Almost 600 people braved the coldest day of the year to watch how four explorers traversed the natural heart of Florida to show a wildlife corridor could still be done in the 21st century.
Several hundred people attended a premiere showing inside the Tampa Bay History Center that was hosted in part by WUSF Public Media. They were treated to appearances by the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition team - Carlton Ward Jr., a nature photographer from Tampa; filmmaker Elam Stoltzfus of Blountstown, in Florida's Panhandle; bear biologist Joe Guthrie of the University of Kentucky; and Tampa's Mallory Lykes Dimmitt, who now works with the Nature Conservancy's Colorado Plateau Initiative in Telluride, Colo.
Outside - during what organizers had hoped would be one of Florida's picture-perfect spring days - about 400 people donned very un-Florida-like wool hats and thick coats to watch the one-hour documentary on a big screen outside the history center.
The group's mission resonated with a lot of these people - save Florida's remaining natural areas in a corridor so that wildlife can migrate between what has become "islands" surrounded by the state's fast-growing population.
The documentary will premiere on broadcast television March 28 on WUSF Public Television, Channel 16. It will then be distributed for showings on public television stations around Florida, and around the country.
You can visit WUSF's complete archive of our stories on the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition by clicking HERE.
To visit the Expedition's web site, click HERE.
