Todd Ballantine is an internationally recognized environmental scientist, writer, and artist from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. His long-running newspaper column, "On Earth," received the Harry Hampton Award for natural-resource reporting from the South Carolina Wildlife Federation. In addition to Tideland Treasure, he has written and illustrated Woodland Walks, an introduction to the ecology of the southeastern coastal region, and more than a dozen nature guides. Ballantine lives in Boulder, Colorado.