James Valentine, Ocala-Osceola (Etonia Creek/Cross Florida Greenway)

About Etonia Creek/Cross Florida Greenway:

The southernmost landscape-connecting unit in the Ocala to Osceola (O2O) corridor is a Florida Forever BOT project known as the Etoniah/Cross Florida Greenway. The Etoniah/Cross Florida Greenway project consists of a large tract that extends north from the existing Cross Florida Greenway to Clay County, and four smaller tracts designed to fill in gaps in state ownership along the Greenway. Though partially logged and planted in pine, the large expanse of flatwoods, sandhills and scrub in central Putnam County is important for the survival of many kinds of wildlife and plants. The Greenway is a unique strip of land for recreation and conservation that makes a cross-section of the peninsula from the Withlacoochee River to the St. Johns River.

The Etoniah/Cross Florida Greenway project is important to the survival of rare species clinging to the rare habitat found on the site. There is high-quality sandhill habitat, and a unique white-cedar swamp along Deep Creek. Near Etoniah Creek there are patches of very high quality scrub, harboring at least a dozen rare species including fox squirrel, gopher tortoise, indigo and pine snake, rare crayfish, and seven rare plants. This is the only known site for the federally-listed Etoniah rosemary. In addition, completing this connector between Ocala National Forest and Camp Blanding Joint Military Training Center to the north is very important to the survival of the black bear in northeast Florida.

The smaller tracts include high-quality floodplain swamps along the Ocklawaha River; mixed forest land near U.S. 441 south of Ocala; and Inglis Island, disturbed pinelands between the old Cross Florida Barge Canal and the Withlacoochee River.

In total, the project area is 93,259 acres, of which 26,957 acres are currently protected. It includes many acres of pine plantation and cut-over flatwoods, but these habitats will generate revenue through timber sales, and can gradually be restored to native habitat. The large size, restorable pine plantations, and diversity of the Etoniah Creek portion of the project make it highly desirable for management as a state forest. The second phase, the Cross Florida Greenway State Recreation and

Conservation Area, includes scenic portions of rivers, lakes, wetlands and uplands. It is also near or contiguous with many other state-owned lands.

The Etoniah/ Cross Florida Greenway project will conserve land in Putnam County as well as fill in gaps in the Greenway, providing an expanded recreational map through both phases. Currently protected areas within the project include the SJRWMD-managed Rice Creek Conservation Area, a rich bottomland forest with cypress trees among the largest in the state. Hikers in Rice Creek make use of a well-built elevated walkway put in place by trail managers on the Florida National Scenic Trail (FNST). The FNST crosses State Road 100 and eventually runs through Etoniah Creek State Forest, the other piece of existing conservation land within this project. So the completion of the Putnam County portion will be of benefit to FNST hikers in the future. It will ensure that wildlife such as the Florida black bear and scrub jays and plants such as the Etoniah rosemary will have areas in which to live. And it will provide recreation for the public ranging from long-distance hiking trails to fishing, camping and hunting.

About the Missing Links Photographer:

“In 1971, there was a void to fill; ecology was just becoming a common term. It was imperative that we put together the Quest Foundation to support photographic arts ​ ​ and educate the public. There wasn’t much attention given to environmental preservation through the arts, especially in the southeast. The Foundation represented a groundbreaking organization that was devoted to the preservation of wild places through the arts and sciences.” Critical Linkages Photographer James Valentine founded the Quest Foundation, the first organization of its kind, and one that laid the groundwork for future conservation communications organizations.

James is a Florida native, who spent his childhood in Fort Myers Beach. His father was a “world-class entomologist” and a photographer who imparted both artistic and scientific passion to his son. Photography was an early part of James’ life, and followed him through college and his first career path, working in advertising on campaigns such as Coca-Cola. Eventually his ties to art and conservation led him to the path he continues to this day. “I try to show the sacredness of landscapes, wherever they are. All of life is dependent upon them; when you look at a landscape you are not just looking at stagnant, biological forms. When you look at each

ecosystem you have to look at what it is, where it is, and the local and planetary connections. Without that, we as a species would not be here.”

James is a Florida native, who spent his childhood in Fort Myers Beach. His father was a “world-class entomologist” and a photographer who imparted both artistic and scientific passion to his son. Photography was an early part of James’ life, and followed him through college and his first career path, working in advertising on campaigns such as Coca-Cola. Eventually his ties to art and conservation led him to the path he continues to this day. “I try to show the sacredness of landscapes, wherever they are. All of life is dependent upon them; when you look at a landscape you are not just looking at stagnant, biological forms. When you look at each ecosystem you have to look at what it is, where it is, and the local and planetary connections. Without that, we as a species would not be here.”

James primarily uses large format photography to capture the stunning landscapes that become the focus of his work. Always, he works to convey the feeling of the area. Just as important as the photograph itself is the background work behind the setting and subject. “I always make it a point, when I photograph an area, to talk to the management, if there is any, and discuss their personal experiences with the landscape: why are they there, what about the area is inspiring, what are some of their favorite animal stories? You really have to showcase what’s important to people.”

His work in the Etoniah/ Cross Florida Greenway is no exception to this rule. James describes the area as “upland-type habitat, with a few scattered hammocks,” all of which rely upon Etoniah Creek. Through speaking with the management for the Etoniah Creek State Forest, James learned of the magnificent Loblolly Bay, a pride and joy of the park. Looking straight up at the foliage, we see the dynamics of the crown. “I take the time to really compose each image and understand its relationship with the plants and animals. As soon as we start overlaying what we think a creature should do, it becomes Walt Disney.”

A loblolly bay, the pride and joy of the Etoniah Creek State Forest, a section of the Etoniah/ Cross Florida Greenway.

Etonia Creek

“All of life, regardless of how threatening you personally might think it is to you, is beautiful. We have to create an understanding of the beauty that each creature has, whether it be a rattlesnake, alligator, or swallow-tailed kite. There’s a great deal of respect involved. People have so much fear about different types of wildlife. Respect and fear are two different things. It’s good to have respect. It’s a matter of building that mutual respect for species on earth.”

-James Valentine

John J. Lopinot, Caloosahatchee-Kissimmee (Fisheating Creek Ecosystem)

About the Fisheating Creek Ecosystem: Fisheating Creek is one of the largest fairly natural areas on the Florida peninsula. Today it is the only undammed tributary to Lake Okeechobee, gathering in the prairies and flatwoods of Highlands County and flowing lazily east, through soaring cypress domes and vast marshes. The land around Fisheating Creek is primarily owned by Tampa-based agricultural conglomerate Lykes Brothers, Inc.

The Fisheating Creek Ecosystem Florida Forever BOT project encompasses 177,000 acres of the creek, 68,000 of which is currently under conservation. This a key landscape for connecting several major hubs of conservation land, tying together almost the entire southern peninsula. It is the key component of a corridor from Lake Okeechobee west to Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area, which is a 73,000-acre Florida Forever BOT project north of Ft. Myers. Due to the largely natural landscape of Glades County – most of which is owned by Lykes Brothers – there is good connectivity from Fisheating Creek south to the Caloosahatchee River. At the Caloosahatchee River and east of LaBelle, several additional Florida Forever projects constitute the best remaining hope for a wildlife corridor connecting through Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest to the Fakahatchee Strand and the Big Cypress Region to the south.

Fisheating Creek and the surrounding landscape is the next frontier for the endangered Florida panther. Though wide-ranging males have been documented in the landscape for many years, there are no female panthers known to be north of Hendry County. Males that make it north of the Caloosahatchee enter a landscape

lacking mates, essentially removing themselves from the population. If a female cat were to establish a home range north of the river, she would most likely include portions of the Fisheating Creek drainage. The subpopulation of black bears of south-central Florida finds refuge in the dense forested habitat associated with the creek. The threats to survival for the regions’ black bear mirror those faced by the panther; the Caloosahatchee forms a barrier to bears moving south to exchange genes with the subpopulation of southwest Florida and the Big Cypress.

In addition to panthers, the creek is considered a Strategic Habitat Conservation Area for a multitude of other species. Swallowtail kites gather by the hundreds over the cypress domes in early summer, in preparation for their migration to central America. Adjacent to the creek, red-cockaded woodpecker families nest and breed in old-growth longleaf pine flatwoods. These clusters represent some of the southernmost members of this endangered species. Crested caracara are frequently seen perched along pasture fencerows or scavenging roadkill on SR 29. Sandhill cranes families work the pastures. The mottled duck and short-tailed hawk draw birders in search of rare species for their life lists.

From the air, Fisheating Creek appears as a green vein winding through a marshy, open landscape. This is one of the largest uninhabited and least road-dense areas left in the state. U.S. Highway 27 divides the project roughly in half, but the rest of the roads in the area are rural and receive, on average, less than 1000 cars a day. Improved pastures and planted pines are interspersed with freshwater marshes, dense oak-palm hammocks and broad swaths of pine flatwoods. Given the size of this natural gem, it is extraordinary that it remains relatively intact. The project area includes at least 31 archaeological sites, many associated with the important Fort Center Site Complex of the Belle Glades culture (500 B.C. to A.D. 1700). There are likely many more important sites within the project. Given all the biological and cultural significance of the land, it is easy to understand the high priority status Florida Forever and natural resource agencies have placed on this project.

About the Missing Links Photographer:

Coming from a background in photojournalism, Critical Linkages Photographer John J. Lopinot now struggles with the same overarching issue many of LINC’s photographers face: how do you share a story now that the newspaper business is slowly fizzling out? John grew up in a small town in central Illinois, with a father who was a biologist and a very serious amateur photographer. The dark room in

his home provided inspiration for continuous shooting on the numerous vacations the family took to National Parks.

