in 2015, a study published in the proceedings of the national academy of sciences (pnas) unveiled a contradictory pattern of american land protection. most of the nation’s parks, wildlife refuges, and preserves are not in the regions with the most vulnerable species and richest biodiversity.

according to the pnas study, the country’s preservation status quo is quite good at protecting panoramic views, but overlooks the most crucial consideration of truly effective conservation: species vulnerability.

a species is the most vulnerable to habitat loss, climate change and disease when it is endemic, or only lives in one geographic area. of the 1,200 u.s. endemics, the largest concentration is found in the southeast. yet when it comes to the distribution of protected land, the southeast has the least amount of coverage. in fact, the overwhelming majority of america’s preserved lands lie in the west, which has the lowest amount of endemics. 

this mismatch has many causes. large swaths of the west are unsuitable for agriculture, making it less palatable to farmers and private entities. because of this, the u.s. government owns around 47% of western lands. the opposite was true for the south – east of the mississippi, only 4% of land is publicly owned. the rest is divvied up between millions of private landowners and commercial enterprises, making it much harder for the federal government to step in. 

these historic and economic factors are compounded by cultural attitudes. according to a 2015 study published in environmental politics, residents of southern states are less likely to support spending on environmental protection, believe that individual action can affect environmental health, or sacrifice their standard of living in order to protect the environment.

a surprising exception

only one southern state consistently breaks this pattern – florida.  

11.4% of florida’s land is designated for parks and wildlife areas, according to a cliq analysis. it is the 7th largest protector of land out of all u.s. states, and the only southeastern state to rank in the top 15. 

in the environmental politics study, florida was the only state that did not fall in line with its regional neighbors on the questions of efficacy and sacrifice. in another, more recent study on state-level attitudes towards climate change, florida also stood out regionally. 30% of floridians consider global warming “extremely important personally”, compared to the south’s overall average of 23%. 

one manifestation of florida’s outlier status is its above-average state park system. florida state parks has won the american academy for park and recreation administration’s highest annual award on four separate occasions, the most of any state. nicknamed “the real florida”, these state parks encompass over 800,000 acres of protected land. 

patchwork conservation 

nearly half of florida’s state parks has a companion non-profit organization, known as a citizen support organization (cso) or “friends” groups. they raise money, coordinate volunteer services and help manage the natural resources of its affiliate park. 

these csos are independently managed by volunteers, typically members of the very communities the parks protect. for many locals, csos allow them to play an active role in the stewardship of their own backyards. 

“a good way to say it is we speak for the trees,” barb hoffman, one such volunteer, said. “i think csos, they allow the normal citizen to have a voice and to have a chance to help these places. keep them intact.” 

hoffman is the president of the friends of anclote key state park and lighthouse, which supports the island preserve on florida’s gulf coast. the park protects highly vulnerable species like the piping plover, whose continued existence largely depends on ongoing conservation efforts, and the kemp’s ridley sea turtle, the rarest and most endangered type of sea turtle in the world.

the group oversees the park’s largest fundraising venture. twice a month, the anclote key lighthouse is opened for climbing. hoffman and her fellow members coordinate volunteer schedules and recruit local boaters to ferry visitors on and off the island. in return, they ask for a $5 dollar donation. 

in 2021, the friends of anclote key spent over $2,000 on park support. according to hoffman, that money goes for supplies for the park ranger, maintenance vehicles, and park infrastructure. eventually, hoffman dreams of being able to support a dedicated visitor ferry service. 

some csos have amassed even more robust support. the friends of paynes prairie, a cso affiliated with paynes prairie state park, donated $15,000 to the park in 2021, according to the cso audit required by the florida department of parks and recreation. 

the prairie is an utopia of north florida biodiversity. it provides crucial habitats for almost 100 endemics, including over 60 reptiles and amphibians, 29 plants, and four birds.

bubba scales, a member of the friends of paynes prairie, said the cso was able to almost entirely cover a $150,000 renovation of the park’s visitor center. 

“where csos exist and do a good job raising money, it makes it a lot easier for the park to acquire resources for management,” scales said. “especially when there are things that come up that the park administration knows they’ll have a hard time getting funded.” 

grassroots power is real, but not enough

this community-style tradition is lacking in the rest of the south. according to available data provided by state park systems, florida ranks well above its southern peers when it comes to cso presence. florida has 86 such groups while georgia has 50, tennessee has 40, virginia has 34, north carolina has 28 and arkansas has 13. 

while the region could certainly benefit from florida’s model, iron-proof conservation can’t be achieved through grassroots efforts alone. the south’s biodiversity –– and by extension, the entire country’s –– can be saved, but only once it is valued and unilaterally protected in the manner it deserves.

charles darwin described this kind of process in his theory of evolution, which he developed after traveling around the world and collecting specimens from numerous locations, including, notably, the galápagos islands, home to the well-known darwin finches. 

