Hi, I'm Doug Phillips. Welcome to Discovering Alabama, the original, award-winning, and Emmy nominated documentary series about the rich natural history and heritage of Alabama. 2005 was a special year for us. We celebrated our 20th anniversary. That's right, we've been on the air over 20 years now. Thanks to all of you for your support, we couldn't do it without you.

Alabama contains a remarkable array of nature–forests, rivers, wildlands, and wildlife–abundant across a diverse landscape from the mountains to the prairielands to the gulf coast. This natural heritage is closely linked with the state's cultural heritage. Alabama's wildlands were integral to the daily lives of Native Americans who often celebrated nature in their spiritual practices. By the 1800s, Alabama's plentiful game, timberlands, water, and soils were the lure for waves of settlers seeking this bounty of nature as their hope for a new life. Today, Alabama's natural wonders are sought for recreation and are promoted as attractions to entice tourism, expanding growth, and industrial development. Discovering Alabama explores the many interesting and changing relationships between Alabama's lands and people, from the past to the present.

An important aim of Discovering Alabama is to document this information for the citizens, communities, and schools of the state. But another concern of Discovering Alabama is to highlight the state's natural history in a context useful for planning. In looking to the future, we can sometimes benefit from the wisdom of the past. Native Americans knew well the meaning of the adage, "The nature of life is nature." Discovering Alabama brings to you a remarkable realm of nature in hopes that this aspect of our heritage is aptly embraced and retained for generations yet to arrive.

You are invited to tune in to Alabama Public Television or contact us for video purchase, and join me as we Discover Alabama.

Happy outings,