John was given his first story to document on a trip he took with his father to Alabama in 1965 on a tour of fisheries. What they found was the civil rights movement, and a spark for documenting that carved a path for John’s life. As a photographer for his student newspaper at Southern Illinois University, John was surrounded by student protests against the Vietnam War. “My pictures started getting picked up by the Associated Press and United Press International; they were transmitted out to the world and picked up by Time Magazine and a number of newspapers.”

Our Florida state wildflower, the Tickseed (Coreopsis), and the Florida state tree, the Sabal palm, on a foggy morning in the Fisheating Creek Ecosystem.

By following the path of photojournalism John completed a Masters at The University of Missouri, School of Journalism, and an informative internship at National Geographic. John then decided he wanted to be a free-lancer. “I went to the National Hobo Convention in Britt, Iowa. This was back when there still were authentic hobos. I ended up on the road for 2 weeks with the ‘Pennsylvania Kid,’ also known as Richard Wilson. It was hard to get him to take me with him. I rode rails, slept in boxcars, under overpasses, and in empty boxes, and drank out of

puddles. It was really quite an experience. I came back, wrote the story, and packaged the pictures. In 1975 a lot of every big newspaper in the country had a Sunday magazine. I sent copies to 30 different newspapers and almost every one bought and ran it.”

From there John took his talent to Florida where he was offered a job at the Palm Beach Post, a paper with an excellent reputation for photography. John stayed there as Chief Photographer for 30 years until retiring recently because of the down turn of the newspaper business. While at the post John explains, “I did everything: I covered seven super bowls, I covered news in Haiti seven times, I went to Cuba twice and shook hands with Fidel Castro, I’ve been to the Bahamas diving with 200 sharks, I rode a mule to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. As a photojournalist you have to cover everything. But my interests were really in nature and outdoor underwater photography.” Luckily, as a supervisor, John was able to bring occasional environmentally focused stories to the paper.

Since retiring from the Palm Beach Post John continues his photography, and teaches photography workshops. However, he explains that it is “more difficult today, not having [the newspaper as a] venue” to show people what is going on in nature. “The thing about the ocean is that most people don’t go underwater and recognize what’s happening underneath the sea. Sewage outfalls, turtles wrapped in plastic, there are all kinds of things I see during a dive. It’s hard now that I don’t have that print base, to contribute work and make people aware of this. It’s a challenge for me and a challenge for every photographer. We all like to consider our photography as art, the challenge to all of us is how do we show and explain the problems. I shoot these on land too. There are great blue herons caught in power lines. But who will want that photo? You can’t put that in a gallery and expect somebody to buy that as art. But they are killed by the thousands. Occasionally Audubon Magazine will run it, and you’ll see it in a National Park magazine, but there are very limited sources to show issues today. People don’t want to look at ugly things.”

So what can we do to expose both the “Beauty and the Beast”? John explains, “In many ways maybe we can use social media to create interest in the problems as well as the beauty.” And this is where photography comes in: “Photography is real. First of all, to be a photographer you have to be there and confront the subject. Therefore you are more intimately involved. A photographer is a witness.”

A barred owl in the Fisheating Creek Ecosystem.

“I try to let my pictures speak for themselves.” John did exactly this while shooting his Critical Linkages assignment, the Fisheating Creek Ecosystem. Fisheating Creek is the last free-flowing river into Lake Okeechobee. It is a landscape altered by ranching and the Hoover Dike system. With all the change, there is still beauty to be found in the area. John found gorgeous plants and animals, representing “Florida’s wild and biological habitat.”

People who visited the Fisheating Creek Ecosystem prior to the changes may see the ‘beast’ through John’s pictures as well as the ‘beauty’ that those new to the area would find. Through his participation in projects like Critical Linkages and the many talks he gives in his area, John continues to search for ways to tell the important stories of nature.

“It’s a challenge for me and a challenge for every photographer. We all like to consider our photography as art, the challenge to all of us is how do we show and explain the problems. People don’t want to look at ugly things.”

-John J. Lopinot

Jason Hahn, Kissimmee-St. Johns-Ocala (Ranch Reserve)

About the Ranch Reserve:

Large cattle ranches in Osceola County conserve a vast area of open lands – pastures, pine flatwoods, palmetto prairies and marshes – west of the St. Johns River. To the millions who visit Florida’s coastal beaches every year, the ranchlands are largely unseen or overlooked. To those who know them, the working cattle ranches of Florida are an anchor to the past, and provide a rich connection to the state’s heritage. The history is entwined with a diverse landscape, brimming with wildlife. Species such as eastern indigo snake, crested caracara, and red-cockaded woodpecker are found throughout the prairies and flatwoods of the Florida ranchlands. The nearby presence of the extremely rare Florida grasshopper sparrow and an experimental flock of whooping cranes on the Ranch Reserve BOT Project make a clear case for additional protection.

This is usually accomplished through a conservation easement, which relieves the landowner of some tax burden while allowing existing agricultural practices to continue. The biggest beneficiaries of conservation easements are wildlife, which can flourish as habitat management and restoration efforts are applied, terms of which can be written into the easement.

The protection of the Ranch Reserve project will preserve a connection of open land with the 62,000-acre Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area to the north and the 52,000-acre Three Forks Conservation Area to the east. The four cattle ranches in the Ranch Reserve project lie on the Osceola Plain west of the St. Johns River marshes. Mesic flatwoods interrupted by depression marshes cover about 40% of the project area. Swamps and hammocks make up much of the remaining natural communities. At least 24 Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI)-listed animals are known or reported from the project.

Protecting and restoring the mosaic of pine flatwoods and wetlands in this project is the central mission of the Ranch Reserve BOT project. Achieving this protection will provide refuge for its threatened inhabitants, such as the flock of whooping cranes that Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has released in an effort to

re-establish them. There are fewer than 500 whooping cranes left in the world. The experimental population is thought to number around 20 individuals.

As of 2011-2012, 23,800 acres have been protected within this project, through the use of conservation easements on three large cattle ranches. St. Johns River Water Management District and FFWCC work closely with Florida Forever’s BOT program. Roughly 13,000 acres, spread over two additional private ranches, remains to be protected. The property forms an important east-west bridge between two of Florida’s most significant watersheds: the Kissimmee River, part of the Everglades system, and the St. Johns River, which flows north up the Atlantic Coast to Jacksonville. In addition to the diversity of bird species benefiting from the protection of their flyway, this linkage could serve as a potential dispersal zone for terrestrial wildlife. Wide-ranging species such as the black bear or the Florida panther would need to navigate from the prairie ranchlands into the St. Johns River corridor in order to disperse north around the city of Orlando. This could one day prove to be their route.

About the Missing Links Photographer:

Born and raised in Thurmont, Maryland, Critical Linkages Photographer Jason ​ Hahn grew up at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains. Jason spent his childhood ​ playing in the ponds, lakes, streams, and fields of his parent’s 50 acre farm until he graduated from The University of Maryland with a degree in criminal justice. In the years after college, Jason and his wife Nicole moved down the eastern coast of the US, chasing the jobs of their dreams, and found themselves in Land O’ Lakes in 2002.

Here in Florida, Jason discovered his passion for photography and his natural surroundings during his daily bicycle rides with his one year old son. After selling his first photographs in 2004, Jason developed his photography as a career. Jason is an avid outdoor recreationist and a certified Florida Master Naturalist who believes that “to be a better nature photographer you have to be a better naturalist.” The nature photography workshops that Jason and his business partner hold around the country teach photography skills as well as information about the natural area they photograph.

Hawk

In his workshops Jason focuses largely on teaching participants to tell the story of the land they explore: “Any time I explore an area, its about coming back to telling that story; giving that sense of place to the viewer and making them want to be standing there sharing the experience.” Let us, let him do exactly that through his words and pictures of the Ranch Reserve, a Critical Linkage area:

“One of my passions is wildlife and photographing the intimate moments that go on in animals' lives; everything that they’re doing struggling for survival. Photographing creatures: it’s a time when animals accept me into their world for a while…What really got me excited about this state is that I’ve never been anywhere that has such biodiversity in such a small area. There are few places that really compare to here for such sheer quantity and diversity of wildlife and ecosystems.”

“The Ranch Reserve itself, the majority of it, is what you would call traditional Florida uplands. It has a lot of palmetto and a lot of pine. This uplands area supports a tremendous amount of creatures.”

“The Ranch Reserve is a diverse place. When you stand there and look across you think it's only palmetto and pines. But, every one of the palmettos is its own ecosystem. If you slow down and take the time to really experience that place, it's amazing the amount of different creatures, plants and animals that live there…That habitat is robust on its own but it's also a dynamic habitat. When you look at a palmetto people don’t necessarily think about fragility. But because of man and because of the natural changes this landscape is going through (fire, drought, flooding) it's important to show that ecosystem and the threats.”

-Jason Hahn

Ranch Reserve

The Western Meadowlark in the Ranch Reserve.

“To be a better nature photographer you have to be a better naturalist; the more you understand animals, plants, and the places you photograph, the better your photos are. I’ve always had an interest in the natural world and I worked at parks and zoos throughout my life. I try to always be involved in those places set aside to conserve animals or habitats. Becoming a Florida Master Naturalist was what really opened my eyes to the diversity of ecosystems here in Florida, but also the conservation issues that they face.”

“It’s tough to endear some of Florida’s creatures to the general public. We always like the cute animals. I try to identify some of the specific characteristics of that animal, and try to capture those in a shot. Spiders are tough, but that’s where the intricacy of the webs and the way the light shines through, and morning dew on one of those webs really comes into play. That’s really the challenge is finding those things that are beautiful about them. These are amazing creatures who build these intricate webs, and you have to find those unique characteristics and use photography to really make that focal point.”

The intricate webs of a spider on the Ranch Reserve.

