After one visit to Spring Island, one might well believe that Mother Nature was born here. In the fertile places where King Cotton once flourished, grand old live oaks now sprawl in splendiferous abundance across the island landscape. Spring Island today boasts hundreds of these magnificent specimens. There are also giant black walnut trees among the 90 other identified tree species that naturalists have identified on the island, more than three times that found on neighboring barrier islands. Trees aren’t the only abundant species. There are 600 floral types, 700 kinds of fauna and 19 varieties of soil on the island.

"The last great maritime forest" is how one resident describes Spring Island. Perched on an aquifer of limitless fresh water and surrounded by salt water estuaries, the island is nature’s most ideal setting for coexistence of woods and wetland. There are several salt water ponds along the island’s shore. In addition, there are dozens of fresh water ponds throughout the island’s forest. Where to fish depends on your appetite: salt water for shrimp, crab, oyster, redfish, sea trout or flounder -- fresh water for largemouth bass or bream.

One of the beautiful truisms about Spring Island is that the views are constantly changing, whether it is spotting a wild turkey or bald eagle or simply watching yet another glorious sunset. Salt water marshes are always far more interesting than, say, the ocean. The light changes not only by the season but by the hour; so does the marsh itself. The number of plants and animals that live in this habitat of mixing and slushing water is mind boggling. Biologists claim that salt marshes produce up to 10 tons of organic matter per acre a year. The Atlantic Ocean’s food chain starts here.