On Friday, wilderness explorer and writer John Davis came “out of the woods” in Tampa for the first time to talk about his 4,500-mile journey through the Eastern United States, TrekEast.
Davis is the co-founder of Wildlands Network, which is hosting the TrekEast journey that started off on February 3 in Key Largo, Florida. He will canoe, bike, run and even ski his way to Gaspe Peninsula, Canada in an effort to promote the importance of wildlife conservation and habitat connectivity.
Davis started Wildlands Network about 20 years ago to bring awareness to the need for habitat connectivity. Scientists and conservationists already understand the importance of this, but the “voters, the regular people need to understand too,” said Margo McKnight, executive director of Wildlands Network. The TrekEast exploration is important because without people heeding its message wildlife won’t survive and natural ecosystems can’t sustain themselves.
This article appears in Feb 24 – Mar 2, 2011.