FLORIDA WILDLIFE CORRIDOR
FLORIDA'S OTHER HIGHWAY, SAFE PASSAGE TO THE OPPOSITE SIDE
Whizzing across I-75’s Alligator Alley in a metal box, feel comforted that critters living into the deep recesses alongside the roadway have a network of underpasses and trails providing safe passage from traffic.
Most of us who live, work and play in Southwest Florida have driven across Florida’s Alligator Alley, the stretch of Interstate 75 that crosses through some of the most scenic reaches of the Everglades between Naples and Miami. Along this busy highway, the observant driver will notice a series of underpasses intended to provide a safe route for wildlife. These junctions are part of a much larger network of lands called the Florida Wildlife Corridor, a project bringing awareness to the harm caused by habitat loss and fragmentation while reshaping the way animals are able to move throughout our state.
Biologist David Maehr and activist Mason Smoak were killed in a 2008 plane crash while locating a Florida black bear. Maehr’s research emphasized the importance of providing bears and other wide-ranging species such as Florida panthers territory to roam without crossing highways and developments. Without such a path, their lives are at risk and they can
miss crucial breeding opportunities. After Maehr’s death, colleagues were inspired to keep the implications of his work alive, so they founded the Florida Wildlife Corridor, with the mission to protect and restore a continuous statewide tract of lands and waters essential to the health and survival of wildlife.
The desire to create a statewide ecological corridor is not new to Florida, and the project depends heavily on decades of work by other organizations to conserve our state’s wild places. The Corridor team, including photographer Carlton Ward Jr., scientists Dr. Tom Hoctor and Dr. Richard Hilsenbeck, conservationist Mallory Lykes Dimmitt and Maehr’s graduate student, Joe Guthrie, began by mapping current conservation lands, then designed a plan to identify and protect what they call the “Missing Links”―critical areas that must be protected to connect existing conservation lands. Many of these Missing Links include private land, and protecting it requires landowner partnership.
Realizing the value of inspiring imagery and face- to- face conversations with stakeholders to build support for the effort, the idea for a Corridor Expedition was born. In 2012, the team traveled from the Everglades to Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, near Jacksonville― on foot, by paddleboard and b y kayak―doing their best t o use the land like a bear might. “Mapping out each mile of the route in advance gave us a baseline familiarity, but to be immersed in the woods and waters of the Corridor for 70 straight days provided new levels of insight about the challenges and opportunities for its conservation," says Ward, who captured the journey on film.
Various constituents joined the expedition team along the way, and the relationships built in the field have been valuable. “It can be difficult to get people from different sectors to come together in agreement,” says Maddie Southard, program manager for the Florida
Wildlife Corridor, “but we have benefited greatly from our many partners, who are all committed to protecting wild Florida.”
Today, 9.8 million acres of the project’s 15.8 million-acre target have been protected. The Corridor provides habitat for at least 42 endangered species, including crested caracaras, Florida panthers and West Indian manatees. Human adventurers also benefit from its many miles of hiking and paddling trails. Connectivity between conservation lands contributes to improved air and water quality, ecosystem health and flood control.
Thanks to strong public outreach efforts reinforced by Ward’s outstanding photography, and two award-winning documentaries― The Florida Wildlife Corridor and The Forgotten Coast (which showcases a second, more recent expedition)―the Corridor has also enjoyed considerable notice and enthusiasm from the public. “We’ve had overwhelming support from Floridians who love their state and want to see it protected,” says Southard. “Nearly every film screening we’ve hosted has sold out and people want to know how they can help.”
It seems the beginning of this ambitious landscape conservation plan has been a success, but there is still work to be done. “Our work is just beginning,” says Lykes Dimmitt. “We want to continue to tell the story of the Florida Wildlife Corridor and the people who make it real, and make sure we are inspiring more and more people each day to make it a protected reality.”
Her statement sums up the Corridor perfectly―a project that is, at its core, about people working together to benefit wildlife, watersheds and future generations for many years to come.