This inaugural issue is more than just a magazine — it’s the moment this project becomes real. For years, Cypress has been a creative outlet, a way to connect art and nature, but putting stories into print adds a new dimension. Holding this issue in your hands means stepping into a new chapter with us: one where we can chase important ecological stories, travel to new places, and continue growing Cypress into something bigger than we first imagined.

Cypress Magazine comes to you as a labor of love, created with the help of friends, collaborators, and fellow travelers who poured themselves into these pages. In it, you’ll find voices and images from friends who share a love for wild places. Together we travel across continents and ecosystems: watching seabirds on the remote islands of the Galápagos, learning the tangled history of water rights in California’s Owens Valley, diving into the recovering kelp forests of Monterey, and walking among the last of the giant sequoias. Each story is rooted in awe but also in care — an invitation to look closer, reflect deeply, and consider what it means to preserve the fragile places we love.

— John Muir