Missisippi's Natural Heritage: Photographs of Flora and Fauna. 2023. 400 col. photogr. 277 p. Hardcover.

Mississippi’s Natural Heritage: Photographs of Flora and Fauna glories in the plants and animals of the state. Featuring four hundred beautiful color photographs and a complete index of included species, Mississippi’s Natural Heritage is the first book of its kind dedicated to Mississippi’s natural world. Photographer Wesley L. Shoop spent years photographing a vast array of invertebrates, fossils, amphibians and reptiles, birds, mammals, plants, and fungi, and the book features a section dedicated to each group. The photographs in this book were taken in LeFleur’s Bluff State Park, a dazzling, well-known Mississippi park and urban natural area that exemplifies the biota of Mississippi. Over a thousand species of flora and fauna have been identified on the park’s bluff and floodplain. All of these species can be found in forests, parks, and backyards across the state. LeFleur’s Bluff is a fascinating microcosm of Mississippi’s ecological community. Shoop has created this collection of images in the hope that by illustrating the living diversity found in Mississippi, it can inspire a greater appreciation of what we have and how impoverished we will be if we do not protect it.