Conditions for a burn ban have been met; Lee County will continue to monitor conditions.

Southwest Florida’s landscape is graced by numerous native plant species. From towering longleaf pine trees with their prickly pinecones bobbing in the breeze, to the leatherleaf ferns that blanket the marshy bald cypress forest floors, there is so much more to these native ecosystems than meets the eye.

A temporary trail closure in the Big Cypress National Preserve is in effect after the discovery Saturday of a more than 340-acre fire east of State Road 29 and north of Deep Lake.The temporary closures include the Deep Lake Trail (including Trail Head) and the Fire Prairie Trail. During the closure all recreational use including off-road vehicles, hiking, camping, hunting and commercial activities are prohibited in the designated areas.

Audubon’s Everglades Science Center team is calling on bird enthusiasts across the state to search for Roseate Spoonbills and report banded birds on this form.Nearly 3,000 birds have been banded since 2003. Each band sighting will win a special sticker and contribute to critical population data for this iconic Florida species.

The Northern Flicker is a woodpecker that is often seen feeding on ants living in the ground or in very rotted wood. Like other woodpeckers, it excavates a nest cavity, but its bill is more adapted for digging for ants than it is for excavating in wood – it is relatively longer and more curved than that of other woodpeckers – to accommodate the long tongue that it uses to secure ants. It may excavate its cavities in very rotted wood, but will also excavate a nest cavity in the ground or in Styrofoam -- such as sometimes used in roof edging.

The South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission plan to conduct a prescribed burn of up to 12,000 acres in Glades County on Monday weather conditions permitting.

The Naples Zoo today announced the birth of two endangered ring-tailed lemurs, born on March 25. Parents, PJ and Julien, were genetically matched by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums cooperatively managed Species Survival Plan Program.

Since Nov. 2023 the Mid-Hawthorn aquifer that provides irrigation and drinking water to most of Northeast Cape Coral has been seeing record lows in water levels. Residents living in the area have been under mandatory water shortage restrictions that limit irrigation to just one day a week.

Lee County Utilities customers may notice a temporary change in taste, odor and color of their waterLee County Utilities will be temporarily converting its disinfectant process from chloramines to free chlorine residual from May 1 through 21.

The Everglades Coalition met this past weekend and the heart of it all was water