E.O. Wilson

E.O. Wilson studies an ant population found in a decaying log deep in the Red Hills, north of Monroeville. Wilson brought a team of insect specialists to the area to begin cataloguing the creatures there. He described the Red Hills and Mobile-Tensaw Delta as one of the last great places for biological discovery, on par with the upper Amazon. (Ben Raines/Press-Register)

(BEN RAINES)

E. O. Wilson, perhaps the most famous living scientist in the world, will be in Alabama this week to receive the Harper Lee Award as Alabama's Distinguished Writer of the Year for 2016.

The annual award honors Alabama writers for their life's work. With two Pulitzer prizes under his belt, and more than 30 books published, including his latest work, Half-Earth, Wilson's staggering literary output is matched by his scientific achievements.

Credited with discovering more than 450 new species, the Alabama native also formulated an entirely new way of thinking about the biological world, and the intertwining connections between species.

What follows is a transcript from a 2012 interview conducted with Wilson in a wooded glen in the Red Hills, outside of Monroeville. The interview was conducted by Lynn Rabren and me in connection with our documentary, America's Amazon, which was dedicated to Wilson and featured him prominently.

I've interviewed Dr. Wilson about a dozen times, and spent a number of days in the field with him. This interview ranks as a personal favorite, partly for the range of topics he covers, and for the insight into his expansive world view.

The Interview

Question: Describe the importance of these Alabama forests.

Wilson: Most people, even people down here in Mobile, right next to it, think of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta forest -- that's what it is, a flood plain forest -- as that swamp. They recognize it as a pretty wild place, and it is. A wilderness area. Seven or eight miles across at the mouth there at Mobile Bay. But scientists, naturalists, can tell you that this is a very special place in the United States, and North America.

For example, or I should say to wit, it is arguably, the biologically richest place, the delta floodplain forest and swamp, and the area immediately round it, including the Red Hills to the north, where we are seated. It has more species of plants and animals than any comparable area anywhere in North America, the United States and Canada.

Let me just tick it off. We have as many, or more, kinds of salamanders than any place in the world, or close to it. In fact, where we are is just a few hundred yards from where a whole new species of salamander was discovered. We have the largest number of fish. Alabama has the largest number of fish of any state, 350. A large percentage of those are in the Delta or in the surrounding streams. We have some of the richest forests in terms of the number of species.

For example, right here where we are in the Red Hills and then on down into the delta, you have 20 species of oaks. Twenty kinds of oaks. Now, the Appalachians brag about having 15 species of oaks. We'll, right here you have 20. And here is the clincher as far as I am concerned, this area, southwest Alabama, including the delta and the Red Hills, has the largest number of turtle species of any place in the world.

The closest approach is a floodplain in a part of India. But we are, for the size of the area they are packed into, we are the world leaders in turtles alone. That means the delta swamp and the floodplain forest, which is pretty much a wilderness of several hundred thousand square miles, is a place yet completely unexplored, sort of like the upper Amazon.

There are so many things here yet to be discovered. They include bear. We have here the location of the only surviving population of the Florida bear in this part of the country. We have bobcats. We have a variety of other predator or predatory species. We have a variety of species that make their living from plants, or in the water or out.

A species most people have never heard of is the jaguarundi, which is a pretty big cat, you know, wild cat size or larger. It's a close relative of the puma or mountain lion. The jaguarundi. I could go on and on, and tell you why it is such an exciting experience for a naturalist such as myself to visit the Delta and the Red Hills, and why we have so much more to learn. And why as people become more aware of what is here, people will realize they can find here adventure, and wonderful things to see.

At this point, an ant crawls across Wilson's arm.

I've got an ant to add to the collection. It's a carpenter ant. I'm sure we have them, but I'll add this one.

Question: When did you realize the Delta and Alabama were such special places?

