson,” said Mitch Reid, director of The Nature Conservancy in Alabama, in a news release. “The Delta is as unique and iconic as Dr. Wilson, and it is fitting that his name and legacy be forever connected with the place that inspired him on his incredible journey.”
FILE – Edward O. Wilson, co-author of “The Ants,” which won the Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction, poses for a portrait on June 10, 1991. Wilson, the pioneering biologist who argued for a new vision of human nature in “Sociobiology” and warned against the decline of ecosystems, died on Sunday, Dec. 26, 2021. He was 92. (AP Photo/File)AP
Born in Birmingham and raised outside of Mobile, Edward Osborne Wilson got his start exploring the delta and other places in Alabama. He went on to become a professor at Harvard University, exploring ants and other insects. He would become an advocate for conservation and biodiversity, according to his biography on the foundation website.
“Nothing would have brought Ed more joy than knowing this extraordinarily important habitat will be protected,” said Paula J. Ehrlich, president of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, in the news release. “This place inspired so much of the global conservation ethic he so keenly advanced. I’d like to imagine his spirit will always be there.”
The Nature Conservancy, with the help of the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit shareholder of outdoor brand Patagonia, purchased the land last year for more than $15 million. An anonymous donor also contributed to the purchase as part of a revolving loan fund that will be used to facilitate additional conservation land purchases once it’s paid off.
The preserve is located between the Tombigbee and Alabama Rivers, just above where they join to form the delta. At the time of the purchase, Reid called it “one of the most important conservation victories” the conservancy had ever been part of.
The Mobile-Tensaw River Delta is the second-largest intact delta system in North America, according to the news release. Known as “America’s Amazon,” it is home to several endangered and threatened species, including red-bellied turtles, the Alabama sturgeon, and the state’s largest population of the American alligator. It is critical migratory habitat for birds.
The naming will be discussed at a webinar Tuesday morning, on what would have been Wilson’s 96th birthday. The webinar, called “Reimagining the way we care for our planet: community, culture, and science,” will feature representatives from the preserve in Alabama, plus Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique and Katahdin Woods & Waters in Maine.
