“ … my dream is to help create the first ‘National Corridor.’ America created Yellowstone as the first National Park – now it is essential that we connect the parks to preserve their vitality for future generations and allow wildlife to follow their natural routes. If we are successful here, the idea of National Corridors could spread around the world, just like the National Park idea has. “
Freedom to roam
Amongst scientists, the need for connectivity between natural areas and preserves has become basic knowledge. Isolated pockets of land, established as parks and preserves, are not enough to maintain a sustainable, healthy ecosystem that supports both wildlife and human communities over time. Florian recognized the importance of wildlife corridors when he started his work on his Freedom to Roam project over a decade ago.
Florian speaks
Be part of the story
Live Events
A man, passionate about photography, wild animals and conservation sets out on a quest to document wildlife on the move. Travelling from the southern tip of Baja California along the pacific coast, traversing over 8000 miles up to the high arctic.
Books
Discover North America's wild coastal corridor--from the Baja Peninsula to the Beaufort Sea--just offshore along the Pacific Edge.
Exhibitions
…Caribous by the thousands roam free along the Alaskan coast towards their birthing grounds; Hundreds of snow geese beat their wings in search of their nesting grounds; giant grey whales congregate by the hundreds in their birthing lagoons in Baja California…” an amazingly curated photography exhibit showcasing remarkable photography of unseen wildlife spectacles on their epic journeys across North America.
The Areas
B2B - Baja to Beaufort
The coastline of the B2B region is a rich habitat where land meets the sea, and sweetwater meets saltwater. Running from Baja California to the Beaufort Sea, this region encompasses a long connected line of sand, surf, cliff, island, estuary and marsh, as well as abutting coastal forest and ocean. Marine and terrestrial interrelationships are vast and complex, linking the life of the ocean depths to the very tops of ancient trees—and ultimately to us.
This biological corridor encompasses deserts, sierras, mangroves, fjords, archipelagos, and a vast stretch of arctic tundra. This is an ecosystem rich in migratory birds, fish and marine mammals, giving home also to the last large migratory herd of ungulates in the Americas. In the North it is also the home to some of the most powerful animals like bears and wolves. Certain parts of this region represent some of the wildest ecosystems still to be found on Earth and allows for the creation and preservation of wildlife corridors. But constant threats by development, industry and pollution are an ever growing issue.
Y2Y - Yellowstone to Yukon
In his first Freedom to Roam project on Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y), Florian has focused his efforts on a region that is considered one of the last largely intact mountain ecosystems in the world. From Yellowstone National Park in the south, the broad expanse of land follows the spine of the continent all the way to the Yukon Territory. Not only is the region a stronghold for many carnivores and other large mammals in the continent, but Y2Y also serves as a model for large-scale landscape connectivity worldwide.
Building on the existing Parks and other protected areas, the challenge is now to preserve a interconnected web of life so that wildlife continues to have the freedom to roam. This ambitious plan can only be achieved in a huge collaborative effort where private citizens, government representatives, NGOs, scientists, conservationists and the different Native American and First Nation tribes come together.
In this large alliance, Florian has played a key role by creating a visual conservation campaign to promote the Yellowstone to Yukon vision and to ensure the ecological health and integrity of this magnificent mountain landscape.
The Books
The Wild Edge
Discover North America's wild coastal corridor--from the Baja Peninsula to the Beaufort Sea--just offshore along the Pacific Edge. The Wild Edge: Freedom to Roam the Pacific Coast reveals the great Pacific seam of North America that knits together land and sea, ocean and continent in a tumble of interrelated life. From the Baja Peninsula through the coves and breaks of California and the bays and inlets of the Pacific Northwest, to the deep forests of British Columbia and the icy realm of polar bears in the Beaufort Sea of Alaska, the west coast of North America provides a life-sustaining corridor of great energy. Through vivid imagery, stories, and science, The Wild Edge reveals how the health and livelihood of a distant Inupiaq Eskimo whaler is related to a suburban family in Los Angeles enamored with the pod of whales passing by their city beach. Through extraordinary photographs, Schulz contrasts this astonishing beauty with the threats from degradation and runaway development.
- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: Mountaineers Books (October 1, 2015)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0898867738
- ISBN-13: 978-0898867732
- Product Dimensions: 12.4 x 1.2 x 10.1 inches
Look inside the book
Yellowstone to Yukon
On November 22, 2005 Mountaineers Books released Florian Schulz’s new book which is a tribute to Yellowstone to Yukon: a place where bison move across prairies, wolves converge on the hunt, elk bugle across valleys, river otters fish the streams, and grizzlies roam the mountains —outside the boundaries of any park. Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam, a photographic journey by award-winning nature photographer Florian Schulz, features 200 full-color images of the Northern Rocky Mountain landscape and its inhabitants, animal, plant, and human.