“the natural history of this archipelago is very remarkable: it seems to be a little world within itself; the greater number of its inhabitants, both vegetable and animal, being found nowhere else,” darwin wrote about the islands in “voyages of the adventure and beagle.”

today, the galápagos islands are home to numerous endemic species. almost all of the reptiles found in galápagos and about 40% of the land birds are endemic to the region, gallo said. the islands are also home to endemic plant species, endemic mammals and endemic marine birds. 

“the lava lizards are endemic, the giant tortoises are endemic, the marine iguanas are endemic, the land iguanas are endemic,” gallo said, listing just some of the species unique to the galápagos islands. 

“this is a concern for several of the small populations that we have in the galápagos that are unique, like the flightless cormorants that are just found here in the western part of the archipelago, nowhere else in the galápagos: if there is any big change, those animals are threatened with extinction,” gallo said. 

one of those changes is the introduction of new species with which endemic species have trouble competing. “[endemic species] have adapted so much to their environment that something very small can wipe them out,” gallo said. 

for example, the parasitic philornis downsi fly was accidentally introduced to the galápagos islands in the 1960s, and it brought some of the darwin finches to the brink of extinction, gallo said. rats that eat eggs and hatchlings of reptiles and birds have also threatened endemic species like giant tortoises, but researchers have been making progress in efforts to eradicate the rats.

some species of tortoises have disappeared from the islands, too, gallo said, because they were a popular source of food for whalers and other humans in the past. researchers are working to recover declining tortoise populations, though, and they even recently found a tortoise on fernandina island that is from a species that was believed to be extinct. gallo said this is especially promising because the tracks researchers found seem to indicate that there are more than one of those tortoises present on the island.

another impending change for the archipelago is events like major storms, which are typically rare in the galápagos but could become more of a problem in the future with climate change, gallo said. impacts of hurricanes and tropical storms affecting the pacific coast of mexico can reach further south, hitting the galápagos islands with strong winds that can tear roofs off of buildings, knock down trees and create intense waves, as happened five years ago, gallo said.

el niño events can also seriously impact endemic animals in the galápagos. while they bring more rain, benefiting some plant species and the animals that feed on those plants, in the past they have led to significant drops in populations of other species like galápagos penguins and marine iguanas. some researchers worry that climate change may increase the frequency and intensity of el niño events.

although endemic species in galápagos face several challenges, gallo is ultimately optimistic about their future, saying:

“galápagos is always a place where weather is changing so much. the animals you see here, they seem so nice and so happy – they struggle for life year by year, and it’s amazing that they’re making it through. so i’m always actually more concerned here in galápagos about people than about the animals because i know how resilient they are, and they will move, and they will adapt.”

to get to the galápagos — in the pacific ocean a good distance west of ecuador — first each of our u.s.-based travelers had to complete a series of what we’re going to call “side quests,” as that’s a bit more fun than the drudgery of pre-trip covid tests, several flights, weather challenges, and extra long lines. but these quests were well worth it when we first saw the bright turquoise waters and rustic, almost desertlike landscapes — home to the incredible endemic and native species of the galápagos.

our intrepid storytellers — deepti bansal gage, jake meyers, cate twining-ward, and avery van etten — spent a week exploring several islands in the galápagos archipelago. three were aboard the national geographic endeavour ii, and avery, who persevered through weather-related travel challenges, was aboard the national geographic islander.

the sights and experiences our team — and each of our ships and fellow guests — encountered were absolutely incredible. and one of the extremely memorable parts of that, beyond the obvious, is the food served on the ship.

guests are treated to an amazing daily array of fresh foods — from local juices of fruits many of us were not familiar with, to super grains, salads, sustainable seafood, meat, vegetarian and vegan main courses, and desserts made from and highlighting tropical fruit (one dessert which was entitled “the story of the pineapple” will forever live in my mind, thank you!), and much more.

but, like everything else, lindblad took care of our food guilt too, thanks to a farm-to-table program — just one of many initiatives lindblad expeditions participates in to support locals and their economy. lindblad purchases “30-40 tons of local and organic produce annually” for its galápagos ships, according to its website. that means money is invested directly in galápagos farms and supports the people who live in the galápagos — because there’s more than just the incredible flora and fauna in the archipelago. there also are about 30,000 inhabitants on four islands.

