Justin Bright just finished skateboarding more than 1,100 miles across the state of Florida as an innovative approach to raising awareness about the importance of land conservation and wildlife corridors. His epic journey took 34 days. He started in the western-most part of the panhandle near Pensacola and finished at the southern tip of Florida in Key West.
Well-versed in the conservation issues that Florida faces, Justin earned his Master’s degree in mass communication after majoring in journalism and wildlife ecology as an undergrad at the University of Florida. As a writer and photojournalist, he has covered stories on PFAS chemicals and their effect on Atlantic seabirds, local endangered snail kite sightings, and the value of urban forests on migrating bird populations.
“Skateboarding across Florida was a challenging journey, but imagine how hard it is for an animal like the Florida black bear to traverse the state without wildlife corridors,” he said.
Combining his love for Florida’s wildlife, natural habitats, photography, and skateboarding, Justin is raising money for Conservation Florida. “During my trip, I partnered with Conservation Florida on a fundraising campaign. They are an incredible organization dedicated to preserving land across the state to help form the Florida Wildlife Corridor — a connected string of protected land that allows wildlife to freely move across the state.”
Justin said that the ride was enlightening, but it wasn’t all a breeze. Most nights he camped out roadside – sometimes it was very remote, other times in sketchy spots where his personal safety was questionable. Not to mention he needed to deal with several busted shoes and boards along the way. Each day typically started at sunrise or earlier, especially if there was a mystery animal rustling outside of his tent. He skated 30-40 miles per day (52 miles in one day was his max), navigated urban sprawl, busy roadways, and traversed bike paths through beautiful Florida natural habitats.
“The route I chose wasn’t necessarily the fastest. I wanted to pick something where I could see the cool and significant parts of Florida,” Justin said. “There’s no more intimate way to see a landscape than going nine miles per hour, seeing everything, and hearing everything.”
According to Justin, one of the most memorable moments was his ride over the Suwannee River, one of the largest undammed rivers in the eastern U.S. “There were a few notable landmarks that I was excited to hit when I planned this trip, and crossing the mighty Suwannee was one of them. While seeing a wild river is always special, being relatively close to its mouth near the gulf gave me a view of the Suwannee’s banks at its widest. Rivers like the Suwannee can also show us what our modern land- and water-use practices are doing to wild systems. As we’ve degraded the land and water quality upstream, human and animal communities downstream and on the Gulf deal with the consequences. It’s all connected. But we already knew that, right?”
Massive congratulations to Justin for his achievement!
Learn more about Conservation Florida and the Skateboard Across Florida fundraising campaign →
