About 12 percent of the United States is protected as natural area. That’s roughly 456,000 square miles of the nation’s total land mass of roughly 3.8 million square miles.
Now, when most of us think of land set aside to protect nature, at least here in the Southeast, we think of National Parks, we think of National Forests, we think of State Parks. Yet nationwide those three entities only account for about 10 percent of total protected land. What about those remaining 3.3 million square miles? You'll find them in thousands of small nature preserves peppered all around. Preserves such as the Al Bungard Conservation Area, one of four small preserves in Savannah, Ga. These preserves can provide adventure you'd never expect on land so small, as the GetHiking! Southeast Podcast discovered when we discovered the Al Bungard property just a half hour walk from our airport hotel in Savannah.
Where can you find a similar adventure, either near your home or when you're traveling? A good place to start is The Land Trust Alliance, which represents land-preserving land trusts around the country. Find The Land Trust Alliance here.
Also, check out The Nature Conservancy, at nature.org.
As was the case with the Al Bungard Conservation Area, we had to do a little digging to find it. That process of unearthing little-known preserves and green spaces is the focus of "Explore Your Neighborhood: A Guide to Discovering the World Immediately Around You," which we wrote last year. Learn more and purchase a copy here.