Photograph by Carlton Ward
Bears in Florida aren't just the stuff of Disney—the Sunshine State is home to at least three thousand black bears, including M13, pictured, a male captured in Highlands County (map) in 2006.
But due to human activities, bears and other Florida wildlife are increasingly isolated in remote patches of habitat, preventing them from moving freely through their territories and potentially leading to the local extinction of some species.
That's partly why, a year ago this January, a team of explorers set off on a hundred-day, 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometer) expedition to drum up awareness and support for a proposed Florida Wildlife Corridor, a strip of uninterrupted wild and rural land that would link landscapes from the Florida Peninsula all the way to Georgia. (Related blog: "Follow Carlton Ward's 1,000-Mile Trek Through Florida.")
The corridor would protect wide-ranging species such as the black bear; keep the watershed that drains into the Everglades clean and safe; and also maintain ranches and farms, which house much of the potential corridor land, Carlton Ward, Jr., a National Geographic explorer and conservation photographer who led the expedition, said recently. (National Geographic News is a division of the National Geographic Society.)
"Despite very intensive development, we still have a chance to create a corridor that touches millions of acres of high-quality conservation land," Ward said.
The Florida Wildlife Corridor is gaining recognition within state agencies, Ward said, and formal recognition is a near-term goal.
Overall, the state's wild wonders are "really an untold story," he said.
"This is Florida—it's not just coast, beaches, and amusement parks."
—Christine Dell'Amore
Published January 9, 2013
Photograph by Phil Schermeister, National Geographic
Cars speed past a bear-crossing sign near Orlando, Florida, in 1990.
Though the state's black bears have been growing in population overall, the animals are wedged into seven fragments of land—making it tough for them to roam.
For instance, male black bears usually range within 60 square miles (155 square kilometers), while females inhabit areas of about 15 square miles (40 square kilometers), according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
"If there's one species that was an inspiration for the [corridor] project, it would be the Florida black bear," said Ward.
(Also see "Black Bears Can 'Count' as Well as Primates.")
Published January 9, 2013
Photograph by Carlton Ward
Joe Guthrie negotiates Josephine Creek, an important east-west connector across various habitats in central Florida, in 2012.
The Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition, which took place between January 17 and April 25, 2012, included Ward, cinematographer Elam Stoltzfus, bear biologist Joe Guthrie, and conservationist Mallory Lykes Dimmitt.
Talking with Floridians, such as ranchers and wildlife biologists, was among the most memorable parts of the trip, Ward noted. (Take a roadtrip through forgotten Florida.)
"We must have sent 500 thank you notes to people who helped us or spent time with us along the way," he said.
"Our philosophy for the expedition ... was to be a window in the world of the people who are on the ground protecting the land."
Published January 9, 2013
Photograph by Frans Lanting, National Geographic
Arguably the state's most well-known mammal, the Florida panther (pictured in a file photo) is federally endangered.
Like black bears, the big cats need lots of room, and so would benefit from the corridor, Ward noted.
Though the expedition team didn't see a panther, they did run across their tracks and scat filled with deer hair near a wildlife underpass on Interstate 75, which allows animals to move underneath the busy highway, Ward said.
"Animal underpasses are one of those things you can read about in a book, but it's not until you can see the number of tracks of animals using it that you see how well it works." (Read more about the Interstate 75 underpass.)
Published January 9, 2013
Photograph by Carlton Ward
Elam Stoltzfus, left, and Joe Guthrie wade in southeastern Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve (map) in 2012.
This "very remote" region looks "much like it would have looked hundreds of years ago," Ward noted.
The big swath of public land is also an important stepping-stone in creating the corridor, he said.
"We're trying to keep lifelines and connections between it and other habitats farther north."
Published January 9, 2013
Photograph by Carlton Ward
Central Florida's Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park (pictured in 2012) protects the largest expanse of native dry prairie in Florida. (See prairie pictures.)
It's also home to the Florida grasshopper sparrow, possibly the most endangered bird in North America, according to Ward.
The state park is adjacent to the "equally important" Avon Park Air Force Range to the west, he said.
Conservation in Florida often involves a "quilt of state, private, and federal lands working together."
