Tom Bayles
WGCU Environmental ReporterTom Bayles is WGCU's Senior Environmental Reporter and a 25-year veteran journalist in Florida. Before 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 in journalism and a bachelor's 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’ top awards include the Gold Medal for Public Service for Investigative Reporting from the Florida Society of News Editors, the Waldo Proffitt Award for Excellence in Environmental Journalism in Florida, and being named the Sunshine State’s top environmental journalist by the Florida Press Club and FSNE. Bayles has been nominated four times for a Pulitzer Prize.
Email: tbayles@wgcu.org
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The Everglades Story is being presented free online by Friends of the Everglades, a nonprofit environmental group founded in 1969 by Marjory Stoneman Douglas -
Florida panthers run free on the first tract of land completed during massive Everglades RestorationThe Picayune Strand Restoration Project repaired 85-square-miles of distorted and drained wetlands in western Collier County as 260 miles of crumbling roads were removed and 48 miles of canals were filled -
Six million pounds of ancient oyster shells from a Charlotte County mine are now a thriving 3-acre reef in the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. It is among the latest oyster reefs restored by the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation. -
The slender relatives of hawks and eagles have had a bad-news, good-news, bad-news existence since 1967, when the bird landed on the Endangered Species List after many decades of draining, ditching, and channel-digging in the Everglades -
A new study verified something most people who live in Florida already know: mold is a problem here. Mold is a persistent problem across Florida, driven by the state's humid subtropical climate and frequent rainfall. Indoor mold can damage walls and ceilings, reduce property values, and create health problems in people, particularly those with respiratory conditions or weakened immune systems. The problem is worse during Florida's summer rainy season when heavy showers and localized flooding can saturate structures. -
A drought unlike any the Sunshine State has seen for more than 20 years has been drying out portions of the state — especially Southwest Florida -
The Federal Emergency Management Agency this week said it spent about $11 billion helping people and communities recover from back-to-back hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024. Nearly $8 billion of that went to pay claims at the National Flood Insurance Program -
Water-quality testing in Southwest Florida occasionally reports high concentrations of enterococcus bacteria, which are found inside the intestinal tracts of humans and animals, similar to the spike in the bacteria discovered off Fort Myers Beach this week. New testing found the levels dropped and an advisory lifted.
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UF’s master naturalist training is designed to help people to better understand the Sunshine State’s unique ecosystems — focusing on coastal environments, freshwater wetlands, and upland habitats -
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
