Audubon's Dr. Paul Gray submits his report from his time spent with the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition. Enjoy:
The Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition is a 1000 mile, 100 day trip through Florida from Florida Bay to the Georgia border. The expedition crossed the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park on February 28 and 29 and I got to spend time with them.
The expedition is tracing a planned conservation corridor to raise awareness of the importance of corridors to conservation, especially this one. Participants at the Prairie included photographer Carlton Ward, Jr., bear biologist Joe Guthrie, film maker Elam Stoltzfus, with support from Rick Smith and Joe Davenport. The expedition has social media outlets and blogs that are very entertaining. See for yourself here.
We first met on a restored run of the Kissimmee River between the Avon Park Air Force Range, which they had crossed from the east, and the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. Jen Benson, of the Preserve, pulled my airboat to the river with a tractor so we could tour the restoration work with expedition members. We took a sunset cruise, seeing extensive sandbar formation (good), small gators and other wildlife, in spite of the relatively dry conditions in the floodplain.
On the second day, Jen, Paul Miller (Preserve biologist), and myself met them again at the river. They had stayed on Avon Park that night and were, well, frolicking in the river when we arrived to pick them up. After the swim we took a buggy tour of the Preserve, touring hammocks and abandoned homesteads, the 1850s era Military Trail, open prairies and at sunset, listened to the sparrow chorus that included the first singing Florida Grasshopper Sparrow of the year. I posted some photos on the Friends of the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve Facebook page.
The expedition continued north the next day and just passed the half way point of their journey. It was very fun spending time with them and you can follow them, and perhaps meet up with them, through their home page. Best of luck to the team!
