At grocery stores, coffee shops and libraries throughout the region, newsstands are filling up with spring peepers. We’ve chosen this little frog as the cover celebrity for “The Silent Majority” — the countless creatures that share our treasured Appalachian Mountains with us.

This issue of The Appalachian Voice is dedicated to understanding how the region’s wildlife are faring and listening to what they’re trying to tell us. We also feature a four-page politics pull-out section on some of the loudest voices in Appalachia, our representatives in Washington and our state legislatures.