Daniel Ewart, Ocala-Osceola (Raiford-Osceola Greenway) ​

About the Raiford-Osceola Greenway:

The Raiford-Osceola Greenway Florida Forever Project is a vital piece of the Ocala to Osceola Greenway, which connects two of the largest blocks of conservation land left in Florida. The 67,000 + acre Raiford-Osceola project is a lynchpin to the entire O2O corridor system. It abuts Osceola National Forest to the southeast and extends east to the Camp Blanding-Raiford Greenway project, spanning a distance of 18 miles. This is the final landscape connection for a young male black bear that might travel north from Ocala National Forest or Camp Blanding Joint Training Center in search of a new home range. In biologist Jeremy Dixon’s genetic sampling of the bear population throughout the region, multiple bears with Ocala genes were detected on the Raiford to Osceola project, confirming that a functional corridor exists through the property. Dixon’s research also indicated that Osceola bears disperse south onto the property.

There is much work to be done to restore much of the site. Silvicultural lands constitute a large portion of the property, including pine plantation and clearcuts. But there are high value habitats in abundance as well, fostering some important ecological actors. Floodplain forests and baygalls border the streams that drain from the site. Four blackwater streams from three major river basins – the St. Mary’s, St. Johns, and the Santa Fe – originate in the project area. As of today, none of this project is protected. Current efforts are working with the landowners towards a less-than-fee agreement. This would place conservation protection over the site and establish management guidelines, which would facilitate some restoration to native habitat in some areas of the property.

About the Missing Links Photographer:

Ansel Adams once said: “A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.” Critical Linkages Photographer Daniel Ewert makes his name in the world of photography using technique that accomplishes this goal. “ I’ve tried to specialize in capturing those special moments in a way that makes images more closely match what you would see with your eye.” Of course, “some things are impossible to capture with a camera, like the feel of a breeze,” but Daniel emphasizes lift and color to convey the emotional feeling of a landscape.

Daniel’s image of the Raiford Osceola Greenway, taken for the Critical Linkages project, provides us with a sense of calm. The soft light and color in this photograph reflect the peace before an incoming afternoon thunderstorm. While visiting the area, Daniel explains, “I was trying to find a scene that would represent the plant life and the forest atmosphere of the area, in addition to the waterways that exist there. I found a good place to get cheap marine supplies and so, got some boating essentials, which helped me increase my range.” Imitating the sense of a photograph is the goal of Daniel’s work, however the feelings received from each landscape cannot be pre-planned: “It’s hard to walk into a scene and pre-visualize the kinds of feelings that the viewer will get. Usually I will go to a wild place and I will wait for the right light to occur. I really let the conditions of light dictate the mood that is captured.”

Ironically, Daniel describes this area, seen so peacefully in his depiction, as wild and reminiscent of Old Florida’s large spans of land. Although the Raiford Osceola Greenway is a relatively small area of land, it is full of “lakes, ponds, and lush

forest that appeared as though they would support a bounty of wildlife.” It is difficult to imagine this in comparison to how we see the area through Daniel’s image, but as he says, “Florida is a difficult place to shoot landscape images because there are so many elements; it is difficult to organize a photo to make elements line up because there are so many of them.” Creating a simplified composition, as Daniel does in his Critical Linkages assignment, is not easy.

Raiford Osceola Greenway

Florida’s diversity is both the reason that it’s so recently been developed and also why Daniel believes the state plays such an important role in the North American conservation movement. As a photographer who spends time in National and State Parks around the country, Daniel explains, “Florida has a unique landscape. Shooting here is different than shooting in the mountains of Washington, or the deserts of California and Utah. Florida is diverse. We have the Gulf of Mexico, with white sand beaches and emerald water, but we also have the Everglades and forests that are thick, green, lush, and teaming with rivers and streams. There are animals that live here who don’t have habitat elsewhere.”

Conservation was always an important issue for Daniel. As a young boy growing up in Washington State, Daniel became familiar with the surrounding landscapes as a hiker, and at a young age became aware of the environmental issues facing his home. In 2008 Daniel received his first requests from conservation agencies asking to use his work to promote their projects. “The public strongly identifies with wild spaces through photography. It can be used as a crucial tool to remind people of the places we have left, and the experiences they’ve had in the wild.”

Like many of Florida’s other nature photographers, Daniel is a self-taught landscape photographer. He attributes his beginnings to the books Landscape Photography, by John Shaw, and Nature Photography, by Tim Fitzharris. Although photography was a long-time hobby for Daniel, he brought it to the professional level in 2005. As a Pensacola lawyer, Daniel “still in some ways considers photography a hobby because [he] gets so much enjoyment out of it.” He explains, “I wouldn’t necessarily want to call it a career, because that makes it sound like I have to do it.” A hiker and a kayaker, Daniel describes his favorite parts of photography: “The thing I enjoy most is not taking the image, but when I’m out there shooting and exploring. It’s being able to observe and be part of Florida’s wild places. I love being out there.”

“The thing I enjoy most is not taking the image, but when I’m out there shooting and exploring. It’s being able to observe and be part of Florida’s wild places. I love being out there.”

-Daniel Ewart

Jeff Ripple, Kissimmee-St. Johns-Ocala (Pine Island Slough Ecosystem) ​

About the Pine Island Slough Ecosystem: ​

The protection of the Kissimmee River watershed is essential to ensure clean water as we face the future in south Florida. Seven million Floridians live within the Everglades watershed. That number has doubled since 1970, and is projected to double again by 2060. Against this outlook, it will be a challenge to ensure a future for the Florida panther, or the whooping crane, or the snail kite. But in addition to the myriad species in need of protection, clean drinking water for humans is a major reason to pursue the protection of the entire Everglades watershed. Those who are

unaware of Florida’s wildlife and wild landscapes are still bound to the land by their use of water. Water enters the Everglades through multiple inputs, but the Kissimmee River and the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes have been the focus for engineers and ecologists over the past decade. Through the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) 24 miles of meanders have been restored to the Kissimmee River, correcting 1960s channelization of the river that drained the land for agricultural use. The result is a return toward achieving the natural filtering effect of the regions wetlands, removing excess nutrients from runoff, so that water flowing into Lake Okeechobee is cleaner. By conserving the land around the Kissimmee we improve the quality and quantity of water for central and south Florida.

Fortunately, the effort to protect the Everglades headwaters does not start from scratch. Years of hard work by landowners and conservationists have given us Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, Avon Park Air Force Range, and Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area, among others. These three reserves alone account for over 220,000 acres. However, the gaps remaining in the Kissimmee River corridor are important ones that must be protected soon, or risk being developed when another housing boom sweeps into the Florida heartland.

The Pine Island Slough Ecosystem Florida Forever BOT project is an ambitious effort to add nearly 49,000 acres to the protection of the lands around the Kissimmee River. The project would strike a major blow for central Florida’s precious dry prairie and grasslands. The block of protected land that would result from the protection of Pine Island Slough would stand among the largest conservation networks in the state, protected by a partnership of agencies and each accessible to the public.

Pine Island Slough sits on the east side of the Kissimmee River, where it borders Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. The Florida Forever project designed to protect the slough encompasses a large, intact landscape of incredible ecological riches. From birdlife to rare plants to the all-important freshwater marshes, to the breathtaking expanse of prairie, the landscape is an ecological gemstone. There are pine flatwoods with red-cockaded woodpeckers and eastern diamondback rattlesnakes. There are both wet and dry prairie habitats, supporting the largest diversity of grassland flowers on Earth. There are stands of scrubby flatwoods and

ancient Florida scrub, where the Florida scrub jay and large flowering rosemary may still be found.

Despite the ecological treasure, the site is vulnerable. As recently as 2009, the Pine Island Slough Ecosystem was slated to be the site of a new town, ironically named Destiny. There were plans for housing to accommodate up to 200,000 residents, spread over 40,000 acres. Given the speed with which some Florida landscapes have been developed over the last century, it is not hard to envision this property disappearing one day soon. Some of the cowmen that work the prairies of central Florida were alive when most of current-day Orlando was a ranchland. The question is not whether a similar scenario could play out again near the Everglades headwaters. It’s a question of “when.” Squabbles between the developers have delayed the Destiny project roll-out, but there can be no doubt that the issue will arise again. Unless we protect it.

About the Missing Links Photographer:

A native of Florida’s Fort Lauderdale, Critical Linkages Photographer Jeff Ripple grew up with an appreciation for Florida’s magnificent landscapes. Unfortunately, Jeff was not the biggest fan of Fort Lauderdale and once he completed his primary education and graduated high school, he “moved as far away as he knew and with still some family contact.”

Des Moines, Iowa suited Jeff for a while, but a couple years into school, he transferred to Southwest Missouri State University, and eventually to Florida Atlantic University. Back in Florida, he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in English. With “no idea what to do with a degree in English” Jeff got his first job out of college at a medical software company, writing technical manuals. However, he soon moved into natural history writing, where his career became successful as he published eight books to date, as well as writing for many magazines.

Jeff’s photography career originally began as a way to illustrate his natural history writing. Since then, he became a photography teacher at independent workshops, and most recently started exploring the medium of painting. As a photographer and a painter, Jeff’s principle focus is upon light: “I want to convey to others what this landscape conveys to me. Light can communicate that idea to a broader audience. In focusing on a landscape, you have to take what’s given to

you.” He never uses a flash, and as a result, many of his pictures appear as paintings.

Pine Island Slough Ecosystem

Although he’s dabbled in painting over the past four years, his conservation work relies primarily upon his photography. “There’s something about a photograph, particularly a landscape: despite Photoshop and digital wizardry there’s an element of truth. Most people can agree that what you photographed is truly there. For conservation, that’s really important; you want people to know that these places still exist despite increasing legislation to decrease wild spaces.”

