Carlton Ward

03/09/2026

Here are a few photos from the Great Florida Cattle Drive, which I joined at the end of January with writer Issac Eger on assignment for a story “See Florida’s cowboy history come to life in this 54-mile cattle drive.”(link in bio).

For six days and six nights, hundreds of horseback riders moved cattle from DeLuca Preserve in the Everglades Headwaters south to Okeechobee. The entire route was within the Florida Wildlife Corridor. The journey crossed several state preserves, one National Wildlife Refuge and many working cattle ranches, three of which have been recently protected by conservation easements.

The original Great Florida Cattle Drive was in 1995, to commemorate 150 years of statehood. There were other drives in 2006, 2016 and 2022. I photographed those three, along routes across ranches closer to Kissimmee that are now lost to development. Thanks to lawmakers’ recent commitment to protecting the Florida Wildlife Corridor, I am hopeful that the 2026 route will always be connected, for the benefit of ranching and wildlife. As always, I am inspired by the people I encountered who are keeping Florida’s heritage alive.

Read more in the National Geographic article through our links in bio.

Photos by

02/03/2026

I’m working on my talk that I’ll be presenting at National Geographic‘s Storyteller Summit in LA next week. Came across this clip from 2015 paddling in Chassahowitzska talking about how much I love the Gulf. Thank you and for capturing this footage for the film The Forgotten Coast, still available on PBS, telling the story of our Florida WIldlife Corridor expedition from the Everglades Headwaters near Orlando around the Gulf to Alabama with foundation. The Gulf is still my favorite place and the seed was clearly planted for my current Wilderness Coast Project with and .sylviaearle. I’ll be sharing more glimpses of this coastline in the months and years to come.

01/20/2026

My colleague and fellow National Geographic Explorer, Jason Gulley, took these photos for the new National Geographic article while on assignment for Wildpath. The article examines the Ocklawaha River, submerged for decades beneath Florida’s Rodman Reservoir, and the opportunity for restoration.

Restoring rivers is complex. But understanding what’s been lost—and what could return—is a critical first step. Read the full story, 'See a ghost 'fairyland' forest reemerge in Florida', in National Geographic through our link below.

Photos by Jason Gulley/Wildpath

Link to article:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/florida-rodman-reservoir-ocklawaha-river-springs

12/11/2025

I share this post in memory of Iain Douglas Hamilton, a pioneering African elephant expert and conservationist who died this week at 83. I connected with Iain in 2004 when I photographed the last herd of elephants living in the deserts of Mali for a project with the WILD Foundation and an organization Iain founded — Save the Elephants. The Mali elephants Iain and his team studied migrated hundreds of kilometers each year, following scarce rainfall through the edge of the Sahara and between Mali and Burkina Faso. Spending eight weeks in the desert tracking these elephants was part of my inspiration in founding the Florida wildlife Corridor project a few years later. I think about the Mali elephants often and am thankful to Dr. Iain Douglas Hamilton for his inspiring work and legacy.

12/03/2025

This Giving Tuesday, please consider supporting my team at and our work you bring wildlife corridors to life through storytelling.

From protecting the Florida Wildlife Corridor to scaling the model globally, your donation helps us fund fieldwork, wildlife tracking, films, exhibits and community events that identify and help protect wildlife corridors. Thank you for being part of the movement!

See my link in bio to donate.

11/14/2025

Friends in Boston this weekend, please come see my TEDx Talk Vision for a Connected Planet that I’ll be giving Saturday morning at MIT. Check out the amazing lineup of speakers I have an opportunity to join. The link is in my story.

09/22/2025

Check out the new Axios story featuring Wildpath’s latest film Florida Bear Tracks, directed by KT Bryden, streaming now on National Geographic’s YouTube Channel.

