TRCP’s “In the Arena” series highlights the individual voices of hunters and anglers who, as Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, strive valiantly in the worthy cause of conservation.

Capt. Franklin Adams

Hometown: Born in Miami, Florida 
Occupation: Retired; former occupations include warden-naturalist for the National Audubon Society, Florida Master Naturalist, land surveyor (with projects in Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park, and the Florida Keys), surveyor/mapper for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Merchant Marine officer, and eco-tour operator/ fishing guide with a USCG 100-ton Master’s license
Conservation credentials: As a true Gladesman, conservationist, and historian, Adams has spent more than six decades championing Everglades restoration efforts while working for and with conservation nonprofits, government agencies, and private businesses, as well as chartering inshore fishing adventures. He’s also the former chair of the Florida Wildlife Federation and a 31-year board member, as well as past president of the Florida Division of the Izaak Walton League of America and Collier County chairman of the Friends of the Everglades.

While thousands of people and scores of organizations are involved in the conservation of America’s Everglades, few, if any, have the breadth and depth of experience and understanding as Capt. Franklin Adams. This is a man who was fortunate to experience South Florida in a relatively unspoiled, natural condition, and was on the front lines of early protection efforts. Who else was personally mentored by Marjory Stoneman Douglas – the author, women’s suffrage advocate, and conservationist credited with launching the Everglades conservation movement – and once hunted waterfowl in the wetlands that later became Everglades National Park? Adams has been officially recognized as a “Guardian of the Everglades,” largely for his advocacy for Big Cypress National Preserve and successful effort to help protect what became the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, now the largest state park in Florida and a refuge for Florida panthers and the rare Everglades mink, as well as the largest number of rare native orchids and bromeliads in North America.

Here is his story.

I was introduced at a young age to fishing, hunting, and enjoyment of the great outdoors by my father, G.B. Adams. I actually accompanied my dad duck hunting on West Lake prior to it becoming part of Everglades National Park in 1947. I was taught gun safety and to respect wildlife and wild places.

One of my most memorable outdoor experiences was a couple years before that when I was taken to the woods by my daddy for my seventh birthday. (We referred to the Everglades and Big Cypress as “going to the woods.”) We had to walk into the campsite at night as he and his friends had gotten off work late. It was so new and exciting for a young boy that I have never forgotten that first family experience. A cold front was approaching as we came into deer camp, so dad had me collect some “boot jacks” off a cabbage palm tree in the upland hammock and he used them to start a lightered pine fire.

“I began to see objects in the smoke and mist – deer, Indian chickees, and turkey gobblers floated through my imagination that night as I went into a deep sleep.“

Dad had brought venison chili, which was heated up on the fire grid and biscuits were baked in a Dutch oven. Smelled good, and tasted even better. After supper dad and his friends sat around the fire and sipped some “brown swamp water” and told stories of past trips and experiences. I leaned up against an old live oak and listened as the cold front moved in and enjoyed the odor of the burning, smoking pine. As the front moved in, a ground fog began to mist slowly through the hardwood hammock and I was fighting to stay awake. I began to see objects in the smoke and mist – deer, Indian chickees (traditional shelters used by the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes), and turkey gobblers floated through my imagination that night as I went into a deep sleep. In the morning, I awoke to the smell of lighter knot coffee, pancakes, and sausage on the fire. That was my first trip to the Everglades’ Big Cypress region and I was captured by that wonderful experience. I have been going back ever since. So, add 80 more years to that 7-year-old’s birthday. Thanks, Dad.

If I could hunt or fish anywhere, where would it be, and why? That’s a difficult one. There are so many places known for their fishing and hunting and I have never been to them. I want to take my grandson, Michael, with me, so probably the Ten Thousand Islands of the southwest Florida area. Up Lostmans River, Broad River, or Shark River to fish for snook. Why, it’s an area I know and love and not too distant from home.

Conservation absolutely enhances my outdoor life. This is how my career came about. As I accompanied my father in his surveying business around South Florida, I witnessed the destruction and continual loss of wetlands and woods that we had enjoyed. I began to become concerned and to inquire as to causes for the loss of these treasured natural areas. Why was it necessary to destroy that hardwood hammock, that prairie, or fill in that duck hunting lake? Mom and Dad began to encourage my conservation concerns and provided me with nature books, stressing the importance of outdoor ethics and the value of natural areas if left alone and protected.

“If we are to enjoy the outdoors, no matter what our interests are, then we have an obligation to defend and speak out on behalf of nature and wildlife.“

The more I learned, the more I became frustrated, and somewhat angry. When I was in high school, I discovered Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s book, The Everglades: River of Grass, published in 1947. From her book I learned so much, including that one could speak out in defense of natural areas. Later she would become a mentor and a family friend. In 1970, she established Friends of the Everglades to fight the Big Cypress jetport project and asked me to be the Collier County chairman. As I added on some age and experience, I headed up several conservation organizations as an unpaid volunteer over the years, including serving as chair of the Florida Wildlife Federation and a board member for 31 years.

If we are to enjoy the outdoors, no matter what our interests are, then we have an obligation to defend and speak out on behalf of nature and wildlife. If you are not already doing so, start by becoming a member and supporter of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.

The biggest outdoor challenge we face in Florida, and there are many, is protecting wetlands and the water quality that they provide, cost-free if we protect them. We continue to lose critical habitat to unwise development and, yes, greed, and not respecting nature. 

It is vitally important to mentor and educate your children, grandchildren, and families as to the importance of conservation; why it is imperative for them to be involved in learning about and becoming knowledgeable defenders of the outdoors they enjoy and love. Otherwise, we will continue to lose habitat. Nature and the outdoors not only are important to wildlife, but they are also vitally important to us as an escape from stress, and provide restorative experiences that we can share with family and friends for a lifetime of memories.

Banner image: Franklin at a Fakahatchee Strand Preserve campfire talk, credit Dino Barone