Schulz’s images and stories of life in the field are paired with original essays by Douglas Chadwick, Karsten Heuer, Ted Kerasote, David Quammen, Rick Bass, and more, with a foreword by David Suzuki and an epilogue by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. These noted writers, biologists, and conservationists write eloquently about their first-hand experiences on the land in the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) region.
- See more at: https://y2y.net/publications/books/yellowstone-to-yukon-freedom-to-roam#sthash.aSkg3akK.dpufOn November 22, 2005 Mountaineers Books released Florian Schulz’s new book which is a tribute to Yellowstone to Yukon: a place where bison move across prairies, wolves converge on the hunt, elk bugle across valleys, river otters fish the streams, and grizzlies roam the mountains —outside the boundaries of any park. Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam, a photographic journey by award-winning nature photographer Florian Schulz, features 200 full-color images of the Northern Rocky Mountain landscape and its inhabitants, animal, plant, and human.
Schulz’s images and stories of life in the field are paired with original essays by Douglas Chadwick, Karsten Heuer, Ted Kerasote, David Quammen, Rick Bass, and more, with a foreword by David Suzuki and an epilogue by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. These noted writers, biologists, and conservationists write eloquently about their first-hand experiences on the land in the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) region.
- See more at: https://y2y.net/publications/books/yellowstone-to-yukon-freedom-to-roam#sthash.aSkg3akK.dpufFlorian´s book is a tribute to Yellowstone to Yukon: a place where bison move across prairies, wolves converge on the hunt, elk bugle across valleys, river otters fish the streams, and grizzlies roam the mountains —outside the boundaries of any park. Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam, a photographic journey by award-winning nature photographer Florian Schulz, features 200 full-color images of the Northern Rocky Mountain landscape and its inhabitants, animal, plant, and human.
- Hardcover: 196 pages
- Publisher: Mountaineers Books
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1594851042
- ISBN-13: 978-1594851049
- Product Dimensions: 12 x 0.6 x 11.1 inches
Exhibitions
Wilderness Unlimited
…Caribous by the thousands roam free along the Alaskan coast towards their birthing grounds; Hundreds of snow geese beat their wings in search of their nesting grounds; giant grey whales congregate by the hundreds in their birthing lagoons in Baja California…” an amazingly curated photography exhibit showcasing remarkable photography of unseen wildlife spectacles on their epic journeys across North America.
Dates | Museum / City |
June - October 2017 | Schweizer Museum für Wild und Jagd | Utzenstorf / CH |
Oct. 2015 - Jan. 2016 |
Naturmuseum Südtirol | Bozen / Italy |
Yellowstone to Yukon - Freedom to Roam
Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam features photographs by Florian Schulz of the Rocky Mountain West and documents the ambitious effort to preserve wildlife corridors from Yellowstone National Park to Canada's Yukon Territories.
Such corridors would link existing parks and public lands to ensure the survival of one of the world's last intact mountain ecosystems.
An award winning nature photographer, Schulz has dedicated ten years of his life to documenting the drama and beauty of North America's largest wildlife corridor: the Rocky Mountains. His 40 large format color photographs have captured the drama and beauty of this Western ecosystem and its diverse landscapes, wildlife, and people.
This exhibit was organized by the Burke Museum in collaboration with The Mountaineers Books and the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative.
Dates | Museum / City |
June 16 - Dec. 31, 2007 | The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture| Seattle / USA |
Publications about F2R
Article: Along the Whales Highway
Issue: Spring 2014
Cover
Feature article: Freedom to Roam - Grenzenlose Wildnis
Issue: 2010
Feature article: Projekte – Freedom to Roam
Issue: Fall / Winter 2010
Feature article: Making Connections
April / May 2009
Cover
Feature article: Y2Y
Issue 2009
Cover
Feature article: Freedom to Roam
Spring 2008
Feature article: Vom Yellowstone zum Yukon
Issue: April 2007
Feature article: Parchi - I Progetti Y2Y
Issue: January 2007
Article: Advice from a Pro
Issue: 2007
Cover
Feature Article: Blazing a Path
Issue: Spring 2006
Article: Where Wild Things Roam
Issue: 2006
Feature article: Yellowstone to Yukon
Issue: 2006
Article: A Call to The Wild
Issue: April 2006
Article: Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam
Issue: 2006
Article: Images from Heart
Issue: October 2006
Article: Where Wild Things Roam
Issue: Fall 2005
Article: Wenn Bären Menschen treffen
Issue: 2003