on top of food for lindblad’s many guests, “100% of all other (non-produce) provisions are sourced either in the islands or from the mainland of ecuador.” all of which can provide a significant impact on the local economy, which is heavily dependent on tourism and was hard hit when covid ceased travel. the afp reported that the galápagos tourism chamber estimated that the economy lost out on $850 million from march 2020 to march 2021. since reopening in july 2021 with relaxed restrictions, the galápagos is working to rebuild — all while protecting what makes the islands unique.

you can learn more about the archipelago in the stories our team is sharing from their adventures. they cover everything from endemic species to the human inhabitants on the galápagos, to changes in protected areas and a look at the evolution of a naturalist. look for them on planetforward.org.

for convenience, i have also included the script of the poem below:

a tale of two shells by terrius harris

a place so foreign to the naked eye that travelers would call it fake; unbelievable, indescribable, but in fact, it’s just a projection of what things used to be like before mankind’s ways. 
a place untouched, now uncovered to you in a blink of an eye, this is only a glimpse of the magic that lives here on this island of life. 
an island of endemic creatures, ones not seen anywhere else before, yet two rise above the rest as through their ancient eyes, we can see the trials and tribulations that mother nature has bore. 

beginning on land we stare into your eyes, with wrinkles on your face and the scratches on your shell telling no lies.
it is you who walked among the dinosaurs in ancient times, head held tall; surviving centuries of natural disasters, and humankind, the largest threat to the environment of them all. 
we stare upon your long neck waiting for you to speak, to tell us the answer to our problems, to help us reconciliate our self-created unfortunate destiny. 
looking in your land, untouched you roam, and as we gaze upon your beauty we can find answers previously unknown. 

the giant galapagos tortoise, a species almost extinct, but with the careful planning, and intentionality of mankind, you still walk among me. 
it is here we find our lesson, it is here we find our truth, as your very existence is the answer to maintaining mankind’s historical youth. 
for you represent the environment, the land, the trees, even the air we breathe; and just as we saved you, we must act swiftly with intention to save the planet, our home to forever be. 
you teach us that leaving is not the answer, nor hoping that everything will work out is the plan, instead, you represent the work, the dedication, and the unwavering effort that must be put in by every (wo)man.

leaving the land, and diving into the sea, we find our second guardian, underneath the waves, swimming gracefully. 
as you swim away from us, seemingly set on your own journey, with a closer look we find our second lesson for learning. within a few strokes distance, yet so much space in-between, it is hard to gather a closer look at what you’re trying to show me. 
chasing you in the ocean, a place that makes up more than 70% of our home, as i get closer i notice something in your movements as you swim, it is not your strong set path that you follow as you roam. 
instead, looking closer, i can see the expression on your face; one of peace and acceptance, content, as you are one with this place. 
a lesson not easily learned, as mankind believes things can all be owned, but instead the wisdom that you bestow upon us is that we are all part of something greater and many times unknown. 
for you have withstood the unwavering turning tides of time, a lesson that mankind must learn in order to survive. 
your lesson is clear as the water you swim through, and it all begins with acceptance from all of us, me and you. 
acceptance that we are only a small part of the plethora of mother earth, and a small dot in the record of time since the universal birth. 
with this said we should let the earth guide us as it pushes us towards reconciliation, with warnings like increased tornadoes, hurricanes, drought, and rising tidal basins.
just as you swim and let the tide guide you, we too should learn, to make note of mother nature’s warnings if our future is what we want to earn. 
the galapagos sea turtle, a species so unique, though others are in existence, i am forever grateful for the lessons that you’ve taught me.

divided by the land, buried beneath the sea, yet forever connected within the same destiny. 
creatures unlike any others, in a place never believed to be real, what we should learn is that all we have to do is take note from what we have seen here. 
protect our oceans, protect our lands for this is the only one we can withstand. 
this is the charge we’ve been given, this is the only lesson we need to learn, for it was said long ago when mankind thought the world was flat, that we were simply sailing through the universe on a turtles back. 
a tale of two shells, one dry, one wet, but both representing the yin and yang of our mother earth as we pledge to restore her to the magnificence that the galapagos has left.

the potential extinction of this land snail points to a much larger issue of land snail extinction around the world, as well as the mass extinction of the world’s important biodiversity. this short video shows us the importance of the role that academia and passionate citizens can play in the protection of our worlds sensitive biodiversity, all beginning with a local endangered and endemic species of land snail.