Everglades

The "Python Challenge" in the Everglades is aimed at controlling the snake population.

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the veto of controversial SB 2508, a Lake Okeechobee water supply bill that environmental advocates strongly opposed.

Environmental groups say as Gov. Ron DeSantis aims to strengthen infrastructure against sea level rise, he has failed to show much action on what is causing climate change and address the state’s reliance on fossil fuels.

The money will be used for restoration projects that have dragged on for years, including building a reservoir and undoing damage from old bridges built in the Everglades.

It's the latest attempt by lawmakers sympathetic — or beholden — to the sugar industry to give it and the agricultural industry the key to the Everglades’ huge spigot by guaranteeing “existing legal users” continue to receive a huge amount of the water.

The Department of Environmental Protection in November denied a permit that Trend Exploration sought to drill an exploratory well to seek oil reserves.

Friends of the Everglades Executive Director Eve Samples says the measure boils down to "manipulation of the new Lake Okeechobee plan."

WMFE environmental reporter Amy Green discusses the link between the Everglades and struggling manatees.

The money will be used to hasten efforts to undo the damage the Everglades suffered in the early 1900s.

Native American environmentalist and artist Houston Cypress is concerned that climate change will harm native plants that are integral to Miccosukee cultural practices. His nonprofit, Love the Everglades, combines education, art and spirituality to advocate for restoring the land that he calls the river of grass.

Audubon Florida, a well-known environmental group dedicated to the conservation of birds and their habitats, published a report on the health and success of 43,680 wading bird nests last year from Fort Myers to Lake Okeechobee and south to Florida Bay at the southern tip of mainland South Florida.

Tegus have been reported in 35 Florida counties, including nearly every part of the greater Tampa Bay region. A new factsheet shows their presence is now established in several North Florida counties and as far north as Georgia.