Tom Bayles
WGCU Environmental ReporterTom Bayles is WGCU's Senior Environmental Reporter and a 35-year veteran journalist in Florida. Prior to his tenure at WGCU Public Media, he worked for The New York Times Co. in Sarasota, The Associated Press in Miami and Tallahassee, and the Tampa Bay Times in Clearwater. He earned a master's degree in journalism and a bachelors in education, both from the University of South Florida. The proud father of three sons, Bayles spends his free time fishing along the Southwest Florida coast in his 20-foot Aquasport with his Whippet pup, Spencer.
Bayles is a recipient of the Gold Medal for Public Service from the Florida Association of News Editors, the Waldo Proffitt Award for Excellence in Environmental Reporting, was named top environmental journalist in Florida by the Florida Press Club, and received a Gold Charley Award for public service long-form feature writing from the Florida Magazine Association. Bayles has been nominated four times for a Pulitzer Prize.
Email: tbayles@wgcu.org
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Audubon Florida's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is getting a makeover of sorts with some new buildings feature new attractions such as interactive displays that can be seen, heard, and touched -
A swath of red tide stretching for more than 200 miles has formed from Tampa Bay to Key West and the bloom started near Tampa Bay shortly after Hurricane Milton in October. -
The progression of bird flu in America since 2021 has been unprecedented, including the first-ever cases of infections in dairy cattle and raising heightened pandemic risks. -
It will soon be a new day in the treatment of sick and injured sea turtles at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife on Sanibel Island. Hurricane Ian devastated the nonprofit wildlife hospital in September 2022 -
Fishing for tarpon on the Big Indian Rocks Pier as a teenager, WGCU senior environmental reporter Tom Bayles says he cannot remember ever smelling a red tide or seeing blue-green algae. Now, they are both blooming at the same time where he lives -
Manatees and sea turtles are vulnerable to cold snaps like the Arctic blasts this month as cold air can drop the temperature of shallow water along Southwest Florida’s Gulf Coast by two degrees every day -
Southwest Florida may be the driest part of the state right now, but forecasters are in agreement that they have no clue what comes next: a rough wildfire season, or calm in the woods -
A type of harmful blue-green algae is so great in Lake Avalon that it remains closed to water sports enthusiasts for the third month. Meanwhile, red tides 15 miles wide are blooming in the Gulf of Mexico. In Southwest Florida, blue-green algae like the summer and fall, while red tide's time is the cooler winter and spring — but both harmful algae have taken hold in places throughout the region. -
Red tide samples are coming up positive throughout Southwest Florida, but it's offshore where it's making an impact when anglers arrive to find out the organism got into the live wells and killed their bait. -
As 2024 comes to an end, some journalists are having difficulty keeping the official panther death count from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission accurate. Why is unclear.
