Environment

More than 100 wildfires were burning throughout Florida at the end of April, 14 million state residents are gripped by drought, and hurricane season's coming.

North Port is in the midst of two-week process to clear out the piping of the city's water system, which can be done while the water can still be used

Manatees in the Indian River Lagoon and other places around Florida are starving to death due to pollution killing seagrass meadows

Some areas of Lee County will see trash, recycling and yard-waste pickup begin an hour earlier starting May 1.

Today is Earth Day, and the Caloosahatchee River is 100 pounds lighter, so to speak, than it was before Megan Parsons and her friends got together last weekend for one of the region's first Earth Day celebrations and cleanups

Connie Ramos-Williams decided to step down from her executive director position to spend more time with her growing family and return to what she was doing before she felt the need to help Calusa Waterkeeper – being retired.

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.

The National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning from noon to 7 p.m. today for Southwest Florida areas including Lee, DeSoto, Manatee, Sarasota, and Charlotte counties.A combination of warm temperatures this afternoon, low relative humidity values, and sustained winds greater than 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph will create Red Flag conditions across much of west central and Southwest Florida this afternoon.At the same time a number of brush fires were being fought.

The South Florida Water Management District plans to conduct a 26-acre prescribed burn in the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed (CREW) Management Area in Lee County today.. The burn unit is in the CREW Management Area, approximately 6 miles west of SR 82 and 1.3 miles south of Corkscrew Road. Smoke may be visible in the area of the burn.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reopening the public comment period for a proposed rule to list the monarch butterfly as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Information about how to submit comments can be found on regulations.gov by searching for docket number FWS-R3-ES-2024-0137.