AP team shows how conservation efforts of ecologically rich Alabama delta could become a model for protecting key environmental areas

By Mike Stewart, Tammy Webber and Stephen Smith

Mike Stewart, the AP’s chief photographer in the Deep South, teaming up with Michigan-based climate team reporter Tammy Webber and New Orleans-based video journalist Stephen Smith, captured the biological diversity of an Alabama delta, the people who love the unique place and efforts to save it from development and climate change.

Amid humid heat, insects and intermittent downpours, they toured the delta by boat and spoke with environmentalists and longtime residents to convey in words and visuals the vastness, importance and beauty of one of the most aquatically diverse deltas in the world. 

Based on this visit and additional reporting, Webber crafted a narrative that took readers on a journey through the delta and its history while introducing them to the people who revere the place and are trying to preserve it. The story told readers about an important area for biodiversity that many had never heard of while bringing AP coverage to a news desert.

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