America's Wild Heartlands

National Geographic
America's Wild Heartlands

Synopsis

Over five hours, America The Beautiful tells the story of the frontier and wildlife closest to America's heart. We explore the woods that Davy Crocket once called home in The Great Valley of Appalachia, and where Wild Bill Hickok saw his last sunset in The Badlands of South Dakota.

Episodes

Season 1
  • Mississippi Untamed

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    At America's center, Three Rivers Wild - the Mississippi, the Missouri and the Ohio - combine their strength and transform into a behemoth that splits the nation. Thousands of snow geese arrive with winter, and river otters hunt within breaks in the ice.

  • America’s Mighty Mountains

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    Of America's many natural wonders, its mountain ranges are some most punishing places to live on Earth, brutal cold, searing sun, thin air and toxic gases. Everything up here lives on the razor’s edge.

  • America’s Northwest Giants

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    Bigger is better in the Land of Giants where conditions conspire to make the northwest corner of the U.S home to the most extraordinary landscapes, plants and creatures imaginable.

  • America's Badlands

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    East meets Wild West in The Badlands of South Dakota. Famous frontier towns, Crazy Horse, and U.S. Presidents are immortalized here, but living legends thrive just over the hills.

  • America’s Wild Southwest

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    It’s hot. Dang hot. Prepare for the daily struggle of life in America’s expansive desert country. For many creatures in the Wild Southwest, survival means being both tough, and creative.

  • The Land of Lakes

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    The northern Land of Lakes is a lush realm of forests and wet bogs - but in winter, it's governed by snow and ice. Timber wolves search widely with their powerful noses, while great greys- the largest owls in North America -plunge deep into the snow for a meal.

  • America’s Untamed Heartland

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    America’s Heartland tells the story of the great frontier and the wildlife that continues to thrive in the wild spaces closest to America’s heart.

  • Living With The Wild

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    Down on the Farm, people and animals in America's heartland face a life fraught with risk and danger. In order to share the abundant ecosystem with farmers and their tools, it's safest for wildlife on the fringes: in the field, above the hayloft, and hidden under plow.

  • Surviving Appalachia

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    The Great Valley was home to some of America's greatest legends. Today, the critters hunted by the likes of Davy Crocket and Daniel Boone still strive in this little-known strip of wilderness