Jeff makes his current home just outside Gainesville, a culture away from his previous home of Fort Lauderdale. Although he misses his proximity to the Everglades and Big Cypress, Gainesville offers Jeff the lifestyle he prefers. Florida is his home and he aims his conservation work at the people of Florida.

Pine Island Slough Ecosystem.

Florida, Jeff believes, received a breath of fresh air during the recession. When the housing market crashed, there were no people to build and fill developments. Jeff’s Critical Linkage area, the Pine Island Slough Ecosystem, is a perfect example of the recession as a conservation savior. The Pine Island Slough lies along a single ranch, and as Jeff explains, “that entire area was destined to become a city with an airport and houses. It is a breathtaking place! To think that someone would think of putting a city there just breaks your heart.” Instead, the recession allowed the ranch to drive cattle and the citrus trees to grow.

Throughout his time at the Pine Island Slough, Jeff found that he was taken by the “sense of space” allowed by the vastness of the prairie, and the dramatic sky bringing in a storm. To demonstrate this sense, is the purpose behind Jeff’s work. “I try to give people images, ideas, and vignettes of Florida that they never knew existed. If you see commercials for Florida they are always of the beach, sunsets, and pelicans. I want people to think of the prairie in Florida and the fact that

Florida is the second largest cattle producing state. That’s what photography does. It shows people a Florida they don’t’ expect and maybe makes them curious enough to look deeper because Florida is more than the beach.”

“The ranch gets a lot of credit for the prairie. Prairie needs to be burned on a regular basis and they have done so. It is a spectacular dry prairie: lots of wild flowers, lots of native grasses, all healthy and very lush. There are rabbits everywhere, you can hear quail, and see turkey, and it looked like a panther could emerge any moment. It shows that it is truly cared for.”

-Jeff Ripple

Carlton Ward, Big Bend (Big Bend Swamp-Holopaw Ranch) ​

About the Missing Links Photographer:

“There are two untold stories of Florida, that of the black bear and that of the cowboy. They rely on each other and the same landscape to survive. If it wasn’t for the proactive stewardship of [Florida’s] ranchers certain bear populations would not exist.” Critical Linkages Photographer Carlton Ward calls Florida’s Cowboys the “Keepers of the Last Frontier.” In a state in which 2/3 of the population is from another state or another country, these generations of ranchers tell the genuine story of a Florida untouched by golf courses and beach resorts; places where humans recognize the need for conservation of a landscape, for the animals and themselves.

Within the Big Bend Swamp-Holopaw Ranch, Carlton’s Critical Linkages assignment, sits Camp Lonesome, a perfect example of this stewardship. Owner Carlos Vergara and his partners designated a portion of the property as a county park, and are leaning towards conservation easement for the rest of the property. Coincidentally, Carlton’s work over the past six years focuses on telling the story of Florida’s cowboys and their relationship with the land and wildlife. Carlton’s connection with ranching is a lifelong tale; his family owns a ranch in Limestone, just seventy miles inland from Clearwater, where he grew up. In 2004, Carlton began development of a project in which he would tell the heritage and environmental story of Florida’s Cowboys. Of his time in the field, Carlton explains, “I really enjoy spending time with landowners and ranchers like Carlos Vergara

who are committed to creating a conservation legacy.” For Carlton, Florida’s cowboys are as much a part of the conservation story as the land and animals.

Since he developed an interest in biology and anthropology during his undergraduate studies at Wake Forest University, Carlton searched for a way to combine his interest in human stories and those of nature. He went on to study ecology in a master’s program at the University of Florida. There he further developed his photography skills through photojournalism courses. While this added just one more interest, Carlton never wanted to focus on just one of his passions. “You can never separate your background and experience from your art. It’s always there with you.” Carlton combines his interests by allowing his scientific background to guide the focus of his photography projects.

Almost as if in coordination with his interests, the Big Bend Swamp-Holopaw Ranch is unique because of its cowboy stewards and also because it provides a watershed connection: “it is a transition landscape, right in between the headwaters to the Everglades and headwaters to the St. Johns river.” In addition to providing drinking water to 7 million people, the Everglades watershed, which begins up by Orlando, is the water source for the Everglades and Florida Bay.

An owl taking shelter from the rainstorm at Camp Lonesome Ranch, a section of the Big Bend Swamp-Holopaw Ranch.

Carlton visited the site while on one of the Florida Wildlife Corridor’s expeditions. When he returned to shoot photographs specifically for Critical Linkages, he was looking for cypress groves, “the gathering places of wetlands.” However, in the rain storm that greeted him he focused on other aspects of the landscape. “It’s really neat to stand in what seems like a flat prairie of palmetto and pine trees with cypress swamps on the horizon, and know that the rain that falls on this property either moves towards the Everglades or towards the St. Johns River. It’s our crown of the continent if you will.” Although he ended with pictures different from what he originally imagined, nature offered him a view of the multiple connections provided by his Critical Linkage.

David Moynahan, Kissimmee-St. Johns-Ocala (Kissimmee-St. John’s ​ River Connector)

About the Kissimmee-St. John’s River Connector: ​

The landscape between the Kissimmee River and the St. Johns River is home to a vast array of wildlife, particularly birds. Here are huge dry palmetto prairies interrupted by floodplain marshes and wet prairies. Sandhill crane, wood stork, burrowing owl and crested caracara are found in abundance in the prairies and pastureland of Florida’s ranchlands. In Okeechobee County, some 53,000 acres of this habitat is protected by Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park (KPPSP), which borders the river to the east. The park is familiar to conservationists as one of the last strongholds of the Florida grasshopper sparrow, which is now considered the rarest bird in North America, due to a recent population decline.

To the east, across ten miles of pasture, flatwoods and marsh, lies the Fort Drum Marsh, the southernmost point of the St. Johns River headwaters. This portion of the river is known as the Upper Basin (the river flows north, emptying into the Atlantic near Jacksonville). The entire length of the St. Johns Upper basin is buffered by conservation property, thanks to the forward-thinking of water management districts and conservationists, who recognized that development along the Atlantic coast would impact downstream water quality and fragment the flyway for migratory waterfowl. Fort Drum Marsh is protected as a SJRWMD conservation

area, and is bordered to the north by Blue Cypress Conservation Area, which is in turn bordered by Three Forks Conservation Area, and so on, all the way to the outskirts of Orlando. The lands around the St. Johns constitute an ideal wildlife corridor. The corridor could potentially reach from Ocala National Forest to Osceola County and the Kissimmee River. But in order for this vision to become reality a few key pieces must be added on the Kissimmee end.

The ten miles between the two conservation areas stand to be protected by the Kissimmee-St. Johns Connector Florida Forever BOT project. The 36,177-acre project consists of a landscape mosaic primarily of improved pasture, mesic flatwoods, and wet prairie. The wet and dry prairies of the western portion of the project are contiguous with KPPSP. Toward the eastern half of the project there are bottomland hardwood forests buffering blackwater streams, which feed into Fort Drum Marsh. This habitat diversity equates to a great diversity of species distributed across the project.

Acquisition and management of the Kissimmee-St. Johns Connector is important for the long-term welfare of the species mentioned previously. Strategic Habitat Conservation Areas (SCHAs) for these species comprise a large portion of the project. Acquisition of the property meets Florida Forever goals of increasing protection of Florida’s biodiversity, protecting and restoring the natural functions of land, and increasing natural resource-based public recreation. The project may also help complete the Florida National Scenic Trail, a statewide non-motorized trail that crosses a number of Florida Forever project sites.

The resource diversity of the Kissimmee-St. Johns Connector qualify it for a wildlife management area designation. This would mean public accessibility to a large tract, with expanded opportunities for hunting and fishing, hiking, camping, horseback riding and wildlife viewing.

The primary purpose of the project is the protection of the hydrological connection between the two watersheds. This frequently inundated landscape contributes to the filtering of excess nutrients from water for both the Everglades and the St. Johns watershed. The two watersheds supply drinking water for over 10 million Floridians living along the Atlantic Coast, and throughout central and south Florida. The ecological relevance of the landscape that feeds these two rivers simply cannot be overstated.

About the Missing Links Photographer:

A sculptor, a painter, a marine biologist, a doctor, a father, a son, a husband, a hospice volunteer, and an organic gardener; these are just some of the many lives lived by Critical Linkages Photographer David Moynahan. In this post, we will walk with David down a couple of these paths and learn how, with a life so full of different people and career paths, his passion for photography persisted and changed from a hobby into a career.

Sculptor

Growing up around an artistic father, David was raised with a creative eye and soon grew to love the arts of sculpture, painting, and drawing. He treated most of these skills as a hobby until his adult life, when he spent six years as a part time student in the Florida State University sculpture department. As a doctor, David’s time outside his Family Practice in Tallahassee was limited, but he always made the time to express his creative side. He explains, “I always had my hand in one form of art or another.” One year he enrolled in architecture school, in order to learn architectural and perspective drawing.

It was in college that David discovered his love for the camera, but it was not until 10 years ago that he began to take his photography seriously. Whether for hobby or career, David’s self-taught photography always conveys artistic sensibility. “I don’t know that my art influences my photography so much as my artist’s eye is totally transferable to seeing compositions in nature.”

A scrub pawpaw in the Kissimmee-St. John’s River Connector. ​ ​

Unique to his photography, David focuses much of his work on abstracts in nature. “Maybe my focus on abstracts is just an inherent sense of artistic beauty, or maybe it was growing up with my Dad painting abstracts and pointing out those that struck him.” Those who know David’s work may notice a particular focus on stone. “Perhaps this has to do with my being a sculptor; rocks are nature’s sculptures. I can’t help but admire them when I see grace in their form.” While he still enjoys sculpting, and may one day return to painting, David feels that, “Photography is what is fulfilling my creative outlet at this time.

