Welcome back to the wilderness of Central Laos, get ready to follow us to Vietnam as well on the second part of our National Geographic expedition, where our team is engaged in a long-term effort to survey, analyze, and ultimately restore the critically endangered Chinese swamp cypress (Glyptostrobus pensilis). (Catch up on earlier posts.) This old-growth giant...

For this National Geographic-sponsored expedition to save the Critically Endangered Chinese swamp cypress (Glyptostrobus pensilis), we have brought together a dynamic group of people from the U.S., Scotland, and Laos. Let me introduce you to our team. We broke up into three groups to conduct surveys in promising watersheds of the Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area...

High in the Annamite Mountains of central Laos, among hill-tribe villages, grows the majestic—and critically endangered—Chinese swamp cypress (Glyptostrobus pensilis). I’m here to find these trees, study them, and work for their protection. Why is this particular tree worth protecting? I get this question a lot: from villagers in the area where the last wild ancient...

Come with us to one of the last truly wild places in Southeast Asia: the Annamite Mountains of central Laos. Here, along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, among hill-tribe villages, grows the majestic—and critically endangered—Chinese Swamp Cypress (Glyptostrobus pensilis). I stumbled (literally!) upon the hidden Lao population of Chinese Swamp Cypress in 2007, while surveying...