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Welcome to our world of biodiversity! We take enormous pride in our projects. They range from documenting species
in a variety of ecosystems around the world, to assessing ecotourism venues for developing countries, to
researching DNA from Andean Puma in the Amazonia Cloud Forest of Ecuador. Our member participants range in age from
18 to 93 with educational backgrounds from high school degrees to PhDs. Our
ongoing projects to collect photographic data on threatened/endangered species have us traveling to the Amazonia
Cloud Forests of Ecuador, the Amazon basin in Peru, the bamboo forests of China where we have volunteer programs established
with the Ya'an Panda Preserve near Chengdu, the deserts of Namibia, the tropical rain forests of Borneo and Southeast Asia, and
the Florida Everglades, to name a few. Our ecotourism assessment projects have taken
us to service governmental clients in St. Lucia, Uruguay, Kenya, Botswana, Ecuador, Malaysia, Borneo, and the United Arab
Emirates. Our travel photographers and writers are divided into smaller groups to document simultaneous events throughout
a country within a 7-10 day period. Photographic inventories include national park systems, indigenous peoples, cultural attributes,
adventure venues, as well as colonial/historical areas. Money funneled to science goes to two separate activities:
one is to support DNA research comparing the South Florida Panther with the Andean Puma, tropical veterinarian medicine, captive
breeding programs, and reforestation projects. The other activity delivers innovative environmental science education to middle
and high students and their teachers.
We accept all major credit cards
to pay for travel expenses for projects, expeditions, and workshops:
Panda Partners Program for students ages 11-17. Chengdu, China, Summer 2013. Join Wild Spots Foundation group leader Dr. Barry W. Barker for a fascinating visit to China to volunteer in the care and feeding of Giant Pandas at Bi Feng Xia Panda Base in Ya’an. After the devastating earthquakes in Sichuan Province in May 2008, many of the pandas being kept at the Wolong Nature Preserve were transferred to Ya’an. Dr. Barker, a professor at Nova Southeastern University and Biodiversity expert states, “This once-in-a-lifetime experience provides the opportunity to participate first-hand in the care and feeding of these fascinating animals.” Volunteers will have the opportunity to visit the Panda Reproductive Center, temples, and the Chinese Opera in Cheng Du before heading to Ya’an. Two days will be spent with the pandas as a volunteer keeper with ample opportunities for photography. Duties may include gathering and delivering bamboo to the panda enclosures, as well as washing the enclosures and feeding the pandas. According to Barker, “The program at Ya’an is one of the most successful panda husbandry programs in the world and volunteers will have an incredible behind-the-scenes experience participating in the conservation of this endangered species”. Dr Barker is a nationally known environmental educator whose students have been recognized and published for their photographic work, including the National Geographic's World Magazine.
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Click here for project & expedition updates, registration, itineraries; packing lists, etc.
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