Everglades National Park

Highway 41 fire reported 100 percent contained; 9,149 acres burned in wildfire

WGCU Staff

The Highway 41 that burned for nearly a week in Everglades National Park is now 100 percent contained, fire officials report.

Environment

Highway 41 Fire in Everglades National Park downgraded in severity, firefighters reduced

WGCU Staff

An 9,149-acre wildfire was initially reported at 2,500-acres on Monday. The fire was downgraded in severity Saturday.

The new visitor center at the Everglades City entrance to the Everglades National Park is named after Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who spent decades fighting for the River of Grass at a time when draining it was considered progress. She opened her 1947 book, "The Everglades: River of Grass," with seven words that still hold: "There are no other Everglades in the world." Her advocacy continued until she died in 1998 at age 108

Environment

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Visitor Center is now open at Everglades City entrance to Everglades National Park

Tom Bayles

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Visitor Center is both the new gateway into Everglades National Park and the final sign that Everglades City has recovered from a devastating blow from Hurricane Irma nearly nine years ago

The campers at the southern tip of penisular Florida should be in for some incredible star gazing since they will be away from the ligths of any of South Florida cities. This is a n image of Messier 107, a collection of more than 150 star clusters found around the disc of the Milky Way galaxy. The brighter areas each contain hundreds of thousands of extremely old stars and are among the oldest objects in the Milky Way. The campers wil have tough time seeing this part of space no matter how dark it is because this image ws taken with the Hubble Space Telescope

Environment

A star gazing camping trip like few others at the southern tip of mainland Florida

Tom Bayles

The campground at the southernmost tip of Everglades National Park, where it’s arguably as dark as dark can get in Florida, is home base for Two Nights Under the Stars, a camping weekend to help children appreciate the beauty and importance of Florida’s national parks

Just another day teaching about the importance of conservation in the Everglades: Betty Osceola leads a group of Miccosukee and Seminole tribe members as well as concerned citizens on a hike to a proposed oil drilling site in Big Cypress National Preserve in 2021.

Environment

Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, Miccosukee Tribe, and others lauded by Audubon Florida

Tom Bayles

More than 250 conservationists and citizen advocates were in the audience at Audubon Florida’s 2025 Assembly. The state program of the National Audubon Society recognized people the group considers key environmental leaders from Naples to Orlando, and Tampa Bay to Panama City, at the annual event last month.

Protesters lined U.S. 41 outside the Alligator Alcatraz detention center on Tuesday as President Donald Trump toured the facility.

Immigration

Damage from Alligator Alcatraz already obvious, environmental groups say; Uthmeier: Inmates 'checking in'

Eileen Kelley

Environmental groups say damage from Alligator Alcatraz is already obvious in light pollution and other issues.

Environment

Wading bird nesting underway in South Florida; How is the comparison to recent years?

WGCU Staff

Wood storks continue to be the primary focus in the Western Everglades due to their role as an indicator species and the region’s historic importance for this species.

Chickees, stilt homes connected by walkways raised above waterlogged ground, are seen on Rice Island, one of several tree islands where the family of Miccosukee Tribal elder Michael Frank once lived, in the Miccosukee Indian Reservation in Florida's Everglades, Thursday, July, 11, 2024. Frank, 67, who was born on a different tree island, continues to maintain the family's chickees, traditionally used for sleeping, eating and gathering. The Miccosukee no longer live on tree islands, but remain closely connected to their land through cultural, spiritual and environmental practices.

Environment

In Florida, the Miccosukee fight to protect the Everglades in the face of climate change

The Associated Press

Government & Politics

Local National Parks face staff cuts via federal DOGE actions

Dayna Harpster

Federal layoffs at Everglades National Park hit 12 employees; other local Florida parks have fewer affected employees.

A lawsuit filed by whistleblower alleges that one of Florida’s most prominent, powerful and wealthy families – the Colliers – bamboozled the state of Florida into paying $30 million for a site near Everglades National Park while concealing the fact that it was contaminated with lethal hazardous waste.

Health

Federal suit alleges Collier family sold contaminated land to state

WGCU Staff

A lawsuit unsealed Thursday in a Florida federal court claims one of the state's most prominent and politically connected families — the Colliers — lied to state officials and covered up a hazardous waste site contaminated with lethal Creosote. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers, alleges claims by Sonja Eddings Brown — described as a longtime aide to family matriarch Parker Collier and a "whistleblower" — that the Colliers bamboozled the state of Florida into paying $30 million for a site near Everglades National Park while concealing the fact that it was contaminated with lethal hazardous waste.