SouthWings

06/18/2026

🎉 Please join us in welcoming Riley Lewis as our new Eastern Program Manager! 🎉

Riley is no stranger to SouthWings, and in her recent position as the White Oak Waterkeeper she utilized SouthWings flights quite frequently for water quality investigations, building relationships with key partners, and educating staff and volunteers. Riley will be the main contact for flight coordination for our partners in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, Appalachia, and the South Atlantic coastal states. Check out her bio: https://www.southwings.org/staff/riley-lewis

06/18/2026

SouthWings volunteer pilots continue to provide transparency and help hold polluters accountable. We are grateful for the persistence of all our flight partners, too!

As the Trump administration undoes pollution rules, more people will get cancer and have asthma attacks from toxic arsenic and lead pollution. It’s gotten so ridiculous that at one point, coal plants and chemical factories simply had to send the EPA an email to get officially exempt from pollution rules. At the same time, the EPA is reversing their climate policies—opening the floodgates to more greenhouse gases from cars, power plants, and the gas and oil industry.

The EPA was set up to hold polluters accountable to protect our health. Now, they’re abandoning their mission—and us.

📸 Photo courtesy of SouthWings.

06/16/2026

Congratulations on achieving some enforcement action, Dan Riverkeeper! Persistence pays off!

06/09/2026

It's hard to hide pollution when seen from the air. Congratulations Black Warrior Riverkeeper on reaching a settlement!

Black Warrior Riverkeeper Settles Pollution Permit Appeal at Swann’s Crossing Mine in Tuscaloosa County. For Immediate Release: https://blackwarriorriver.org/swanns-crossing-mine-settlement/

06/08/2026

On this World Oceans Day, we are reminded that how we use our land and inland waterways impacts the health of our oceans. SouthWings flights help illuminate threats to our ecosystems and inspire solutions.

The United Nations shares about the 2026 theme:
"For too long, we have treated the ocean as something vast, distant, and separate from us. ...'Reimagine' asks us to close that distance together. To move from passive inheritors of the ocean’s generosity to active guardians of its future. To govern not just beyond our borders but beyond our blind spots, beyond the habits of taking, operating in silos, and the belief that the way things have been is the way they must remain."

From the air, it's easy to see how we are all inconnected.

📷️ North Carolina coast from a recent SouthWings flight with Volunteer Pilot Rolf Wallin.

05/28/2026

Last week, one of our new volunteer pilots took his first SouthWings flight in support of the Congaree Riverkeeper in South Carolina. This aerial view helped with monitoring populations of the rocky shoals spider lily, and monitoring idustrial facilities near the river.

05/22/2026

We had a great time connecting with partners at the Choose Clean Water Coalition Conference this week! Conference participants got the aerial perspective of different landuses that impact the Susquehanna River - the largest tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. Thank you to Volunteer Pilots Glenn and Ken, and to Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association Ted Evgeniadis for organizing this educational experience!

05/21/2026

Photos from the flight with Volunteer Pilot Ken last week are helping Savannah Riverkeeper demonstrate drought conditions in the watershed, and what that means for water quality.

05/14/2026

Yesterday, Volunteer Pilot Ken took his first SouthWings flight to support Emory University researcher in documenting the severe drought conditions on Lake Hartwell in the Savannah River system.

Hartwell is currently in Drought Level 2 at about 7 ft below the full pool level of the reservoir.

These photos will be incorporated into mapping products and shared with advocacy organizations.

Join us in welcoming Ken to the volunteer pilot team! We appreciate your contribution to illuminating environmental issues in the South 💚

05/07/2026

🌍✈️ Mission-driven flight support is available at no cost for environmental justice & conservation work!
📍 Request a flight: https://www.southwings.org/passengers/request-a-flight

📷️ Riverbend coal ash cleanup by Peter Stauble