Path of the Panther is a story of new hope for the recovery of an
iconic endangered species and its Everglades home - and a global example
of how protecting wildlife corridors can sustain balance for nature and
people.
The panther is the state animal of Florida, the last big cat surviving
east of the Mississippi River, and an emblem of the Endangered Species
Act. It was driven to extinction in the eastern United States, except
for a small remnant population that persisted in Florida's Everglades.
Panther numbers had dwindled to fewer than 20 individuals by the 1980s,
but heroic conservation efforts have helped panthers come back to nearly
200 today. The biggest obstacle for the panther's continued recovery is
access to enough of its historic territory throughout Florida and
beyond.
The tale of the Florida panther has grown from the unlikely survival of
a rare cat to a story of hope for all of wild Florida. Path of the
Panther in now a call to action to recognize and protect the Florida
Wildlife Corridor - a network of public and private land that connects
the panther's current range in south Florida to suitable habitat
throughout the state of Florida and adjoining states.
The Florida Wildlife Corridor is the panther's path to recovery and a
western-scale conservation opportunity that remains largely hidden in
the east. It is now as a Last Wild Places partnership with the National
Geographic Society. With 27 percent of Florida already protected as
public land, this project aims to inspire the additional one million
acres of conservation needed over the next decade so that Florida can be
a leader in the goal of protecting 30 percent of the plane by 2030.
Photographer Carlton Ward helped put the Florida Wildlife Corridor on
the map by trekking from the Everglades to Georgia in 2012 and from the
Everglades Headwaters around the Gulf of Mexico to Alabama in 2015.
Through these National Geographic-supported expeditions, he and his team
have witnessed that a path for the panther's recovery still exists. But
with 1,000 new residents moving to Florida every day, and more than
100,000 acres of habitat lost to development each year, to window to
save it is closing quickly. Through Ward's intimate photographs, expert
essays and compelling maps, the Path of the Panther book, combined with
a National Geographic magazine article, National Geographic Society
Last Wild Places campaign, and feature documentary film, is poised to
awaken people to wild Florida and inspire them to save it.