Marine Biologist

David grew up in Miami, close to Biscayne Bay. Here, he spent a lot of time walking the sea walls, and as a young child started collecting tropical fish. “Studying sea creatures along the shore is what I loved to do; beach combing and exploring along the bay. As I grew up, I became a saltwater aquarium enthusiast.” These fish would make their new homes in the aquariums David learned to build.

Pretty soon David was discovering which fish to house with each other, and would spend hours snorkeling, collecting fish, and studying their movements.

When he graduated high school, David headed to Harvard where he studied biology and marine biology. Along with his studies he took a job with a professor during which he was asked to draw maps and sea creatures, which morphed into photographing specimens, and eventually to photographing live animals. At this time he spent his summers in the Bahamas, and his photographic subjects ranged from those of a tropical climate to the creatures of New England.

David’s interest in the creatures of the sea remains and his love for the ocean and its inhabitants sparked the conservation work in which he is now involved. “Over my 59 years, I’ve watched places of my youth become degraded and ruined. I find that photography is a way to document what places are left and to inspire people to get out and see places and to protect them. Unlike the other forms of art that I’ve practiced, photography takes me out into the field. I love nothing more than being out in wild places.”

Photographer

About ten years ago, David ended his family practice in Tallahassee to spend more time with his family. A friend introduced him to an open position for a photographer at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, where he’s worked for the past seven years. This was the start to David’s still growing photography career. Since then, he’s worked as the photography editor for the Atlas of Florida’s Natural Heritage and as a contributor to LINC’s Florida Forever Calendars, among many other projects.

As a Critical Linkages Photographer, David chose his assignment of the Kissimmee-St. John’s River Connector. This area of ranch land proved difficult to gain access too, yet provided numerous shots from his ladder tripod, and from the land after a little bushwhacking. It might be hard to imagine ranch land as areas necessary for conservation. But as David explains, “If the ranchers get a conservation easement, it doesn’t mean that they have to stop grazing cattle, it just means there will not be subdivisions. Cattle are not going to stop a panther or bobcat from moving through there.”

United with surrounding conserved areas, the Kissimmee-St. John’s River Connector provides habitat to much more than cows.

In the Kissimmee-St. John’s River Connector, David spent days composing his shots, and used them to explore the beauty of the place, with and without the cattle. Many of the shots he took from a ladder where he could gain a larger perspective since he could not gain access onto many of the ranches.

Surpassing the difficulties conservation photography often contains, David is content with this as the current path of his life. “The artist in me says, I’m doing what I’m doing because I love it, that’s number one. Then secondarily, I want people to see it so that they’re inspired.” A photographer and an artist at heart, this characteristic pervades his busy life and drives many of his choices.

“Over my 59 years, I’ve watched places of my youth become degraded and ruined. I find that photography is a way to document what places are left and to inspire people to get out and see places and to protect them. Unlike the other forms of art that I’ve practiced, photography takes me out into the field. I love nothing more than being out in wild places.”

-David Moynahan

Will Dickey, Kissimmee-St. Johns-Ocala (Northeast Florida ​ Timberlands and Watershed Reserve) ​

About the Northeast Florida Timberlands and Watershed Reserve: ​

The Ocala National Forest to Osceola National Forest Ecological Greenway, or O2O, is a conservation project that aims to protect land between these two forests. The purpose of such efforts is to provide wildlife with a connected network of natural land to inhabit and to move through. Habitat loss harms many species, and human developments like roads and subdivisions are particularly damaging to natural cycles and animal movement patterns.

The O2O corridor is an example of building “green infrastructure” on a large scale. Multiple agencies and interests are engaged in finding ways to connect two of the state’s largest conservation hubs over a distance of nearly 200 miles. Its completion will encompass an area large area, varied enough to support nearly the full spectrum of plants and animals of the southeastern coastal plain of North America, not to mention the protection it will afford several important watersheds. The O2O example inspired the thinking behind the 2012 Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition, a media campaign to highlight the remaining ecological connections throughout the peninsula, from the Everglades to Georgia.

The key component of the O2O is the landscape between Camp Blanding Joint Training Center and Osceola National Forest near the Georgia border. There are three large BOT projects designed to connect and restore habitat in north Florida’s timberlands. The southernmost of these proposed units is the Northeast Florida Timberlands and Watershed Reserve Florida Forever BOT. This project is unique in that in addition to its ecological value, by providing habitat around the military base, the project will act as a protective buffer, concealing military training exercises.

The Northeast Florida Timberlands and Watershed Reserve consists of two separate units; one part of the project bounds Camp Blanding to the east, and includes already existing conservation land (Belmore State Forest). Completion of this unit would mean the protection of roughly 6,000 additional acres, but would connect Camp Blanding with Etoniah Creek State Forest, a distance of about 12 miles. The second unit describes a northeast-southwest diagonal along the west side of Duval

County, stretching from the Nassau River north of Jacksonville to Trail Ridge in Clay County, near the town of Lawtey. This unit is roughly 120,000 acres, of which about 2/3 is still to be protected. Seventy-five percent of the land in the NFTWR is used or has recently been used for silviculture. Natural communities include mesic flatwoods, cypress and hardwood swamps, sandhill, xeric hammock, seepage slopes, and baygall. Rare species that occur within the project include gopher frog, gopher tortoise, eastern indigo snake, Hartwrightia, pondspice, and St. John’s black-eyed susan.

The flagship species of the O2O project is undoubtedly the Florida black bear. Following research into the importance of corridors to the black bear of Osceola and Ocala by FFWCC biologist Jeremy Dixon, researchers were able to establish an optimal series of landscape linkages that animals were clearly using to travel in search of food and mates. These linkages helped define the O2O.

About the Missing Links Photographer:

Thomas Creek, a section of the Northeast Florida Timberlands and Watershed Reserve, is the site of Florida’s only Revolutionary War Battle. The City of Jacksonville, with help from a number of local organizations, purchased the area for protection purposes. Thomas Creek was one more piece to the larger puzzle of this Critical Linkage area. In the fall of 2011, Critical Linkages photographer Will Dickey visited this 846 acre site on assignment with the Florida Times-Union. He re-visited the site for the Critical Linkages project a year later with a purpose of promoting conservation of the Northeast Florida Timberlands and Watershed Reserve. Will recalls, “It is an area I remembered being worth going back to.”

Framing this landscape, Will found himself entranced with the clouds of the Thomas Creek area, and their playful reflection in the waters that run into the Nassau River. Will’s photography of the area combines two of Florida’s most documented and important characteristics: the clouds that bring in the rain, and the water that is the lifeblood of the state.

To emphasize these subtle features, Will uses a technique called High Dynamic Range (HDR). “My goal is to get the picture to look like the scene I remember seeing. The reason I use HDR is that one picture of a scene in nature might have a huge range of tones. One picture cannot capture all the tones in one image. To get

the image to look like real life, HDR is the trick.” His use of HDR is a defining characteristic of Will’s photography, often impacting a viewer as a painting would.

HDR allows for a full template of color to complement extraordinary reflection in Critical Linkages Photographer Will Dickey‘s photograph of the Northeast Florida Timberlands and Watershed Reserve.

Will’s photography career began in high school when he took over the newly purchased family Polaroid camera. Once he obtained a 35mm for his birthday, he knew he’d caught the bug. Will grew up in Chatom, Alabama and initially focused his photography career on home-town weddings and portraits. After high school he received a job with the University of Auburn, and later continued his career with the Montgomery daily newspaper. With a degree in business, Will considers himself a self-taught photographer. Thirty years ago, Will moved to Jacksonville where he settled his career and his life-style. He is the father of two college-age boys, and a staff photographer for the Florida Times-Union.

Critical Linkages Photographer Will Dickey captures the combination of history and ​ ​ ecology found within the Northeast Florida Timberlands and Watershed Reserve.

Will has a long-time connection with nature, promoted through bass-fishing as well as fine-art landscape photography; he feels at home in the outdoors. As someone who enjoys the outdoors and relies upon it for lifestyle and career, Will always donates his work to the St. John’s Riverkeeper and other organizations with similar goals as LINC.

“We have to protect these sensitive areas. I feel that way for selfish reasons too. Fisherman and hunters are the same way. We want to keep them wild. We want wild areas to enjoy, and if we want that we need to work together towards protecting these areas.”

“Every time you turn around in Florida there’s another housing development going up. In years past people didn’t build homes in swamps. But now when you call a swamp a marsh, people start moving in. We need to be careful that we don’t lose the beautiful areas that we have here. People don’t really want to look for nature and find nothing but housing developments.”

“A lot of these landscapes are subtle. Some are too overgrown to create a meaningful picture. You have to pick and choose what you want to photograph. Photography in Florida is, for me, about the sky. We don’t

have mountains in Florida, but we do have clouds. We have these incredible tropical systems which create amazing cloud formations.”

-Will Dickey

Paul Marcellini, Caloosahatchee-Kisimmee (Caloosahatchee Ecoscape) ​

About the Caloosahatchee Ecoscape:

As the name suggests, the Big Cypress to Fisheating Creek Critical Linkage connects Big Cypress National Preserve (and Everglades National Park) to the Fisheating Creek conservation lands complex, Bright Hour Watershed conservation area, and Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area. The entire linkage is approximately 775,000 acres, of which 14 percent is currently under conservation. This project is considered by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (which oversees the Critical Linkages in cooperation with the University of Florida GeoPlan Center) to be one of the top three most important ecological linkages in the state. It incorporates most of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Strategic Habitat Conservation Area for the Florida panther. Protection of this landscape is essential for the long-term survival of the Florida panther because it includes lands north of the Caloosahatchee River, where the establishment of a breeding population could dramatically improve the outlook for the species.

