Lake Okeechobee

The Escribano Point WMA encompasses approximately 4,129 acres in Santa Rosa County and stretches along the Blackwater and East Bay. Its shoreline protects over 10 miles of northwest Florida coast and is host to numerous imperiled species. FWC photo

Prescribed burn of 12,000 acres planned today at Lake O site

WGCU Staff

Joe Cavanaugh has been appointed as the new Calusa Waterkeeper, working to protect and restore the Caloosahatchee River from Lake Okeechobee to the coastal waters of Lee County.

Joe Cavanaugh appointed as new Calusa Waterkeeper

WGCU Staff

Calusa Waterkeeper, Inc. has appointed Joe Cavanaugh as the new Calusa Waterkeeper, working to protect and restore the Caloosahatchee River from Lake Okeechobee to the coastal waters of Lee County.Cavanaugh brings decades of experience in marine science, water quality monitoring, and community engagement to the role. He has worked extensively at the local and federal levels to promote clean water policies and protect critical habitats—most notably through his former role at NOAA, where he helped monitor and protect smalltooth sawfish critical habitat in the Caloosahatchee.

Finding ways to keep the Caloosahatchee River clean with the triple threats of stormwater runoff from nearby roads and parking lots, releases of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee, and phosphorus and nitrogen from over-fertilizing lawns is just one of the many solutions Calusa Waterkeeper's 400 volunteers and staff must come up with to clean up Southwest Florida's rivers and streams for future generations

Environment

Connie Ramos-Williams returns to retirement, and family, after serving as Calusa Waterkeeper's executive director

Tom Bayles

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.

Environment

Prescribed burn planned Monday at Lake O's Steamboat Marsh

WGCU Staff

The South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission plan to conduct a prescribed burn of up to 12,000 acres in Glades County on Monday weather conditions permitting.

The high-volume discharges of water from Lake Okeechobee down the Caloosahatchee River that have been a mainstay for months to lower the depth of the lake before hurricane season will come to an end this weekend

Environment

Army Corps to stop sending polluted Lake Okeechobee water down Caloosahatchee River

Tom Bayles

The Army Corps has been sending Lake O water down the Caloosahatchee River for months to lower the depth in the lake, which harms the estuary.

Police face off with demonstrators during an immigrant rights protest Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Immigration

'A Day Without Immigrants' movement is meant to show how crucial immigrants are to the U.S.

Eileen Kelley

From LA to New York, to the belly of Florida, immigrants and supporters didn't go to work and school in protest of Donald Trump's immigration policies

Environment

Billions of gallons of water being released from Lake Okeechobee to lower depth 4 feet

Tom Bayles

LOSOM was a hard-fought win for environmentalists was those key components the nonprofits believed would reduce the need for emergency discharges that have previously caused ecological damage

This is what is what looks like when billions of gallons of water are being released daily from Lake Okeechobee, as it was earlier this year from the spillway into the St. Lucie River on the east side of the lake. Similar amounts of water will be released down the Caloosahatchee River during the three next three months since the Army Corps of Engineers has decided to drain four feet from the lake to minimize harm being done to plants that help keep the lake cleaner than it otherwise would be and continue to provide world-class fishing

Environment

Water Quality Report: Army Corps to lower Lake Okeechobee by 4 feet; toxic algae threat

Tom Bayles

Despite strong indications that billions of gallons of water would not gush down the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers from months on end when the new management plan for the big lake was finalized earlier this year that's exactly what is poised to occur

From space, it doesn't look like Lake Okeechobee causes any problems at all. If only.

Environment

A hydrological paradox: Lake O's new plan reins in the water going out, yet empties the lake the same?

Tom Bayles

The new LOSOM touts improvements in water quality, protection of ecosystems in the Everglades, and better management of water resources.to prevent harmful algal blooms in the Caloosahatchee River. Is all that possible at the same time?

New guidelines regulating when polluted water can flow from Lake Okeechobee through this spillway in Moore Haven and into the Caloosahatchee River, and other waterways leading from the lake to the Atlantic Ocean, are now official after years in the Army Corps of Engineers pipeline

Environment

The when, where, and how of water releases from Lake Okeechobee now official

Tom Bayles

The Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual — LOSOM , a set of guidelines on how, when, and where water will be released from Lake Okeechobee — was made official this week