Virginia Nature

The first book to follow a fly-fishing trip from coast to coast, West with the Rise is James Barilla's account of a solitary journey that begins in New England and ends in Northern California, with little more to keep him company than a secondhand pickup bought just for the trip, a pair of Nikes he... More

As you travel along the Blue Ridge Parkway, hike the Appalachian Trail, or visit the national and state parks scattered throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains, you will encounter an incredible variety of natural landscapes, microclimates, and fascinating rock formations. Over millions of years the... More

A protégé of the legendary Vladimir S. Littauer and for more than thirty years director of the riding program at Sweet Briar College, Paul D. Cronin is a well-known and highly respected trainer and riding instructor. Schooling and Riding the Sport Horse is Cronin's clear and practical guide to... More

In this second edition of Bob Gooch’s Virginia Fishing Guide, M. W. Smith offers an updated version of a classic work of Virginia outdoor literature. Providing a new preface and appendices, Smith also recasts the volume’s introduction and site listings to reflect such changes as new "catch and... More

Washington, D.C., boasts more than three hundred species of trees from America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, and City of Trees has been the authoritative guide for locating, identifying, and learning about them for more than twenty-five years. The third edition is fully revised, updated, and expanded... More

A thorough yet user-friendly companion to the authors’ popular paperback Sugarloaf: The Mountain’s History, Geology, and Natural Lore—both books are the result of a ten-year collaboration—this volume is an exquisitely illustrated guide to 350 eastern woodland wildflowers and trees found on site at... More

Although swamps today are recognized as one of the richest and most prolific natural systems on Earth, they have long held a mysterious and tenuous place in America’s history and culture. Ernest Hemingway equated them with madness and death in "Big Two-hearted River." We have images of Humphrey... More

Rich in angling lore, the secluded lakes and rivers of Virginia’s Highlands offer some of the best trout and smallmouth bass fishing found anywhere in the state. From the Alleghany Highlands in the north (which encompass Alleghany, Bath, and Rockbridge counties) to the Blue Ridge/Grayson Highlands... More

To the west is a stretch of Interstate 95 running from the D.C. suburbs to the South Carolina state line. To the east is the Atlantic Ocean. What lies in between, a four-hundred-mile stretch of coastal country traversing Virginia and North Carolina, is home to some of the best hunting and fishing... More

While sparsely populated, the Greenbrier Valley is home to some of the richest outdoor recreation resources in the mid-Atlantic. Boasting a combination of unspoiled backcountry, featuring spectacular gorges and falls and major resorts, including both Snowshoe Mountain and the venerable Greenbrier... More

The Eastern corridor of the United States may be notorious for overdevelopment, but Curtis J. Badger offers a challenge in his The Wild Coast: Exploring the Natural Attractions of the Mid-Atlantic: get off the highway and go see what the mid-Atlantic states have to offer. A companion to both... More

Lake Brittle, Gardy’s Millpond, Powhatan Ponds, Keokee Lake, Lake Shenandoah... The number of lakes that offer great fishing in Virginia is substantial, from 3-acre Phelps Pond in Fauquier County to 50,000-acre Buggs Island Lake. Now trusted outdoorsman Bob Gooch has written the only comprehensive... More

The Shenandoah Valley is famous for its role in Civil War history and for its great natural beauty. But there is something else: it is a tremendous place to fish. Fishing the Shenandoah Valley: An Angler’s Guide is the latest stop in author M. W. Smith’s continuing tour of the Commonwealth‘s great... More

As Curtis Badger will tell you, "Being a good naturalist has more to do with being an enthusiastic observer than traveling to distant places. It is more a matter of curiosity than of a need for adventure, a frame of mind rather than peculiarity of place." A Naturalist’s Guide to the Virginia Coast... More

With easy access to the Roanoke and James Rivers, Carvins Cove Reservoir and Smith Mountain Lake, and the many other streams and lakes in Bedford, Botetourt, Franklin, Henry, Patrick, Pittsylvania, Roanoke, and Rockbridge Counties, anglers in the Roanoke Valley are blessed with some of the finest... More

The foundations of fly-fishing history, literature, and mechanics are firmly anchored in the disciplines of science, yet until now there has been no comprehensive work that integrates scientific components into the sport of angling for trout and other game fish. The Science of Fly-Fishing fills... More

Fair warning to all of Virginia’s couch potatoes: Curtis Badger has compiled such an engaging and refreshingly unconventional treasury of outdoor adventures that you may be compelled to give up your seat. He will send you in pursuit of rare salamanders on the slopes of Mount Rogers, to dig clams on... More

Listen for the calls of nesting ravens and warblers, watch the growth of wild geranium and black cohosh, and savor the first autumn blush in the tupelo trees. Revel, as did Frank Lloyd Wright, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt—among generations of other amateur naturalists—in... More

The classic field guide to snakes found in the Old Dominion, now available in paperback.

Most outdoor enthusiasts in Virginia have hiked, camped, paddled, hunted, or fished in the state's many parks, refuges, and other public lands, from the barrier islands to the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, but few know about another wonderful resource, the Commonwealth's... More

ASSATEAGUE, Chincoteague, Parramore, Smith's, Hog, Wallop's: The names of Virginia's isolated barrier islands evoke their beauty and wildness, their dynamic ecology. Drawing chapters from the writings of novelists, naturalists, journalists, and outdoorsmen, Seashore Chronicles presents the history... More

This valuable guide provides Virginia hunters with detailed information on the various public hunting lands in the state, including character of the terrain, game species available, and other useful information. It also provides profiles on the various game species and information on how to hunt... More

The design of this book is to furnish information with which the plants can be identified without resorting to technical language or requiring that the structure of plant parts be understood. Color photographs and descriptive comments are provided as identification materials for each species.