Adventure Scientists

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Mission and Values
    • Our Team >
      • Staff
      • Board and Advisors
      • Science Advisory Board
      • Join our Team
    • Press >
      • Films
      • Writing
      • Audio
    • Partners
    • Annual Reports and Financials
    • Contact
  • Our Work
    • Data Collection Services
    • Current Projects >
      • Timber
      • Pollinators
      • Wildlife Connectivity
      • Microplastics
      • Gallatin Microplastics
    • Past Projects
    • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Project Reports and Scientific Publications
  • Field Notes
  • Donate
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Mission and Values
    • Our Team >
      • Staff
      • Board and Advisors
      • Science Advisory Board
      • Join our Team
    • Press >
      • Films
      • Writing
      • Audio
    • Partners
    • Annual Reports and Financials
    • Contact
  • Our Work
    • Data Collection Services
    • Current Projects >
      • Timber
      • Pollinators
      • Wildlife Connectivity
      • Microplastics
      • Gallatin Microplastics
    • Past Projects
    • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Project Reports and Scientific Publications
  • Field Notes
  • Donate

Welcome to Field Notes

ASC Partners with TrekWest's John Davis to Collect Data while Trekking from Mexico To Canada

2/16/2013

0 Comments

 

John Davis and TrekWest kick off 5,000 Mile Journey from Mexico to Canada to Raise Awareness for the Protection of Wildlife Corridors

Picture
John making the Sierra Madre stream crossing on his Surly Pugsley. photo by David Nelson
ASC is proud to be involved with John Davis, TrekWest, and the Wildlands Network to bring awareness to the importance of protecting wildlife corridors.  John will travel 5,000 miles from Mexico to Canada on foot, bike, horse, and many other forms of transportation to inspire others to protect these important wildlife thoroughfares.  Along John's journey he will be collecting data for several ASC projects including Roadkill Observations, Wildlife Observations, observing ptarmigan, and the Pika Project.  

John Davis’s TrekWest began with a resounding TrekWest lauch ceremony in Hermosillo, Sonora and a day-long send-off fiesta hosted by the tiny village of Sahuaripa at the southern edge of the vast Northern Jaguar Reserve. Following these festivities, he spent the first six days of his historic conservation journey alternating between hiking and riding horseback through some of the toughest terrain he may face on his 5,000-mile international trek to promote wildlife corridor protection.

“I’m honored to have been received almost like a dignitary,” said Davis of the outpouring of public support he’s received. “Even though I have to rely on an interpreter to deliver my message of Say Yes to Wildlife Corridors, the wonderful people of Sonora have had no trouble grasping the importance of healthy and connected wildlife habitat. And once they’re engaged they realize that there are connectivity projects they can support right here in Sonora.”

Davis’ TrekWest partners in Sonora, including Mexico’s best-known conservation organization, Naturalia, and Northern Jaguar Project, which manages the 70-square-mile jaguar reserve, played a huge role in generating local excitement and interest in the adventure. “Naturalia’s regional director, Juan Carlos Bravo, was treated like a conservation rock star,” says Davis, who was joined by scores of bicycle riders as he left Hermosillo heading for Sahuaripa, where a community fiesta organized by Northern Jaguar Project flooded the streets with young students holding drawings of that region’s fabled icon of the wild.

The send-offs were quickly followed by Davis’ first miles on the trail of TrekWest, a week of hiking and riding horseback through some of the most difficult terrain he has ever encountered.  Riding horseback with a group of local residents in a traditional “cabalgata” procession, he immediately experienced what he says was “one of the scariest 10 minutes I’ve known,” passing through dense, head-high thorn scrub along the steep side of a canyon on a fortunately surefooted packhorse. “Any misstep could have been disastrous,” said the adventurer, who admitted he hadn’t ridden in more than 15 years.

But Davis’ challenges, which were punctuated by sightings of coveted jaguar and ocelot tracks, were not over, as the trekker had to wade the cold, swift, chest-deep water at the confluence of the Aros and Bavispe rivers— carrying his backpack above his head —  before exiting the jaguar reserve. Once out of the reserve and into more hikeable terrain, Davis realized for the first time the value of the beautiful handcrafted Zuni jaguar fetish he carried in his pocket for good luck.

Davis next joins partners from Tutuaca Mountain School and Cuenca los Ojos for the trek east across the rugged Sierra Madre Occidental into Chihuahua, and north to the U.S.-Mexico border at Cajon Bonito to view the corridor fragmentation posed by miles of border security infrastructure.

For more information about TrekWest visit trekwest.org where Wildlands Network’s petition promoting protection of wildlife habitat corridors can be signed, and where Davis’ regular blogs, posts and tweets can be seen along with TrekWest trail maps, photos, and more.



0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    Read the Landmark Notes blog:

    Picture

    Archives

    April 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011

Donate Now
Stay in Touch
Adventure Scientists
​PO Box 1834, Bozeman, MT 59771
406.624.3320 info@adventurescientists.org
✕