These are five Tuscaloosa parks I keep coming back to—for the views, the memories, and the moments you can’t quite plan for.

For many landowners in Alabama, fire isn’t something to fear—it’s something to understand.

This spring, join the Bama community in turning every donation into a blossoming future for students at The University of Alabama.

Trailblazers in Alabama turn long miles and hard climbs into life-changing experiences for children through Make-A-Wish.

So often, the spring season is associated with “spring cleaning,” a time where we deep clean homes, spruce up our landscaping, and refresh our decor. However, we often forget that our body and mind could use a TLC, too.

Just off bustling Valleydale Road in Hoover sits Equip, a nonprofit that serves as a community, school, and workplace for adults living with disabilities.

Longer days and warmer weather can only mean one thing: Alabama’s spring event season is in full swing.

Gulf State Park stretches across more than 6,000 acres, extending right across the street from the shoreline I’d spent years claiming as my happy place. Turns out, I’d been robbing myself of a part of the coast that would bring me more joy than I ever expected.  

In Alabama, honey isn’t just a pantry staple—it’s a product deeply tied to the state’s farms, wildflowers, and of course, its people.

Craftsmanship, heritage and entrepreneurship took center stage in the recent episode of Afield with Christiana Roussel, featuring Luke Kolbie — founder of Kingfisher Leatherworks, Avontuur, and CEO of Russell Moccasin. Additionally, Kolbie is the founder of the Conservation Through Craftsmanship Coalition (CCC), a network of makers and brands dedicated to supporting conservation through traditional skills, […]

Cullman is ready to celebrate its agricultural heritage as the 87th annual Alabama Strawberry Festival returns to Depot Park and the Festhalle Farmers Market on April 24–25. Officially recognized by Gov. Kay Ivey in 2023 as the Alabama Strawberry Festival, the event is considered the state’s longest running strawberry celebration and honors a tradition that […]

I gripped my father’s old Bushnell binoculars on an early spring morning in 2011 as I scanned the trees. All around me, I could hear the sounds of cardinals and Carolina wrens singing, as chickadees fluttered on a nearby branch. Suddenly, I spotted a bird flitting frenetically at the top of an oak adorned in […]

Alabama is known for its forests, rivers, wetlands, and rich biodiversity—but much of the state was once covered by native grasslands and prairies. Before widespread agricultural development and fire suppression, these grasslands stretched across central and northern Alabama, especially in the Black Belt region. Today, more than 90 percent of Alabama’s native grasslands have been […]

On a quiet Alabama morning, before emails and meetings begin to pull at the day, Tom Adams finds clarity in the field. Quail hunting has been part of Tom’s life for as long as he can remember. It’s a tradition rooted in time spent with his father. Early mornings, steady footsteps through tall grass, and […]

One of the most underrated aspects of Alabama is the state’s remarkable capacity for ecotourism. Ranking fourth in the nation for biodiversity — and first among states east of the Mississippi River — Alabama encompasses an extraordinary range of ecosystems. Forests, woodlands, prairies, glades, rivers, and even marine habitats shape the landscape. From caving and […]

Alabama Sawyer is a Birmingham-based design and manufacturing studio founded and run by Cliff and Leigh Spencer that creates modern, environmentally sustainable furniture from fallen urban trees. Working exclusively with urban timber—trees removed due to storms, development, or natural decline—the company mills and crafts each piece in-house, diverting hundreds of logs from landfills and transforming […]

This past summer, I experienced a treat I didn’t expect would happen again in my lifetime. A covey of bobwhite quail made their summer home in the acreage around our home in Baldwin County. I cherished each “Bob-White” mating call I heard and caught glimpses of them entering several areas with thick vegetation. That thick […]

In this memoir, Alicia Varnedoe traces her journey back to the woods of her childhood, where family backpacking trips in the Sipsey Wilderness became an early education in resilience—and a foundation for the writer she would become. My dad had a different idea for the ideal family Fall Break outing. While our friends napped on […]

Each January, thousands of cranes return to Alabama’s winter wetlands, and the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge in Decatur becomes the perfect place to witness them. From January 9–11, 2026, the annual Festival of the Cranes offers visitors the chance to see more than 20,000 Sandhill cranes and at least 20 rare Whooping cranes in their […]

A new chapter in Alabama’s outdoor story is unfolding in the heart of the Black Belt. The new Blankenship Event Center was unveiled with an unexpected honor during a ribbon-cutting at the M. Barnett Lawley Forever Wild Field Trial Area in Hale County. The 5,000-square-foot facility was named for Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural […]

For those looking to begin the new year outside, Alabama State Parks offer an easy and beautiful place to start. On January 1, Alabama State Parks will host First Day Hikes at more than a dozen locations across the state, offering guided hikes as part of a nationwide initiative encouraging people to start the year […]