Environment

Coontie is usually a 3-foot tall shrub that looks somewhat like a miniature palm. But it’s not a palm – it’s a cycad – distantly- but most-closely related to the exotic gingko tree of China. It is also distantly related to pines. Coontie is a plant that almost disappeared by the late 1800s as a result of habitat destruction and losses due to its use in producing a starchy product called “Florida Arrowroot”. As Coontie disappeared, so too did the tiny black, orange, and blue Atala Butterfly and its orange-red caterpillar with two rows of yellow spots along its back and scattered short black hairs covering its body. Atala Butterfly caterpillars adapted to feed on the stiff Coontie leaves and store the toxins from the plant in its body.

Collier County's Board of County Commissioners has authorized a burn ban in the county effective this week due to dry conditions.The decision for the ban came after consultation between the Collier County Bureau of Emergency Services, Florida Forest Service, Collier County Fire Chiefs’ Association, Collier County Sheriff’s Office, and the National Weather Service jointly identified a need for a burning ban to become effective immediately after certain environmental conditions were met, including dry conditions. Burn bans have also been announced in the past week in Sarasota and Hendry counties due to the same dry conditions.

The American Bittern is known to science as Botaurus lentiginosus – a name that tells us a bit about it. Botaurus is derived from an old English word that refers to a bull – because this bird’s unique deep-throated call reminded people of the bellowing of a bull. The species name “lentiginosus” means freckled – a reference to the tiny black spots on this bittern’s back.

Environmental groups Monday urged a federal appeals court to reject Florida’s request for a stay of a district judge’s ruling in a battle about permitting authority for projects that affect wetlands. Attorneys from the Earthjustice legal organization filed a 37-page brief at the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia disputing Florida’s arguments that the ruling by U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss should be put on hold while an appeal plays out.

Federal environmental officials have pushed back against arguments by Florida that a legal fight over wetlands-related permitting has put more than 1,000 permit applications into "regulatory limbo."Florida last week asked an appeals court to issue a stay of a district judge’s ruling that rejected a 2020 decision by the federal government to shift permitting authority to the state. The stay request — backed late Thursday by major business groups and companies — argued that the ruling has created permitting “chaos” and should be put on hold while an appeal plays out.

The South Florida Water Management District plans to conduct a 200-acre prescribed burn in the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed (CREW) Management Area in Lee County today, Wednesday, May 1.

An important point for politicos on the entire spectrum, and we speak to them all, is how often DeSantis sends taxpayer dollars to the Everglades restoration, in this case $750 million a year

Governor DeSantis has directed $750 million a year to the state’s environmental needs; critics say his is misspending — but supporters say it's money well spent

At least 38 smalltooth sawfish have been found dead in South Florida waters since January, but the actual total of deaths is believed to be higher.

Controversy surrounds the Army Corps’ decisions when to release how much water from Lake Okeechobee, slowly, quickly, during the wet season or dry