“A Road Running Southward: Following John Muir's Journey through an Endangered Land” with author Dan Chapman

On Tuesday February 21 at 7:00 PM ET, author Dan Chapman will discuss his new book “A Road Running Southward: Following John Muir's Journey through an Endangered Land” at the National Conservation Training Center, Byrd Auditorium, 698 Conservation Way, Shepherdstown, WV.  

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.

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. A Road Running Southward 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.  

Dan Chapman is a longtime writer, reporter, and lover of the outdoors. He grew up in Washington D.C. and Tokyo, the son of a newspaper man 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. He lives in Decatur, Georgia with his wife and their two boys. This is his first (published) book.  

Chapman’s talk will be re-broadcast on February 23, 2023, at 2:00 pm ET  

at: https://livestream.com/nctc  

For more information, please contact Mark Madison (304-876-7276) mark_madison@fws.gov.