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.   This post was retrieved from http://trekwest.org/blog/log-5-lost-treasures-of-the-sierra-madre/ on February 21st, 2013.

NACO,  AZ  —   If  John Davis thought  that  the  dignitary-­‐like reception he received from wildlife corridor  enthusiasts in Sonora and Chihuahua was thrilling, he’ll be equally pleased when he reaches the U.S.-­‐Mexico border at Naco, Arizona on February 28. His crossing at one of the U.S.’s most heavily walled‐off and obstructed wildlife pathways will feature many partners from both countries carrying a 200-­‐foot-­‐long banner featuring the jaguar, followed with a traditional blessing ceremony by Yaqui tribal members.

“I’m hoping the fact that I can’t  just hike from one country to the other without running into a 16-foot-­high steel barricade will highlight the plight of animals trying to follow their traditional pathways across the border,” said Davis. “I know the wall is there for a reason, but when you try to keep people out with solid barriers, you also cut off wildlife movement.”

Davis has seen plenty of unnecessary wildlife barriers during his month-­long, 400­‐mile hike/bike/horseback expedition through some of northern Mexico’s wildest landscapes.  This is terrain that his partners in the Western Wildway Network, including Naturalia, Northern Jaguar Project, Tutuaca Mountain School and Cuenca los Ojos, are aiming to protect and connect with U.S. lands as part of a 5,000-­‐mile wildlife corridor linking Mexico’s Sierra Madre with Canada’s Crown of  the Continent. Davis plans to continuously hike, bike and paddle the remainder of that stretch over the next nine months. 

While Davis has seen only tracks and scat of jaguar, wolves, ocelot, cougar and bear — the animals most likely to use such a vast “wildway” for cross-­‐border migration and hunting — a super landscape barricade presents strong evidence that puts wildlife movement problems in clear focus. “We should be able to accommodate the needs of wildlife and national security at the same time,” the trekker  says. 

Davis will be available for media interviews during his border crossing activities, and will also be available for media interviews and as the featured speaker at a Tucson TrekWest celebration March 2 at Tucson’s “Historic Y” from 4-­‐6 p.m. sponsored by Wildlands Network and local southern Arizona partners, Defenders of Wildlife and Sky Island Alliance.
See trekwest.org for detailed information on all Davis’ Mexico adventures, his colorful regular blogs, posts and  tweets, trail route maps and a “Say Yes to Wildlife Corridors” petition to be delivered to U.S. decision-­‐makers at the end of the trek
by sponsor Wildlands Network. To schedule an interview, contact Kim Vacariu at 520-­‐558-­‐0165 (office); 520-­‐390-­‐3969 (cell) or <kim@wildladnsnetwork.org>