Wilson: When I was a kid, just a boy, a 13-year-old kid back in the 40s, I'd take my bike and ride across the causeway to Spanish Fort. It seemed like such a place of mystery, such a tremendous amount of wilderness, but I didn't have any sense. By the time I got to college, I knew a lot more about turtles, animals and so on.

I would go by the delta and around it along the causeway, and say, 'Good Lord, this would be wonderful to be an explorer in this place.' You know, in the same way you say, I'd like to go in the upper amazon and discover life there, and discover new things, or Borneo or some place like that. I used to say when I was in college that I was going to come back here and I'm going to be an explorer of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. There wasn't much interest then, not even among scientists. It's only gradually we've come to understand what a treasure this delta is.

So, I was thinking about it then, and now, how should I put it, in the autumn of my career, I am here. I am participating in studies -- in my case, all the different kinds of ants that are here -- in a new scientific effort to explore the delta. And that effort will go on for many many years, even generations.

There is so much here, and so little explored. People think it is exciting to discover a new species, well, it is happening all the time here. Dozens of new species.

Actually, when we start getting more volunteers, naturalists working in the Delta, I think we are going to find that people going out on field trips will be finding even more new species themselves.

Question: Why is biodiversity important?

All biodiversity is important, because every species matters. A little bit of biodiversity matters. For example, in the great coniferous forests of the Yukon, not many species, but every one of them is important and interesting.

When you get into a species rich environment, like the Mobile-Tensaw Delta -- and I cannot emphasize enough that this is number one in the United States for its area -- and you've got a lot of species, and everyone of them is important.

Because we don't know what all this is going to come to in terms of the human future. We already know it is important to maintain forest like this in as good as condition as possible, for the carbon cycle, trapping carbon, keeping this area of the world stable, but we also know that many of these species and organisms here, if we study each one deeply, are going to tell us and reveal secrets and tell us about life in medicine, biochemistry, environmental management and so on. Most people have no idea how little explored a system like this is, and what great yields to human welfare and medicine a system like this can give. This is its great importance.

Question: What should the future of the Delta look like?

Wilson: Whenever you have a great natural area like this, and I've been to them all over the world, the first thought is because it is so important, don't destroy it. Save it. Save the parts that are the richest. And this is one. This is one of the richest places in the United States.

Then, I see biology developing in this century, and I've given a lot of thought to this, continuing along the traditional route of molecular biology, and so on, which is good and true, that's at the level of the molecule, and how a cell multiples.

But I also see biology evolving a whole new second front, the discovering biodiversity, and mapping it. As we map it, we're going to be discovering the details of how it is all put together, and how environments like these manage to stay together. Then, we will, in retrospect, be very happy we saved it.

This area, is not yet heavily populated. It should receive some serious recognition, and then perhaps status, that will not keep people out, but will encourage them to come in. It could be a historical site, or a national wildlife refuge or a national park, that's what we need to be thinking about, so we have the most of this to pass on to future generations.

Here Wilson talks about visiting an area in Florida, Paradise Beach, in his youth. It was at Paradise Beach that one of Wilson's eyes was damaged by pinfish fin.

I was born in 1936. Crystal-clear water, eel grass all over, fish everywhere. I went back, ten years ago now, 15 years ago. I was so eager to get back to Paradise Beach. Boy what a disappointment. The water, you couldn't see this far, just murky. Just looked unsavory. Paradise Beach. Hmmph.

So let's hang on to this. I suppose that what I hope will happen soon, that the rest of the country and the rest of the world became aware of this Delta. And let's suppose we agreed we wouldn't intrude, we wouldn't disturb it anymore than necessary until we really understood what we had. We would certainly want to keep part of it open to hunting and fishing, even if got protected status. I believe that's important for the people and the culture here and it wouldn't harm it, to have hunting and fishing.

What we should be doing is taking every measure we can to keep from harming it around the edges. That is building heavy industry, for example. There are other places in Alabama that can stand the weight of heavy industry. Refineries, timber operations, so on. And also, we should be paying attention to the quality of the water all through this area. Much more attention than we are paying we should be giving to this area. And making sure we do not continue practices that harm the water. In fact, we should reverse them in order to have less turbidity, less silt and mud accumulation in critical areas.

