‘Conserving America’s Wildlands’: Rhett Turner’s ode to his father

The word “wildlands” can’t be found in a dictionary. 

But the concept of “wildlands” is central to Ted Turner’s life and environmental beliefs.

Rhett Turner, one of Ted Turner’s five children, has captured the spirit of his father in a recently published book, “Conserving America’s Wildlands: The Vision of Ted Turner.”

The substantial coffee table book features Rhett’s nature photos taken on the 2 million acres of land Ted Turner purchased during his life along with a foreward by former President Jimmy Carter and words written by Todd Wilkinson, author of 2014’s “Last Stand: Ted Turner’s Quest to Save a Troubled Planet.”

During an interview on Dec. 13, Rhett admitted he “kind of made up” the word.

“The idea is to turn the land that was private land into wildlands,” Rhett said. “We’ve been successful at doing that, which is a really big deal. What he’s done is to try to make his lands wild. He’s got grizzly bears, black bears, bulls, gray wolves, Mexican gray wolves, all kinds of frogs and animals, big and small, red-cockaded woodpeckers, which are incredibly rare across the Southeast. He tried to make his lands wild and be like it was originally before Europeans showed up on the land.”

At one time, Turner was the largest individual owner of land with about 2 million acres in nearly two dozen properties across the United States, including seven in the Southeast, nine in what is referred to as Bisonland in Nebraska, South Dakota and Kansas, and seven properties in the Rocky Mountains.

Today, according to the Land Report, Turner’s land holdings rank third behind the 2.4 million acres (forestry) owned by the family of Archie Aldis “Red” Emmerson and 2.2 million (forest and cattle land) owned by the family of John Malone. Interestingly enough, Malone has been a friend and business rival of Ted Turner, the visionary behind the use of satellites for global communication and media. 

“These other guys are interested in managing the land as best they can and make sure they make money,” Rhett said adding that the lands owned by Emmerson and Malone contribute to the capture of harmful carbon from the atmosphere. His father’s motivations to own land, though, were focused on conservation as well as the preservation of endangered species of all kinds.

“The reason to do the book was my dad has amassed a large amount of land,” Rhett Turner said. “It needed to be documented so that people would understand what his goals were and the reasons that he did it — to help manage the land as best you can with the possibility of perpetuity.”

Rhett also felt a responsibility to document the “magnitude” of the contributions his father has made to regenerating the land, removing most of the fences so wildlife could roam free.

Throughout his life, Ted Turner has been close to the land — a love he has shared with his children. When Turner was building his cable television empire, he was a huge fan of Jacques Cousteau, who was producing environmental shows for Public Broadcasting System. When PBS canceled its relationship with Cousteau, Turner reached out to him to join Turner Broadcasting System. 

“He was basically trying to get good quality programming, documentary programming that had a big following,” Rhett said. “When he got Jacques Cousteau to be on his network, it was a big deal… My father was always interested in the environment.” Turner, an avid fisherman and hunter, funded Cousteau’s three-part series on the Amazon River without knowing how much it was going to cost.

Rhett Turner felt some urgency to photograph the lands and wildlife for the book because he knew his father was facing health challenges.

“I needed to get it out as quickly as possible, so I pushed hard and got it done,” he said. “I started the photography in the fall of 2019 and did the principal photography in 2020 during COVID. And then I went back in 2021 to get shots of red-cockaded woodpeckers that I had missed and the release of Mexican gray wolves.”

The project really came full circle in July 2022 when Rhett flew over to Scotland to see his father so he could show him an early copy of the book.

“He really enjoyed it, and he turned every page,” Rhett said. “He was really proud, really happy. It was it was a nice moment.”

When Rhett did a television interview with Monica Pearson for Peachtree TV in September, his father tweeted: “Pride personified! My talented son — Rhett Turner, a gifted filmmaker, photographer, & storyteller talked about his book “Conserving America’s Wildlands” with Atlanta legend, @MonicaKPearson. The book showcases my love for the planet.”

For Rhett, the book was his way to present his father with a gift of appreciation for all the gifts Ted Turner has given to the world. In addition to his conservation of land, Turner donated $1 billion to create the United Nations Foundation at a time when the organization needed support. Turner also created the Nuclear Threat Initiative to reduce the threat of weapons of mass destruction. 

In his professional life, Turner created a media empire that included the first 24-hour news channel – CNN. During that period, Turner also owned the Atlanta Braves and the Atlanta Hawks. Turner also started the Goodwill Games to give Russian and American athletes a chance to compete after the United States led a boycott of the 1980 Olympics. Turner also launched the restaurant chain, Ted’s Montana Grill, with George McKerrow, which features bison on the menu.

When asked how he was able to get Jimmy Carter to write the forward, Rhett spoke of the close relationship both families have had. Rhett really got to know the former president in 2006 on a trip to Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana and Sudan. He also did a couple of documentaries for the Carter Center.”

“I’m very, very proud that he participated,” Rhett Turner said of Carter’s forward. “President Carter is first in line to go to heaven.”

Throughout his professional life, Rhett has been drawn to media, initially working as an accountant executive in the CNN Tokyo office, later becoming a documentary filmmaker (launching Red Sky Productions in 1999) – creating works that have aired on Georgia Public Broadcasting, such as “Chattahoochee: From Water War to Water Vision.” And even before he attended the Rhode Island School of Design, Rhett was honing his skills as a photographer.

“Conserving America’s Wildlands” is his second book. “Georgia County Courthouses: The Architecture of Living” came out in 2014 and featured Rhett’s photos of Georgia’s 159 courthouses, which he shot in 16 days at an average of 10 a day. Ironically, at the time (2012), the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia hired a photographer from Australia to do a book on Georgia’s county courthouses.

“The two books came out in the same year,” the younger Turner said. “But mine came out first.” 

As to what will happen to Turner’s land holdings long-term, spokesman Phillip Evans said two charitable entities will own, conserve and protect the majority of Turner properties: the Turner Conservation Trust and the Turner Institute of Ecoagriculture. 

These entities will serve as models of conservation management by continuing Ted Turner’s land stewardship, conduct research and help educate others on conservation. Turner’s family of 5 adult children, plus his grandchildren over the age of 25 will serve on the board of the two nonprofits. 

Without question, Rhett Turner has inherited his father’s love of the natural environment, and he is dedicated to doing all he can to spread the message of environmental stewardship. During the interview, Rhett spoke knowledgeably about bringing back species of birds on the brink of extinction to Georgia’s long leaf pines to leopard frogs and grey wolves, which he was able to feature in “Wildlands.”

Rhett Turner, who at the time of our interview was on the verge of turning 58, said it was important to get it out to as many people as he could. He was quick to note the book is available on Amazon for only $36, less than it cost to publish.

“We’ve sold a lot of books,” Turner said. “It’s got a lot of life and a lot of legs that I didn’t expect it would have. But it’s an important subject that people needed to look at — appreciate the pictures and read the context of my father’s legacy and what he’s done to help the land be the way it should be.”