How our collaborative project on the Wildlife Corridor came to be

The credits hadn’t started rolling in National Geographic’s Path of the Panther when I knew there was another story to be told.

In March 2023, I took my family to see the documentary at the Regal movie theater in Oviedo, seeing it as a good learning opportunity for my then-6- and 4-year old children. Little did I know that I would be the one learning more than I ever thought possible.

The movie was still playing when I began writing a text message to OCN Editor-in-chief Megan Stokes. While National Geographic did an incredible job telling the story in regards to the threats to the Florida panther and to natural land in Southwest Florida, I knew we could dig deeper into the Wildlife Corridor in our own backyard of Seminole County, as I was already reporting on the potential sale of 1,300 acres of sensitive land in Geneva – Yarborough Ranch — to either developers or the government.

The movie touched on how vital the connection hub – that includes Yarborough – would be to the Corridor. So, I wrote to Megan:

“One thing [the movie] showed is that they rehabbed a severely injured panther and released him around Yulee, which would be a close connection to the part of the Corridor Yarborough is in.

It really hit that the Yarborough story is about more than just this fight over the sale. It affects nature, animals and the livelihood of wildlife in Florida and the country. I think our story series could go into that, after starting it with the immediacy of the Yarborough sale. This could be a major series if we do it, [one] that would span so many topics. 

Maybe it’s something we can get a grant for, or partner with [other organizations] to cover long term and in-depth. It directly affects our entire area since the corridor runs right through our coverage areas.”

Megan agreed, and we immediately began brainstorming. We knew we wanted to do a deep-dive investigation into the balance between development and preserving precious lands and wildlife in the county. After months of back-and-forth discussions, we sent a grant pitch to the Fund for Investigative Journalism titled “A deep dive into development’s impact on east Seminole County’s wildlife corridor, sensitive bodies of water, land and resources.”

While waiting to hear back about the grant, I continued my Yarborough reporting. This helped make clear the path we had to take at OCN. Megan also began working with Florida Center for Government Accountability (publisher of Florida Trident) Executive Director Barbara Petersen, who pitched the idea of developing a parallel-running, statewide project on the corridor. 

Not too long after, Central Florida Public Media (formerly 90.7 WMFE) Managing Editor LaToya Dennis joined the partnership with award-winning environmental reporter Molly Duerig ready to dive into the reporting. With OCN managing editor Isaac Babcock’s guidance and editing, we were ready to go.

OCN was awarded the $2,500 grant in the fall. 

In late 2023, we laid out what we were looking to delve into, how we would do it and how to make this an extensive look at the Florida Wildlife Corridor and conservation across the state of Florida. We were told that investigative reporter Jimmy Tobias would be joining FCGA for the statewide look at the Corridor, as well as the WGCU Public Media team in southwest Florida, and we all began our work.

More than a year has passed since I stepped out of that theater, more inspired about a story than I ever have been, and I couldn’t be prouder of the work the entire team has done. We all set out to answer different questions about the Corridor, conservation and how development affects it across the state. We had lively discussions, shared our findings and collaborated the entire way through. And we put together a series that hopefully does justice to the topic.

We hope you enjoy and learn from this reporting.