Environment

Molly Bowen and others from Desoto County were successful in ending the practice of importing and spreading sludge. Now the fight may begin again.

Environment

Decades ago DeSoto residents took on special interests and won battle over sludge; it begins again

Eileen Kelley

After successfully ending the practice of spreading biosolids, Desoto residents brace for the possibility it may return

Signs alert FGCU students and staff alike that there may be more than water in campus lakes.

Environment

For FGCU's University Police Department a walk on the campus' wild side isn't normally a surprise

Jada Kohlmeier

For FGCU's University Police Department, the work can get a bit wild.From time to time, UPD has to deal with animals that have wandered onto campus.The most recent animal case was on March 25, when a 6-foot alligator wandered onto the South Village (SoVi) boardwalk.

Overall 489 manatees have died this year in Florida as of October 27th, according to data from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Of thsoe deaths, 104 have been in Lee County, the largest number of all Florida's counties.

Environment

U.S. District judge backs more protections for Florida manatees

Jim Saunders/News Service of Florida

Pointing to ongoing threats to manatees, a U.S. district judge Friday said the state has violated the federal Endangered Species Act in its regulation of wastewater discharges into the Indian River Lagoon.Orlando-based Judge Carlos Mendoza issued a 21-page decision that sided with the environmental group Bear Warriors United, which argued discharges into the waterway along the East Coast led to the demise of seagrass and, as a result, deaths and other harm to manatees.

Rick Dolan, the Florida Forest Service's director, said late this week that a lack of rainfall and drought that's parched forests filled with dried-out trees felled by recent hurricanes are going to bring enough wildfire activity to "South Florida, specifically Southwest Florida around the Fort Myers and Naples area" that his agency is already bringing wildland firefighting equipment from North Florida to the region for blazes he expects during the next four to eight weeks.

Environment

Before hurricanes threaten state, emergency managers expect firestorms in Southwest Florida

Michael Braun

A water shortage in Cape Coral and Lee County. Parched soil and worsening drought throughout Southwest Florida. Wildfires are expected next, and not small ones.The restrictions were put into place to protect the Mid-Hawthorn Aquifer and drinking water supply in that area. The area affected is bound by NE Pine Island Road on the south, Neilson Road N on the west, NE 24th Avenue and Garden Boulevard on the east and the Gator Slough Canal on the north.

An explosion used to blast a canal that will lead to the Everglades super-reservoir, which will be part of the 17,000-acre complex of manmade wetlands to treat nutrient pollution from water released from Lake Okeechobee before it's released to the south, restoring a portion of the original flow through the River of Grass

Environment

Appeals court rules against sugar industry in quest to secure water meant for Everglades restoration

Tom Bayles

An appeals court rules the sugar industry could not take water meant for the Everglades when the EAA is completed in about a decade

The Caloosahatchee River is at the center of the focus on water quality in Southwest Florida for Calusa Waterkeeper, from Boca Grande south to Bonita Springs and 1,000 miles around.

Environment

Calusa Waterkeeper meets to discuss future, area's water status

Tom Bayles

Calusa Waterkeeper meets to discuss its future, gather donations, and listen to experts like Mike Parsons from FGCU's The Water School

The high-volume discharges of water from Lake Okeechobee down the Caloosahatchee River that have been a mainstay for months to lower the depth of the lake before hurricane season will come to an end this weekend

Environment

Army Corps to stop sending polluted Lake Okeechobee water down Caloosahatchee River

Tom Bayles

The Army Corps has been sending Lake O water down the Caloosahatchee River for months to lower the depth in the lake, which harms the estuary.

One of the three panther kittens given a one-month checkup while its mother panther was out hunting in the Okaloachoocie Slough east of Lehigh Acres

Environment

State wildlife biologists post pictures of trio of Florida panther kittens after one-month checkup

Tom Bayles

State panther biologists are hoping the sometimes cruel fate of nature does not repeat itself this year after they checked on a trio of kittens born to a mother who lost last year’s litter to a hungry black bear. They posted pictures of the baby panthers on Instagram

Wildfire in the area of North Collier Regional Park.

Environment

Wildfire, burn bans, continue to spread in Southwest Florida

Tom Bayles

A six-acre wildfire in Naples caused homeowners to evacuate, and Sarasota County added itself to the growing list of counties with an outdoor burn ban

This photo provided by shows smoking from fires on Miami-Dade side fill the sky on Card Sound Road heading to the Florida Keys on Tuesday, March 18, 2025.

Environment

Drought in Southwest Florida expected to strengthen in short term as wildfires burn all around

Tom Bayles

Florida's wildfire season is heating up early this year. Right now, blazes surround Southwest Florida