Eric Bendick

The Wild Divide

Eric Bendick, Danny Schmidt

By horseback, foot, and paddleboard, three friends trek across Florida’s imperiled backbone. The Lake Wales Ridge is an ancient ribbon of sand dunes that is a hotspot for biodiversity found nowhere else in the world. It is also a place steeped in a long tradition of agricultural heritage. Both are threatened by the rapid pace of change in Florida’s wild interior.

Chasing Ghosts

Eric Bendick

Carlton Ward Jr., Mac Stone

In their quest to identify the pollinator of the ghost orchid for the first time, a team of explorers, photographers, and filmmakers spent three summers standing waist-deep in alligator and snake-laden water, swatting air blackened by mosquitoes, and climbing to sometimes nausea-inducing heights. They came away with a startling new discovery – and an even deeper love for Florida’s wildest wetlands – revelations that may help to conserve both the endangered orchid and its shrinking home.