Given the enormous size of the Big Cypress-Fisheating Creek Critical Linkage, it’s surprising that its viability is so narrowly dependent on one particular Florida Forever BOT project. The Caloosahatchee Ecoscape Florida Forever BOT project extends from the Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest conservation land complex to the Caloosahatchee River, roughly 4 miles east of LaBelle, Florida. The status of the landscape connection is tenuous. The project boundaries are as narrow as 1 mile in places, which some ecologists suggest as a minimum threshold for movement corridors for wide-ranging species such as a panther or black bear. The width of forested habitat within the boundaries of the project are often much more narrow than this threshold. Growth pressure from LaBelle threatens to further shrink the passage.

The majority of the natural communities on the properties within the Caloosahatchee Ecoscape Project have been impacted by clearing and drainage from improved pasture development or farming. Some of the land has been used for sod farming. Despite the disturbed plant communities, the project provides important habitat for a variety of listed wildlife species beyond panthers. A mosaic of wet prairies, cypress basin and dome swamp, wet pine flatwoods, freshwater marshes and scrub comprise the best habitat on the site. The long-term management goals for protected land within the project will be to restore and maintain native plant and animal communities. Wildlife underpasses on State Road 80 may need consideration in order to improve connectivity within the project.

The most compelling reason for the conservation of this property can occasionally be found in the fire lanes and off-road trails, in the form of dusty feline footprints. Male Florida panthers have been documented crossing the project, moving north to the Caloosahatchee and the ranchlands beyond. GPS data produced by collared cats has repeatedly confirmed the use of this habitat bottleneck. In 2012, the 1270-acre parcel owned by American Prime was purchased through a joint effort by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and private donors. The property fronts the Caloosahatchee River, and is the point at which male panthers have been able to access and swim across. As recently as 2008 the property was slated for a residential development, complete with a 200-boat slip marina. Fortunately, a deal to conserve the property was reached before it fell into foreclosure.

The Caloosahatchee Ecoscape project is 18,400 acres, of which 6100 acres is currently protected by conservation. Additional protection will require cooperation among agencies and NGOs and landowners, similar to the process that allowed American Prime to be protected. This project remains in the highest priority category.

About the Missing Links Photographer:

Originally a painter, Critical Linkages Photographer Paul Marcellini made his name with dramatic light. He captures vivid sunsets and great expansive skies, and knows the tricks to make the colors pop. With his painter’s eye, Paul explains that he pays a lot of attention to the composition of his photographs, and he likes “to keep to as natural a rendition of the scene as possible.”

Torn between a conservation focus and a fine art focus, Paul opened his business to full time photography in 2010. “It’s hard. I’m trying to make a living, so the fine art focus is the easier route. It’s hard to beat the satisfaction, as an artist, of just knowing that someone wants something you’ve created in their house. Then there’s the conservation naturalist side of me that wants my images to have an impact.” Paul meets the challenge and finds a way to combine the two goals. “When I do art shows I only really hang my Florida work. It draws people in, and the first thing I can say is, ‘This is all Florida.’ Especially in Miami a lot of people don’t realize what’s within a two hour drive of them. They are looking at their backyard and they have no idea. They can’t believe it is Florida. We have an opportunity to show that Florida is still wild.”

Paul grew up just outside of Miami, and moved back to the area to work for the Parks and Recreation Department in the Everglades, after graduating college with a degree in Environmental Science. During his time here he taught environmental education and led an occasional eco-tour, leading people who for the first time waded through the swamps and into cypress domes. He realized the impact a trip into Florida’s wilds can have.

In his nature photography, Paul keeps in mind that “there are two routes you can go with in conservation work. You can show the beauty and how idealized an area could be, to draw people in. You can also show the downside and destruction. I take the first route and just try to be an ambassador out on the street with art shows every weekend.” To take those pictures Paul continues to attempt to find what he calls, “unspoiled scenes,” areas that are not highly impacted by humans.

Caloosahatchee Ecoscape

The Caloosahatchee Ecoscape, Paul’s Critical Linkages assignment, is not exactly an “unspoiled scene.” Successfully purchased for the project two days after Paul’s visit, he describes it as being a tough shoot for him since it is mostly cattle ranching land. However, just as in everything, there are pockets of beauty. As he became familiar with the property, Paul recognized, “its amazing how much wildlife still uses the area. I found a lot of evidence of wildlife, from burrowing owls to snakes to deer, despite the cows being there. I could see how critical the area is as a corridor.” In the pockets of sabal palm and oak Paul used his camera to search out the “most wild and natural looking scene [he] could find.” What he found was that the beauty of the place lies largely in the animals who continue to use it, as well as the heritage attached to the “cracker cows and farmers.”

Forest of sabal palm in the Caloosahatchee Ecoscape.

In addition to Critical Linkages, Paul is continuously involved in a global photography project called “Meet Your Neighbors.” He joins other conservation oriented photographers to document small native flora and fauna in an outdoor studio. “It is the big, sexy animals that get most of our attention. They are important, but so are many other critters. It’s the little guys that provide so much biodiversity. It’s important to increase public awareness and show people that if there is a small piece of land, but no panther, it’s still worth protecting because of the little guys.”

“I hope people want to see the beauty I’ve shown them for themselves. Even if they don’t get out here, if some proposition comes up that they have to vote on, I hope that they at least have an image lingering in their head. They might think more about it, and say ‘That isn’t just a swamp, there’s beauty there, and maybe I haven’t gotten there yet, but want it to be around for me to see one day or my kids.’”

While he spends a lot of time composing photographs of the long-nosed toothpick grasshopper and the praying mantis, and capturing the light and landscape of the Florida Everglades he takes the time to enjoy their habitats as well. There are some times when Paul says, “I have to catch myself and remind myself that I’m here to enjoy the area too. Sometimes it’s just nice to sit there.” As an avid kayaker, Paul still enjoys the outdoors as he did during college. Just as he did then, he “likes the sharing aspect” and brings his camera so he can share his experiences, and those of the creatures who inhabit these areas.

“People need to get out into [the wilderness] and realize it's not the scary, dark, gloomy place they think it is. There’s hidden beauty here. If you can’t drag them out into it, then an idealized shot is the next best thing.”

-Paul Marcellini

Mac Stone, Caloosahatchee-Kisimmee (Panther Glades) ​

About the Panther Glades:

Located in south-central Hendry County approximately 40 miles east of Naples, the Panther Glades Florida Forever BOT Project exists in a landscape far removed from the bustling coast. This is hammock land, pasture and cropland. The paved roads hum with fruit trucks and old school buses carrying migrant farmworkers to and from the fields. At a dusty gas station general store off of S.R. 29 customers with debit cards must wait until the phone is unoccupied before their transaction can be run.

Outside of the Greater Everglades public conservation land complex of Collier, Monroe, Miami-Dade and Broward counties, agriculture dominates south-central Florida. Rich soil and a long growing season make this among the most valuable agricultural land in the United States. Sugar cane accounts for much of it, but there are also fruit and vegetable growing operations, like watermelon, broccoli, and citrus. Cattle ranches account for much of the remaining forested habitat.

The Panther Glades Project begins at the Collier/Hendry line, where it abuts the Big Cypress National Preserve. From the cypress domes and pop ash swamps of southern Hendry County the project stretches north, through a mosaic of forested hammocks and improved pasture. The project is large, stretching approximately 19

miles south to north, and at its widest, 9 miles east to west, totaling 64,800 acres. Over 24,000 acres are currently protected, primarily through Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission management of Dinner Island Wildlife Management Area near Devil’s Garden, in the northern half. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages the 1900-acre Florida Panther Conservation Bank, located within the project.

Twenty miles northwest of Panther Glades is Okaloacoochee (OK) Slough State Forest. OK Slough represents the northernmost extent of the female panther’s range. While the male panther has been documented dispersing north across the Caloosahatchee River into the ranchlands of Glades and Highlands counties, the population of breeding females remains south of the river, where panther d and territorial battles with other cats. For many years, panther experts have recognized that only the expansion of panther range beyond the Caloosahatchee is likely to ultimately save the population.

The Panther Glades project would ensure a large landscape of mostly contiguous forested land, connecting the big cats’ stronghold of the southwest Florida and the Big Cypress Addition Lands (aka the Save Our Everglades Florida Forever BOT project) to the OK Slough conservation complex. Long-term telemetry monitoring by FFWCC biologist shows that there are already panthers, including females, throughout southern Hendry County. Though the route through the project includes some cane lands, telemetry data indicates that the landscape is permeable to panthers. The project overlays one paved road, County Road 846, which skirts the southern end of Dinner Island WMA. The mosaic of habitat supports good numbers of whitetail deer and feral hog, two of the staples of the panther diet. There are other large area-requiring species, most notably the black bear and the swallow-tailed kite. A menagerie of wading bird species roost in the cypress domes and forage in the wet meadows.

Nevertheless, the landscape is in south Florida, in mostly private ownership, and is thus vulnerable to being converted to a more intensive human use. The mix of properties within the project boundaries will require an approach that mixes conservation easement agreements and fee simple acquisition. Some portions of the uplands will require restoration and implementation of prescribed fire.

Armed with the knowledge of panther movement habits and habitat preferences, biologists and conservationists are pursuing a long view strategy for expanding the

panther population beyond south Florida; if we protect and manage habitat so as to allow the panther population to push north on its own, eventually the female panthers will find their way across the river on their own. Securing the connections between conservation complexes along the likeliest routes north is an essential facet of this strategy. With Florida Forever funding and the good stewardship of landowners and agency professionals it is still a very reachable goal.

