Environmental

Four conservation groups are seeking to help block an effort to remove federal Endangered Species Act protections for the Florida scrub jay, the Earthjustice legal organization announced Tuesday. The Florida Wildlife Federation, American Bird Conservancy, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida filed a request to intervene in a lawsuit challenging the protections.

Internationally renowned landscape photographer and environmental advocate Clyde Butcher is best known for his break-taking black and while landscape photographs of Florida’s pristine wild spaces. He recently sat down for a conversation at his gallery and studio in Venice about his life, work, legacy and enduring passion for environmental conservation and preservation.

The Roseate Spoonbill -- once seen – you’ll never forget. It’s a two-and-a-half-foot-plus bird that, as an adult, is mostly pink, but also with splashes of red, an orange-buff tail, and a gray-green head. But that’s not all! It also has a stout, long, bill that is tipped with what appears like the bowl of a spoon. But it’s not a spoon. It’s more like a flattened spoon that opens and closes fast like some large paper clips. That “spoon” – which gave the bird its name – is not present on a hatchling chick. But it very quickly develops as the nestling begins to grow. In a sense it’s more like a catcher’s mitt on a strong, fast-closing, hand. A spoonbill walks slowly through shallow water swinging its highly sensitive “spoon” from side-to-side – then, when it senses potential food, the broad spoon opens to quickly and easily capture it.

FrogWatch USA is a national citizen science program collecting data on frog populations are across the United States, with a Southwest Florida chapter active for over 20 years.

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

A state auditor sent down from Tallahassee to perform a standard assessment of the taxpayer-funded Collier Mosquito Control District found its men and women doing a good job

Community partners will host the fourth annual Captiva Coastal Cleanup from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Sept. 30 at McCarthy’s Marina, located at 11401 Andy Rosse Lane on Captiva Island.

A new law is paving the way for radioactive roads in Florida. But environmentalists say it would affect road construction workers, harm plant and wildlife, and potentially kill precious Florida springs.

CORRECTION: June 26 story on blue-green algae and red tide in Charlotte Harbor

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, a landmark piece of legislation that formalized the United States’ commitment to the conservation of fish, plants, and wildlife and the places they call home.