Human development threatens Florida black bear

09/13/2025

Soak up the last days of summer, my favorite time of year in Florida. I captured this photo at the end of August. I was looking east as the sun set behind me over the Gulf, the day’s last light setting ablaze the towering storm clouds stacked above the peninsula, palms and marsh grasses along Crystal River texturing the foreground. This work is for my Wilderness Coast project with and and partners celebrating my favorite part of the world that depends on the protection of the Florida Wildlife Corridor upstream to stay healthy and wild.

09/12/2025

Please join me Thursday, September 18th, 7PM at the Tampa Theatre for a film screening. (link in bio for tickets)
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Voices of the Corridor: Three Films. One Vision. will include three short film screenings, showing Wildpath’s “The Little Brown Bird”, Danny Schmidt & SLOMotion Film’s “The Book of George”, and the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation’s “Patchwork Wild: Stitching the Last Strands”.⁠ Along with a special introduction by Mallory Dimmitt and Carlton Ward Jr., a panel discussion with the filmmakers, and audience Q&A with characters from the films.

09/11/2025

"The Little Brown Bird" will be screening at the Tampa Theatre as part of Voices of the Corridor: Three Films. One Vision (link below for tickets).

Join us on Thursday, September 18th, 7PM at the Tampa Theatre for a screening of three films focused on the wild heart of Florida.

The evening will include three short film screenings, showing Wildpath's "The Little Brown Bird", Danny Schmidt & SLOMotion Film's "The Book of George", and the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation's "Patchwork Wild: Stitching the Last Strands".⁠ Along with a special introduction by Mallory Dimmitt and Carlton Ward Jr., a panel discussion with the filmmakers, and audience Q&A with characters from the films.

Photos by Carlton Ward
Wildpath, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Link to tickets:

https://tampatheatre.org/movie/voices-of-the-corridor

08/30/2025

Happy 90th birthday Sylvia Earle (.sylviaearle)! Thank you for your generosity, kindness, and for always shining a light of honesty and hope. Your passion and commitment are a constant source of inspiration and motivation for me and everyone in your orbit. It has been a tremendous privilege to explore the Gulf with you the past four years and rediscover my home waters by seeing the coastline and underwater worlds through your eyes, expanding my view through your tremendous perspective that encompasses your own childhood growing up in Clearwater when the water was still clear and concrete seawalls and condominiums did not yet exist.
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​I am committed to creating appreciation and greater protection for the area you call the “Wilderness Coast” — the nearly 200 miles on coastline between Tarpon Springs and Tallahassee, including places like the St Martins Keys off Crystal River, where you said after diving there for the first time in 50 years that it was like “reconnecting with old friends” referring to the seagrasses and algae that were the basis of your Masters and PhD work in the 1960s.
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​The first two photos in this carousel are from earlier this month when our team at filmed Sylvia’s return to the Aquarius Reef Base 50 feet below the waves in the Florida Keys. The rest are glimpses into our explorations together of Florida’s Wilderness Coast. Please check out the new story celebrating Her Deepness, Dr. Sylvia Earle, link in bio. I am grateful we get to dive together again in September!

08/25/2025

We're less than two months away from the Annual Conference in Tampa, Florida! 🎉

Get ready for inspiring General Sessions on Tuesday, September 16, and Wednesday, September 17, featuring powerful voices in and community leadership:

🐾 Carlton Ward Jr.
A conservation photographer, Emmy-winning filmmaker, and National Geographic Explorer, Ward Jr. founded the Florida Wildlife Corridor project and Wildpath, an organization using storytelling to protect corridors. An eighth-generation Floridian, Carlton is currently focused on capturing the beauty and urgency of the Gulf of Mexico’s natural landscapes.

📢 WWE's Titus O’Neil
WWE Global Ambassador, philanthropist, and founder of the Bullard Family Foundation, Titus O'Neil was inspired by the generosity that changed his own life, and he’s committed to uplifting underserved communities, especially youth in the area.

📅 Learn more about our speakers and sessions: https://bit.ly/46reWAc.