For the past few months I’ve been working with camera traps at Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, supported by a grant from National Geographic. My purpose is to document the path to recovery of the endangered Florida panther. One of my camera locations recently produced a nice surprise: 68 selfies from a family of Florida black...
“The panther is going to have to help us save Florida.”—Cary Lightsey, whose family has been ranching in Florida since the 1850s and now protects essential parcels of the Florida Wildlife Corridor In November 2016, a biologist’s camera trap snapped a photo of a female panther in Florida’s Babcock Ranch Preserve. It was the first...
It’s been four decades since evidence of a female Florida panther was found north of the species’ known breeding range. What does the discovery mean? In 2016, a record number of 34 Florida panthers were killed by vehicles, a big hit for a population of fewer than 200 adults. But the year also saw good...
I am a multi-generation Floridian and a photographer focused on wild Florida. I’m also a lifelong hunter who has killed my share of deer and hogs, so when I decided to document the first bear hunt in 21 years, I tried to keep an open mind. I met my first Florida black bear up-close nine...
• The Florida black bear (Ursus americanus floridanus) is one of 16 recognized subspecies of the American black bear. • Approximately 80 percent of the natural bear foods in Florida are plant material. Insects make up around 15 percent of diets. The remaining 5 percent is animal matter such as raccoons, opossums, armadillos, white-tailed deer...
Walking through a wildlife underpass from Nokuse Plantation to Eglin Air Force base feels like traveling back in time. On the one side is Nokuse: a 54,000-acre private conservation property and site of the largest private longleaf pine restoration project in the world. While there are eight million newly planted longleaf pine trees here, they...
After nine straight days paddling the rivers of the Apalachicola delta, the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition reached Apalachicola Bay—an estuary of national significance and one of the last places where people tong for wild-caught oysters. Separated from the northern Gulf of Mexico by St. George and St. Vincent Islands, Apalachicola Bay has historically maintained an ideal...
Florida is said to have the highest concentration of freshwater springs on Earth. The Florida Wildlife Corridor #Glades2Gulf Expedition is traversing springs country near the Gulf of Mexico and recently explored several of these wonderful windows into the underground aquifer. Our first plunge was into the head spring of the Chassahowitzka River before following the river’s five-mile journey downstream...
Beginning January 10th, I will join fellow explorers Mallory Dimmitt and Joe Guthrie on a 70-day trek to raise visibility for a wildlife corridor from the Evergaldes Headwaters near Orlando to Gulf Islands National Seashore near Pensacola. Our work is supported by the National Geographic Society and we’ll be sharing stories here every week. The map below provides an overview...
The Florida Wildlife Corridor integrates Florida’s leading conservation science with compelling fine art images and rich storytelling to raise awareness about the Corridor and the need to connect and protect it. The centerpiece of our awareness campaign is the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition. On January 10, 2015 we begin a new 1000-mile leg of our...
The Florida Wildlife Corridor integrates Florida’s leading conservation science with compelling fine art images and rich storytelling to raise awareness about the Corridor and the need to connect and protect it. The centerpiece of our awareness campaign is the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition. On January 10, 2015 we begin a new 1000-mile leg of our...
The Florida Wildlife Corridor integrates Florida’s leading conservation science with compelling fine art images and rich storytelling to raise awareness about the Corridor and the need to connect and protect it. The centerpiece of our awareness campaign is the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition. On January 10, 2015 we begin a new 1000-mile leg of our...
The Florida Wildlife Corridor integrates Florida’s leading conservation science with compelling fine art images and rich storytelling to raise awareness about the Corridor and the need to connect and protect it. The centerpiece of our awareness campaign is the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition. On January 10, 2015 we begin a new 1000-mile leg of our...
The Florida Wildlife Corridor team is immersed in planning the next Expedition, a January 2015 journey that will traverse the Gulf coast for 1,000 miles. And I am starting to get into the field to photograph places and stories our trek will soon encounter. One important character of the Corridor is the Florida manatee. When we hike...
I just learned that my 2013 book, Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition: Everglades to Okefenokee, won a silver medal in the Florida Book Awards. This work is based on the 2012 Expedition that was funded in part by the National Geographic Society. Thank you to team members Mallory Dimmitt, Joe Guthrie, Elam Stoltzfus and Tom Hoctor and...