About the Missing Links Photographer: Florida’s swamps: places few appreciate, and even less dare venture into. They are areas beyond human control; areas many people view as dangerous. Critical Linkages Photographer Mac Stone has a different perspective: “There’s something to be said about areas where people don't feel in control. That’s wilderness. With enough practice and time spent in that area you learn your limits and where you’re supposed to be.” Mac, “comfortable in waist deep black water” from a young age, feels his connection with this ecosystem. “These are wonderful sanctuaries for wildlife. We shouldn’t just write them off because we’re a little scared of mosquitoes and snakes.”

Mac explains that he “really tries to capture the whole profile [of a swamp] from that visceral fear that you feel when you get in the water, to the calming feel of the cypress reflected in the water.” With his love and experience with swamps and their ecosystems, Mac documented the cypress grasslands of the Panther Glades, for Critical Linkages. During his time working for the Audubon Society in the nearby Florida Keys Mac became familiar with the area.

While living in South Florida, Mac focused on studying and documenting how water flows and affects large swaths of land. Mac completed his assignment during the dry season, but he explains that three months later he would have been “knee deep in water. The Everglades Watershed floods the entire area. All of this water slowly percolates to Florida bay or out to the Gulf. That whole ecosystem is determined by water flow and water level.” Like all Critical Linkages, the Panther Glades are a critical migratory habitat for megafauna. Mac describes his purpose: to “showcase [this] habitat, not only for aesthetic purposes but also because it is so critical in maintaining that we still have megafauna. Without connected lands the panther and bear don’t stand much of a chance of surviving.”

Although he never saw a panther while there, Mac describes his experience: “When you’re walking through this area, you don’t want to expect to see a panther, you don’t want to hope. But, it’s such a unique feeling in those tall grass prairies and cypress domes. You have the feeling that, yea, maybe a panther or two are watching you.”

“You get the feeling that this is where wild things still roam, where the laws of nature still rule, 100%.” Mac Stone in the Panther Glades.

Growing up in Gainesville, Mac played with his brothers in the forests and cypress swamps of north central Florida. It wasn’t until high school that Mac began photographing his outdoor excursions. Of his time with friends he remembers, from fishing to climbing “we would do anything we could,” in the outdoors. Photography seemed the best way to share these experiences with family and friends. “Eventually it turned into an artistic expression of how I felt about the areas. It morphed into a hobby and then into a profession.”

During Mac’s time in high school land conservation began taking-off in Alachua County. In particular there was a movement to protect Mac’s “training ground for

photography,” an area nearby his home where he spent a lot of his time. He started teaming up with local land trusts by donating images so they could show the public why they were so important. Mac received support from friends and other photographers, but it wasn’t until the fight for this area ended that he realized what he needed to do. “I realized how important this was when a neighborhood was built on that property. It just derailed me. It made me realize that maybe I should be putting more energy into this and pushing harder than I was.”

After graduating college, Mac spent two years in Honduras. There he taught environmental science and photography to underprivileged kids. Through putting cameras in the hands of 80 children, Mac expanded their horizons and encouraged them to expose local environmental issues. Mac then took a similar project to Wyoming, and will now be taking over as head of the High School Scholarship Program for NANPA. He will hold a summit for 10 kids from around the world to meet National Geographic photographers and editors of major magazines.

Though involved in a number of projects, Mac’s biggest focus currently is an Everglades book documenting the flow of water from Lake Okeechobee down to Florida bay. As a self-described project driven worker, Mac responds to the feeling he had in high school. The work he does through personal projects as well as his job as the Executive Director of a South Carolina Land Trust address conservation needs in and outside of Florida.

“Photographing swamps is a delicate balance. I don’t try to engender fear, but I do want people to understand that there is a respect that comes from nature. I think that there are few places where people don’t feel like they dominate. I hope that people realize that it is pretty cool that these areas exist miles within city limits.”

“This wildlife is rare and incredibly important to Florida’s ecology and environment. It is important that these animals still have places to roam. It’s important to me as a photographer because I care about everything that’s in my habitat, from the venomous snakes to gators to the bears. There’s nothing but positive things to be gained from having more wild spaces. As Aldo Leopold said, ‘I’m glad that I’m still young as to where I can have wild country to be young in, and I hope that future generations can say that too.’”

-Mac Stone

John Moran, Kissimmee-St. Johns-Ocala (Volusia Conservation ​ Corridor)

About the Volusia Conservation Corridor:

Like the Ocala to Osceola Corridor, the Volusia County Conservation Corridor Florida Forever BOT Project is a large-scale project seeking to maintain a viable ecological corridor through a mosaic of agriculture and developed lands. In fact, the Volusia project preceded “O2O,” and in doing so served as a model for other counties in Florida.

The Volusia County Conservation Corridor exists today in large part due to the forward-thinking citizens of the county. In 2000 the county created the Volusia Forever Land Acquisition Program, which used tax revenue generated over a 20 year period to purchase and protect the county’s natural diversity. Over the past twelve years the citizens of the county have funded their own conservation programs, and through the cooperation of multiple agencies, have protected nearly 38,000 acres of habitat for wildlife and water recharge. By cooperating with federal, state, water management districts and local agencies committed to protecting natural resources, the county has stretched their funds substantially, and with good results.

There are few landscapes in Florida that are more in need of protection. Volusia County, it could be argued, is scaled-down version of the entire state of Florida, where sudden pressure from development along the coastal boundaries threatens to stifle a landscape that for millennia has teemed with life and endless ecological processes. On the western boundary of the county is Ocala National Forest, a 383,000-acre multi-use landscape full of freshwater springs and endemic plant-rich sandhill and scrub habitats. To the south the St. Johns River and its complex of conservation land snakes up the Atlantic Coast. Between the two massive conservation hubs lies the sprawling city of Orlando.

The Volusia Conservation Corridor provides a route around the city to the east, between Orlando and Daytona, to the protected stretches of the St. Johns, south of State Road 46. Ocala National Forest supports an increasing Florida black bear population. The Volusia Conservation Corridor is vital feature of the conservation and management of the Ocala black bear, ensuring additional habitat for

dispersing juveniles. This is important for the statewide conservation of the black bear, which must be able to travel and breed between disparate subpopulations in order to maintain genetic health. Conservation land along the St. Johns River provides a good travel corridor between Ocala National Forest and the Wekiva Basin west of Deland, but the expanding footprint of Orlando and its outlying communities impede movement further south.

Other wide-ranging species that are affected by the development of the central Florida peninsula stand to benefit from the protection of the Volusia Conservation Corridor. If the Florida panther is to one day expand its range into Ocala National Forest and beyond, it is most likely to use the corridor that has been implemented in Volusia County. Indeed, multiple male panthers have been documented in the corridor in recent years.

The Ocala National Forest to Volusia landscape is a high priority Critical Linkage, similar in scale and regional significance to the Fisheating Creek to Big Cypress linkage. It is perhaps the most threatened by development, with growth pressure encroaching from Orlando, Deland and Daytona. Interstate 4 is in the process of being widened, and State Road 415 is under consideration for a widening project. Wildlife underpasses should be incorporated into any road projects that intersect the Volusia Conservation Corridor, in order to ensure that these roads do not become impermeable barriers to wildlife.

About the Missing Links Photographer:

Although it might seem like a young age for such a serious relationship, Critical Linkages Photographer John Moran began his love affair with Florida when he was moved from Boston at the age of two. As a child growing up in Fort Myers, John always enjoyed nature exploration and observation, and became interested in photography in high school. He went on to gain his degree in journalism from the University of Florida, where he learned his trade as a photographer while contributing to the student paper, “The Alligator.”

After graduating, he chose to stay in Gainesville, his “shining city on the hill”, to begin a 23 year career with The Gainesville Sun as a staff photographer. While working, John would use his time off for his hobby of nature photography. However, as more of his work was printed and he continued to go back and visit the same places, he began to see the changes happening quickly all over Florida.

This inspired John to start “channeling an energy that had long lay dormant because of [his] previous career as a journalist.” As an independent photographer, John is “increasingly finding [his] voice and getting more comfortable doing just that.” He began public environmental advocacy speaking about 10 years ago. Since then he has become a key component to the Critical Linkages project.

Off-camera flash is a technique typical of Critical Linkages Photographer John Moran‘s style. ​ ​ He he uses it to play with the light in this picture of a bull thistle along the Volusia ​ Conservation Corridor. ​

John took-on the depiction of a section of the Volusia Conservation Corridor along the St. John’s River. He explains, “I approached it as an art photographer looking to tell the story of this area from an aesthetics standpoint; to reach people with the sheer beauty of what I saw.” Here, while lying on his belly in the mud near the river, John captured images of sandhill cranes, white ibis, and bull thistle, which thrive among the many other flora and fauna of this area.

The power of a project like Critical Linkages is, as John says, that “pictures have a way of reaching people in ways that words alone cannot. Pictures can show people a reason to have their hearts swell with pride at place. They can show that there

are parts of Florida yet wild and free that need to be protected. I’ve seen too the power of photography used to help tell a story of our abuse of the gifts of calling this place home.”

A white ibis in the Volusia Conservation Corridor.

While highly involved in LINC, John spreads his energy to a number of other projects as well. The most prominent of these is a new project called “Springs Eternal.” Throughout recent years while revisiting formerly beautiful springs, John realized that, “Our springs’ waters are not flowing as freely as they once did. The clear blue springs are turning murky and green and in some instances even drying up. There’s a disconnect I see in Florida of awareness as to what’s happening to the springs and the degree to which the public is tuning in.” As a result John is working with Lesley Gamble to put together an exhibition to be displayed in the Florida Museum of Natural History in March of 2013. “We need a new way of thinking about water here in Florida, and about the way we consume and value it; the way we pit environmental preservation vs. prosperity.”