(See an interactive map of Florida.)
Published January 9, 2013
Photograph by Carlton Ward
Like the Florida panther, the red-cockaded woodpecker (pictured near Kissimmee, Florida, in 2011) is both federally endangered and in need of connected lands, Ward said.
The colorful bird lives and nests in longleaf pine trees, 90 million acres of which once covered the southern United States. But persistent logging has slashed that habitat to just about 2 million acres (800,000 hectares). "So, as you can guess, the number and distribution of woodpeckers have fallen off along with that," Ward said.
However, "if you protect enough good habitat and functional linkages, the animals can find a way to distribute and interbreed," Ward said. (Check out National Geographic's backyard bird identifier.)
For instance, one banded red-cockaded woodpecker recently left Avon Park Air Force Range and settled in the Nature Conservancy'sDisney Wilderness Preserve about 40 miles (64 kilometers) to the north.
Published January 9, 2013
Photograph by Carlton Ward
Bald cypresses emerge from Lake Russell, one of the last undeveloped lakes in central Florida, in 2011.
Located within the 12,000-acre (4,860-hectare) Disney Wilderness Preserve, the lake is less than 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Disney World, yet is still part of the Everglades' headwaters, Ward said. That means that lake water flows downstream into the famous River of Grass. (See pictures of Everglades National Park.)
"It's an example of how it's all connected," Ward said.
Published January 9, 2013
Photograph by Carlton Ward
A bobcat stares at a camera trap in 2010 at Archbold Biological Station, a research facility in Lake Wales Ridge, an ancient scrub ecosystem in central Florida.
Widely distributed throughout most of North America, the bobcat has adapted well to both suburban and rural parts of Florida, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. (Watch a video of a bobcat chasing down prey.)
The cats prefer to den and rest in thick, dense habitat such as saw palmettos and shrub thickets.
Published January 9, 2013
Photograph by Carlton Ward
Illuminated by iPhones, expedition members travel through the Shark River Slough (map), the primary freshwater artery into Everglades National Park, in 2012.
During one of the more isolated parts of the journey, "we spent three days and nights pushing our way through sawgrass—we didn't see another person," Ward said.
To better navigate, the team traveled standing up, like the Native Americans and pioneer "gladesmen" of the past. (Read about what to do in the Everglades.)
They also slept on anchored air mattresses atop the river—an experience "like floating on a water bed," he said.
Published January 9, 2013
Photograph by Carlton Ward
Pictured here in 2012, the Avon Park Air Force Range near Sebring, Florida, protects rare habitats, including the longleaf pine forests and cutthroat grass shown above. (See "The Big Idea: Saving Forests" in National Geographic magazine.)
An active military base, Avon is a crucial component to the Florida wildlife corridor, Ward said. The Air Force would like to make the range even bigger by buying conservation easements in surrounding ranches.
A conservation easement is a voluntary, legally binding agreement that limits certain types of uses or prevents development from taking place on a piece of property while also protecting it, according to the Nature Conservancy.
"Much of the desired connectivity [for the entire corridor] can be achieved by helping farmers and ranchers protect their land through easements, rather than sell it for development," he said.
"The new Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area takes this approach: Landowners throughout the corridor are interested in conservation."
Published January 9, 2013
Photograph by Carlton Ward
A white egret preens in Everglades National Park in 2006.
A corridor would offer a haven to populations of wading birds such as egrets, which were decimated by plume hunting in the early 1900s and have fallen to about 10 percent of their historic numbers, Ward said.
Migratory birds would also rely on the corridor during different parts of the year. For example, a young whooping crane flew from Wisconsin for a winter pit stop on the property of one Florida rancher this year.
"The next step is educating millions of Floridians and Americans about the Florida Wildlife Corridor," he said, "and the unique opportunity we still have to keep our natural infrastructure connected."
Published January 9, 2013
While I am in agreement with the concept, as far as black bears are concerned, it's unnecessary. Ask anyone in states where the population is very, very healthy. Those furry critters are just oversized raccoons, perfectly happy to move in with people, eat their left-overs, sleep under their porches, you name it. Florida panthers definitely need the corridors, probably bobcats do to. But bears? hah!
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