DURHAM, NC – This spring, Mallory Dimmitt (MEM ’09) is hiking and paddling her way through the heartland of Florida, from its southern tip in Everglades National Park to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on its northern border.

This is not your standard backpacking trip, however.  Dimmitt and three team members are undertaking the 100-day, 1,000-mile expedition to promote awareness of the Florida Wildlife Corridor (FWC) project.

When completed, the proposed FWC will run the length of the Sunshine State, crossing and connecting a variety of landscapes including swamps, lakes, ranches and agricultural lands.

Dimmitt and the team hope their expedition, which is funded in part by the National Geographic Society, will help educate property owners, policymakers and other stakeholders about the corridor’s potential environmental, economic and social benefits.

You can follow their journey through photos and blogs on the FWC website (); through Facebook and Twitter posts at FL Wildlife Corridor; or through audio or video clips and updates on WUSF Public Media.

Dimmitt received her master of environmental management 91 in environmental economics and policy from the Nicholas School in 2009. She currently holds a landscape conservation position at The Nature Conservancy.

She is joined on the expedition, which began Jan. 17, by photographer Carlton Ward Jr., cinematographer Elam Stoltzfus, and bear biologist Joe Guthrie.

Though the FWC Expedition is a relatively new idea, its early roots stretch back to Dimmitt’s time at Duke, when she worked with the Florida-based nonprofit Legacy Institute for Nature and Culture (LINC).   Through her work at LINC, she brought Ward – a well-known Florida conservation photographer – to campus to lead a workshop.  After graduation she continued to collaborate with the institute and Ward. When Ward’s idea of connecting Florida’s existing patchwork of ecological corridors into one comprehensive, statewide corridor was voiced, she immediately signed on to the concept and the resulting Expedition.

The need for the corridor is great, Dimmitt says. Florida’s current population lies mostly in its coastal areas and cities, creating a geographic disconnect between many of the state’s residents and its less developed or undeveloped heartland. Some residents may never have visited these areas or aren’t aware of the ecological and environmental benefits they provide, including improved water quality, food production and wildlife habitats.  Unless public awareness of these benefits increase, the state’s natural landscapes and watersheds will continue to be threatened.

“The goal is to get Floridians to value the corridor and take action,” says Dimmitt. “There is still an opportunity here.”

The team is communicating their experiences through a variety of media.  Ward documents the expedition and the landscape through photography which is being broadcast from the field through the FWC website and through Flickr.

Stoltzfus, the expedition’s cinematographer, is collecting video that will be used to make a full-length documentary at the end of the trip.  

On nights when internet service is available at the team’s campsites, the expedition members post blogs, tweets, and updated photos documenting their day’s journey. They also do weekly radio spots and videos through local media outlets.

So far, the public has been very supportive and the media has been very receptive, Dimmitt says – some reporters have traveled long distances to interview them.

Equally important, throughout the expedition Dimmitt and her companions have been able to build relationships with landowners whose property fall within the proposed corridor opportunity area, and with local residents. “When we got to Fisheating Creek (the only remaining free-flowing waterway that flows into Lake Okeechobee) the folks that run the campground fed us gator gumbo and we really got to connect with them,” she says.  “Those are the experiences that are really enriching.”