John is also working on a long term statewide book project in which he will photograph natural Florida county by county. Each of the 67 counties will get a six page spread in One State, Many Worlds. Additionally, John is contracted to create an exhibit on the wildflowers of Florida, and is working on a long term project on the Suwannee river. He is building a raft which he will use to photograph the river and create another book project focused upon “Florida’s grand old river.”

Throughout all of his projects John retains a similar purpose: “I have to confess, I think that my goal is to win the hearts and minds of the people who call this place home; the people who live here who need a reality-check.” He quotes the late great Florida writer Al Burt, “Increasingly Florida is being populated by people whose bodies are here but whose hearts continue to reside elsewhere.” That being said, John continues to inspire and reach out to the others who share his love of Florida, and focuses his energies and thoughts on his home and the place that captured his heart.

“I just wanted to be a nature photographer shooting pretty pictures, but reality keeps getting in the way…I could no longer ignore the realities of my beloved state in decline. Its future is being decided by people who look around Florida and see only opportunity for profit. What I see is opportunity for spiritual connection.”

“My job as a nature photographer is to be amazed and to go out and bring back evidence that ours is a state yet blessed in the abundant gifts of nature. But also it’s something of a gentle wake up call to people.”

-John Moran

Steve Vaughn, Caloosahatchee-Kissimmee (Old Town Creek Watershed) ​

About the Old Town Creek Watershed:

The protection of large areas and the ecological linkages between these areas is a more comprehensive approach than simply protecting large areas, as is sometimes the case for national parks. This landscape approach to conservation is at the heart of the Florida Forever land protection program. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the University of Florida collaborate to identify the most important landscape unit candidates for Florida Forever protection through the Florida Ecological Greenways Network (FEGN). The FEGN represents the

largest areas of ecological and natural resource importance as well as the landscape linkages necessary to link these areas. The vision of the FEGN is a statewide network of conservation land. Perhaps the most important consideration in the process is connectivity. How a property is connected to other important conservation land or ecological processes is a central question in the Florida Forever program. To help inform these decisions, Florida DEP and UF ecologists have developed the Critical Linkages to the FEGN.

The Critical Linkages are a collection of the most important areas for connecting large conservation land units. For example, the Ocala National Forest and Camp Blanding Joint Training Center are two large conservation areas set apart by roughly 22 miles in north central Florida. Using data on habitats and species presence, ecologists defined the best available corridor of natural land between the two units. This is the Ocala National Forest to Camp Blanding critical linkage, and its protection is dependent on programs like Florida Forever.

Another critical linkage lies between the Avon Park Air Force Range and Highlands Hammock State Park, near Sebring, in Highlands County. The linkage consists of 77,000 acres, connecting the 106,000-acre military base to the 9,200-acre state park, which lies west of Sebring. The linkage overlays U.S. Highway 27, a major arterial 4-6 lane road that runs the length of the Florida peninsula. Less than 20% of the linkage is protected. The proximity of the areas in the linkage to current development make it a high priority for protection.

About the Missing Links Photographer:

When Steve Vaughn, Critical Linkages Photographer for the Old Town Creek Watershed, first moved to Florida in 1957, his destination of Cocoa Beach was home to billions of mosquitoes and little else. Although at first the move, and particularly the mosquitoes, seemed like a disaster, Steve immediately recognized the beauty of his new home. Steve remembers crossing the St. John’s River on his way to Orlando, where they did all of their shopping: “I remember thinking what an unusually spectacular looking area it was.”

After majoring in Journalism at the University of Florida, Steve’s talent as a writer and interest in sports earned him a job with the Orlando Sentinel, where he worked for 25 years as a sports editor, managing editor, and executive editor of the newspaper. Although Steve always enjoyed art, working with so many photographers in the newspaper sparked his interest in photography. Through his

colleagues Steve learned “how a camera works.” After frequenting a number of outside art shows, Steve decided he was going to change his path in life: a complete 180 from his original feelings about Florida, Steve chose to stay and indulge his interest in photography, instead of moving elsewhere to continue in the newspaper business.

Along with the more technical skills he learned from his colleagues, Steve recognized that “what separates a photographer from anybody else is the ability to go see a picture; the ability to see something there that somebody else might not see.” But, just being able to see a picture does not necessarily draw an audience. Steve acknowledges that there are “so many ways” to use photography these days, “so many ways to present it. To be successful, you have to have a niche.” Steve chose Panoramic Photography, a style perfectly suited for the landscapes of Florida.

While he enjoys shooting long, wide cityscapes, a natural fit for the panoramic format, the majority of Steve’s photographs display the tropical colors and beaches of Florida. In particular, Steve employs the use of water, since people love and identify with it. He explains, “When somebody looks at my work, they tend to think of it as an escape, in a sense, from real life. I’m photographing two chairs on the beach and I know that people will like that picture because they’ll place themselves in those chairs.”

That being said, Steve’s Critical Linkages Assignment, Old Town Creek Watershed, provided him with a completely different landscape. “It is by-and-large a pine and palm meadow kind of place. Where I was, there is no water. Not a drop. So to come up with something of interest in a place where there’s no water, was a bit more of a challenge. There were rows and rows of fields, pastures, and cattle, and dried up creek beds.” Although the Old Town Creek Watershed did not provide Steve with his usual draw of water, he still considers it to be one of “the beautiful places that we’re saving for the next generation. It is a watershed and therefore will have great value in the future. Water will be the forerunner of the next 100 years; anything that has to do with water will be of great political and economic importance.”

Old Town Creek Watershed

This is a large part of the reason Steve focuses his work on Florida. “Florida is a case study: the environment here is so fragile because it is interconnected. Florida is all about water. But because it’s interdependent, when one area is polluted, it flows into the next. Where does it end?” As with all of our Critical Linkages photographers, Steve’s photography can be a part of this end.

However, for Steve photography is more than a job and a form of speaking for nature. He explains that above all, he receives the most enjoyment out of his work from having the ability to be creative. This is also why he paints as a hobby, “for personal enjoyment. If I have an idea, I just go do it I don’t have to ask anybody. Having the freedom to do what you want is a treasure. There is great freedom and enjoyment in doing whatever you want in life. If you’re lucky enough to have that then you’re truly blessed.”

“You know the old ‘A picture’s worth a thousand words’ saying? It’s a cliché but it’s true! You can talk about the St. Johns River all day, but if you talk about it and show somebody a picture of what you’re talking about, you can

better communicate what you’re trying to say. It really comes down to that. Pictures can take people places they wouldn’t otherwise go or understand.”

-Steve Vaughn

John Spohrer, Ocala-Osceola (Camp Blanding-Raiford Greenway) ​

About the Missing Links Photographer:

Between the land of the Florida Panhandle, and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, lies the Forgotten Coast. Here, among the creatures of the sea, Photographer John Spohrer found the “functioning ecosystem” to fit his lifestyle and his career path as an outdoor writer, when he moved there in 1980.

Born in Shreveport, LA, John attended Louisiana State University and studied graduate-level creative writing at Florida State University. After serving his time in the US Army stationed in Hawaii, John set out for Florida to find “something worth preserving.” Although throughout John’s life he was always taking pictures, he explains, “There was a specific time in 1999 when I said, ‘I’m through fishing and doing the other things I’ve done outdoors.” He decided to help establish what he calls a baseline. “People go out and they say, ‘This looks wonderful,’ ‘This is pristine,’ This is what it’s always looked like.’ No, it’s not. There used to be a lot more here: more plants, more creatures. This is the baseline that we have lost. And if you don’t protect it you will lose the rest.”

To establish this baseline, John uses a “naturalistic style” in his landscape and wildlife photography. A fascination with birds and color, particularly sunsets and sunrises drives the focus of his photography. Three to four years ago, he gave himself the task of shooting a sunrise every morning. Here, early in the morning, is when John finds he can photograph animals in their natural environment and in an environment most people rarely find them.

“The camera allows us to see things that we can’t see with our naked eyes. We can’t see that bird snatch that fish out the water like [a camera can.] We can’t see it toss it in the air and grab it by its head. And photography presents a way to save it for us; a way to save that moment in time. [Photography] allows us to look at this action and see it and appreciate it in a different way than we can just by viewing it.”

-John Spohrer

This is the thought John depended upon when he visited the Camp ​ Blanding-Raiford Greenway area, his Critical Linkages assignment. John describes ​ the area as similar to “being on the face of the moon.” However, his photograph of the area shows us that even in places which exemplify the worst of human impact and natural resource extraction, there is astounding beauty. Once conserved, the greenway will reconstruct itself. Instead of “acres of barren land and earth movers as far as you can see,” there will again be a connecting habitat for critical Florida species. Though the “baseline” of the Camp Blanding-Raiford Greenway is gone, much will be done by preserving the area.

John Spohrer captures the color and light of the sunrise over a pond within the ​ Camp Blanding-Raiford Greenway. ​

Jesse Reeder, Kissimmee-St. Johns-Ocala (Volusia Conservation ​ ​ ​ ​ Corridor)

Jesse Reeder utilizes his skill at capturing reflection and color in this photograph of Deep ​ Creek. Deep Creek is a section of the Volusia Conservation Corridor, one of Florida’s Critical ​ ​ Linkages.

“People take it for granted that when they want to go to the beach, it will always be there. They race back and forth on the highway at 70 miles an hour past tranquil places they don’t even know exist. I try to capture the moments that touch me and share those with others. My hope is that they will be more aware of what’s around them, and be more careful to protect and conserve areas and wildlife that are slowly disappearing.”

“Always with photography my goal has been to say if you don’t raise your voice, if there’s not the political will to protect creatures and places, they will be gone soon. Period. There’s no other message I have to deliver.”

-Jessie Reeder