Big Cypress National Preserve

As South Florida national parks reckon with staff layoffs from the White House, the latest visitor data shows attendance steadily rebounding and in some cases breaking records following the COVID-19 shutdown.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to decide by June 1, 2025, whether to protect the imperiled ghost orchid.

Their proposal comes amid continued interest in expanding oil production within the Big Cypress National Preserve, an Everglades wilderness they consider sacred.

As of Sunday night, the Sandy Fire was reported at 19,814 acres and 45 percent contained. Ground and aviation resources will continue operations Monday, continuing to hold and improve control lines around the fire.

A wildfire in the Big Cypress National Preserve north of U.S. 41 has been burning for a week and grown to nearly 10,000 acres.

A plan to buy the preserve's mineral rights from the Collier family is gaining traction with bipartisan support and backing from the Miccosukee Tribe.

If you see a huge plume of smoke rising into the sky this time of year in Florida, there is a good chance it’s an under-control wildland burn that has little chance of spreading as opposed to a raging wildfire.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has rejected a permit application from a North Fort Myers company to drill an exploratory oil well north of Immokalee in Collier County, citing the potential for negative impacts on wildlife like the protected gopher tortoise and on water resources.

A Texas company’s plans to drill for oil in the Everglades may have a tougher time winning approval, now that an administration that’s skeptical of fossil fuels has taken over in Washington. Burnett Oil Co. has proposed drilling at two sites in Big Cypress National Preserve, important Florida panther habitat that sprawls across both sides of Alligator Alley.

Burnett Oil has asked state environmental regulators to construct two roads and concrete pads on wetlands in the national preserve and hopes to begin drilling by 2022.

A month after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said a Texas company searching for oil damaged wetlands in the Big Cypress National Preserve, the agency…

Need some social distancing? South Florida’s national parks will remain open but cut back on operations to reduce the risk of spreading the COVID-19…