Science communicator and educator Alex Freeze cares about wildlife, and she uses her photography and video skills to encourage others to care, too.

    Speaking at our October Science on Tap event at Rising Silo Brewery, Freeze welcomed her audience with a photo walk. The goal was to help participants appreciate the surrounding green spaces and tell their story through photography. Freeze provided tips for effective photography using smartphone cameras and then set people free to take some photographs.

Picture of Alex Freeze talking to an audience member at
Alex Freeze helps to provide resources and ensures that collaboration partners can reach their goals. The photos of bears on display here were used to help schoolkids learn about Florida wildlife. Photo by Carrie Kroehler for Virginia Tech.

    The photo walk mirrors Freeze’s own work. She uses visual storytelling as a way to further conservation efforts alongside the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation, a group that actively protects nearly 18 million acres of connected lands and waters. This area is known as the Florida Wildlife Corridor, and it sustains many species of Florida’s most treasured wildlife. It provides habitats, supports fresh waterways, and preserves entire ecosystems. 

    However, the corridor is threatened, and activists like Freeze work to protect it. As a group coordinator for the Foundation, she helps to provide resources and ensures that collaboration partners can reach their goals. 

    Freeze began her Science on Tap talk with a question: “How do we get people to care about the wildlife corridor?” The answer, in her words, is to support individuals who own the land and  “(use) every resource available to convince people this matters.” For Freeze, this includes outreach, research, and experimentation, as well as some creative projects.

A picture of Alex Freeze using visual storytelling at Science on Tap.
Freeze uses visual storytelling as a way to further conservation efforts. Photo by Carrie Kroehler for Virginia Tech.

    She also does work on the ground, using remote photography to study how animals move, behave, and use the corridor. 

    “You have to remove yourself and leave technology in your place,” she says, explaining the use of remote camera traps. The traps use sophisticated motion sensors to capture animals moving through the corridor. Animals can also be tagged with tracking devices to acquire more behavioral data. Freeze demonstrated the use of a camera trap and encouraged audience members to trigger it with their movements.

    “It’s an amazing tool to show people in real time how amazing these animals are,” Freeze says about the technology. “I basically got completely addicted. I can get my camera. . .and make people care about the corridor.” 

A picture of ALex freeze explaining her science research to the audience at Science on Tap.
Freeze explains the use of remote camera traps to some of her Science on Tap audience members. Photo by Carrie Kroehler for Virginia Tech.

    Her work isn’t always behind a camera. Her advocacy repertoire has included involvement in films and books as well. One such film, “Hidden Wild,” premiered on PBS and garnered much attention — so much so that $3 million was allocated to protect Florida’s green spaces. Books she has worked on include The Forgotten Coast, which details one of Freeze’s many expeditions, and Path of the Panther, which raises awareness for Florida’s threatened panthers. Path of the Panther is also a film, available on Disney+ and Hulu.

    The event ended with a Q&A session and invitations to engage with Freeze’s online resources and to learn more about the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation. She left the crowd with these words: “The natural world is for everyone, and it’s worth supporting.”

By Maia Mirro, Center for Communicating Science student intern