The dedicated staff, board of directors and volunteer pilots of SouthWings rally a broad range of environmental, community and government entities around key environmental issues in the Southeast.
Founded in 1996, SouthWings is a non-profit conservation organization that provides a network of volunteer pilots to advocate for the restoration and protection of the ecosystems and biodiversity of the Southeast through flight. We have flown thousands of individuals and organizations to educate community leaders, policy-makers, and the media, and to collect scientific data on forests, watersheds, historic landmarks, and the globally significant ecosystems of the Southeast. SouthWings is headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina, has a second office in New Orleans, Louisiana, and works from Louisiana north through West Virginia.
The response to SouthWings flights has been overwhelming. Among many of its educational benefits is the effective media tool to educate millions of citizens nationwide. Over our history, SouthWings flights have enjoyed coverage with national stories in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, 60 Minutes, the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, National Public Radio, Fox TV News, Audubon Magazine, National Geographic magazine, E Magazine, the NBC Nightly News, Our Earth of the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Orion Afield, as well as many local and regional news outlets.
SouthWings is supported by donations from many individual contributors, our flight partner organizations, private foundations, and by the generous in-kind contributions of our volunteer pilots.
SouthWings is a member of the 1% For The Planet network and the Appalachian Carbon Partnership: Southwings has been carbon neutral since 2009. In 2010 alone we purchased 60.97 metric tons of carbon offsets from Appalachian Carbon Partnership.
Photo courtesy of John Moran