Staraland is a 35-acre nature preserve near Waleska, Georgia. The tiny preserve was donated to the Southeastern Trust for Parks and Land by Bill Stara, in memory of his late wife Ellen.
For its size, Staraland is ecologically remarkable, not only because it’s wild. It happens to be located where three geologic regions converge.
the magmatic Blue Ridge, hailed for biological diversity
the Ridge and Valley ecoregion of sandstone and limestone
the Piedmont
Last week I had the sweet chance to walk Staraland with students from Reinhardt University. We were celebrating the inauguration of an Environmental Studies Minor, organized by Donna Coffey Little.
Keith Ray, director of conservation for Southeastern Trust, guided us into Staraland. I want to offer you a photo essay.
Thank you as ever for loving the wild wild world as we journey through our lovely and complicated lives.
Beautiful! Thank you.
I love everything about this. I wish I could snap my fingers and be in that creek right now! Or maybe in the morning... Thanks for sharing, and I'm thankful for all the people who worked to preserve this special confluence of regions.