We need to study and show just what procedures to follow and which to avoid. I'm rather hoping the University of South Alabama can help. Other universities in the state can help figure out what kinds of studies we need to create a strong economic growth for this area.

It is remarkable to have a wilderness area like the one we are sitting in right here right next to Mobile. An area like this one we're sitting in right here, right next to Mobile. I've been in a lot of national parks, national monuments, wilderness areas, that kind of thing. I can't think of a single one like Mobile and the Delta, where you could start downtown, you can step into your car at Government Center, in the heart of Mobile, drive through the tunnel, and 15 minutes, you're there, in this great wilderness. There is nothing like it anywhere in the country.

When people see this as a treasure, not just a swamp, when it becomes more famous, it will certainly draw more and more people here, people who want to visit it and see what we have anytime we want to drive out of the center of Mobile.

So many great things here. I was surprised when we went out, Ben, when we got out at the shell mounds, that this goes well back, maybe thousands of years. Then we have the Bottle Creek mounds. Those just add tremendously.

Why now, it is finally coming to the consciousness of the people determined to speak out and do something.

I've been asked how does my experience as a returning Alabamian, which I've been all my life, I've been in exile. What's special for me? I am a naturalist. The functioning of natural ecosystems and the saving of species from extinction has been my way of life, my study. To actually combine the turning point, and developing a sense of place, combining those two together is an exhilarating experience at my relatively advanced age.

We need to lift our expression of feeling and our understanding of this state. And I really belong to this state. Did you know everyone of my forebears lived here in this state. They are all here.

There is a need now to address the subject of Alabama, of Mobile, and of the Mobile Tensaw Delta wilderness. By that I mean we don't need many more Chamber of Commerce type advertisements. Visit Mobile...

We don't want to hear the standard treatment of what is a great state. We want to see Alabama as the subject of great literature, an epic state... People say that's just blue sky, he's lost it like a vapor blowing away in the wind. But if the excitement of Manhattan streets translates to great art, if Steinbeck can go to a fishing place and write a great work of art... Alabama should be such a place that can be celebrated like that.

Question: How should we address the growing population and pressure on the environment?

I think you can see what is happening. Maybe it would take you ten years to see it. But Mobile is growing. Mobile is a continuous urban area now to Mississippi and south to the Dog River. That was all mostly wilderness when I was a boy. It's growing and that's fine, but with growth comes pressure. And with growth comes industry. Well if the Delta and the Red Hills are not protected, there are going to be incursions. It's starting now. As Mobile grows into an increasingly important deep south city, we really have a moral obligation to protect it.

What will happen if we let it go? What will happen if we just do nothing? It's been here for tens of thousands of years. Well, Mobile is growing. It deserves to grow. It's a deep south port city. It's growing, we have suburbs all the way. Mobile is going to continue to grow. And with growth comes the economic need for jobs, and it brings with it a pressure to expand in space and environmental impact, and consumption. That will happen, and that makes it more important to not let the delta go, because it could be quickly eroded and adulterated.

I think we have a moral obligation to not let that happen. It's not going to cost a lot. Quite the contrary. I think saving the delta and the Red Hills, and presenting them as they should be presented, as a great asset for Mobile and the surrounding area, will result in economic growth and more jobs, quite separate from what we would get from more conventional ways.

For more about Wilson and his Alabama adventures, read E.O. Wilson and the Ant Freaks.

Or take a trip in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta with Wilson here in Lord of the Ants E.O. Wilson comes home to save the Delta.

Ben Raines will lead a discussion with E.O. Wilson during the Harper Lee Award presentation, on Friday, April 1. Follow Ben Raines as he explores Alabama's natural wonders on Facebook, or Twitter at Ben H. Raines. Shoot him an email with questions or story ideas at braines@al.com.