In a state with a rapidly growing population, wildlife corridors and safe highway crossings are critical to protecting the species
, driving through a busy highway outside Naples. Palm and pine trees flank the roads, and the morning humidity is thick. Backcountry supplies and camera equipment rattle in the backseat as he drives.
Map of the Florida Wildlife Corridor, divided by the 9.6m acres currently conserved and 8.1m acres marked for expansion. In 2012, a trail camera at the refuge captured a Florida panther moving three cubs. One became known as “Broketail” for her injured tail’s distinctive crimping.Photograph: Carlton Ward Jr
While at Corkscrew, we check Ward’s camera traps and stop to view some of the last old-growth cypress trees, known panther watering holes, and barbed wire fences where panthers have been photographed moving between ranches and the sanctuary.At dusk, Ward captures drone footage of traffic hurtling along I-75. He’s indefatigable, always searching for athat will help others realize the plight of the panther, and the need to conserve and connect land.
“The corridor is ambitious,” Ward says, “but achievable, if lawmakers keep investing in the conservation easements and public land acquisitions that will give landowners viable alternatives to development.”Photograph: Carlton Ward Jr After coffee, Ward introduces me to predator biologist Joe Guthrie, another corridor advocate. Guthrie – a former football player from Kentucky who reads the New Yorker but also regularly collars bears – cranks up a swamp buggy, a custom vehicle made on top of a truck chassis. We spend a few hours driving through varied and endangered Florida landscapes on large ranches, including patches of ancient scrub that host rare endemic plants.
Lightsey’s son-in-law offers me a seat on the back of an ATV. In minutes we’re flying across the pasture, dipping in and out of wet ditches as we back up the skilful cowboys, one of whom is 81. They turn their horses on a dime and steer the cows from the pasture toward the barn, where the calves will be castrated and dewormed, then returned to their mothers.
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