A fellow journalist and I were sent to the Florida Keys to report on how the islands are bracing for the effects of the Deepwater Horizon blowout that is still spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico. It was a week of hard work, hot sun and interesting interviews — and now that I’m home, [...]
Florida has a reputation for beaches lined by high-rise condos. Ugh.
Not this beach.
Though there are high rises to the south, Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park is a mile-long bit of preserved beach, no buildings behind you. It’s one of my favorite places to run on the beach, and you’re also pretty much guaranteed to see all [...]
It’s a park, and also a natural filtering system.
A new park opened last fall in Naples, and it’s unique because along with being a place to enjoy being outside, it’s also a water filtering area. Storm water passes through the park and gets filtered before it dumps into the Gordon River and then into Naples [...]
Endangered panthers are Florida’s state animal, and March is panther month.
There are only about 100 panthers left in Florida, but at one time their situation was much worse. In the late 1980s, just 20 to 30 remained. They’ve been brought by through conservation and breeding efforts, but still are at huge risk of extinction.
You can [...]
A twisting, winding boardwalk rises above the inland waters and leads you to an island, where you can lay on the beach.
Sounds like fun, right? Best of all, it’s handicap accessible and there’s even a golf cart to transport you there (or back) if unable to walk (or too sunburnt).
Clam Pass park is a 35-acre [...]
A good friend of mine works at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and she told me that a rare animal came into the clinic recently — an Everglades mink.
There are three populations of minks in Florida. The first population is the Everglades mink, which lives in South Florida and is listed as a threatened species, [...]
Last weekend 10 manatees that had gotten into trouble around the state were rescued by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and their partners.
Most of the manatees had cold stress, which happens when temperatures drop below 68 degrees for too long.
Four juvenile manatees were rescued in St. Petersburg, Bradenton and Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge [...]
Florida has a lot of popular and often heard about endangered species: Manatees, panthers and sea turtles, to name a few. But endangered wood rats don’t sound so glamorous.
(Though they are quite cute.)
I discovered them when I was researching Burmese pythons, because apparently the invasive snakes eat the woodrats.
They’re called Key Largo woodrats, and at [...]
All you need is a hunting license, a $26 permit and the desire to slog through the swamp.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced Monday that it has created a special hunting season for “reptiles of concern” from March 8 to April 17. Right now, hunters can take reptiles of concern — as it’s small [...]
It’s like a horror movie plot. A devastating storm hits and huge snakes that squeeze their prey to death are escape into a jungle. They start reproducing, and soon, the population spirals out of control.
In Florida’s Everglades, it’s actually happening. No one knows exactly how many Burmese pythons there are out there in the swamp, [...]
