Everglades

One of the largest flocks of American flamingos in a decade was spotted in the Everglades last week by avian ecologist and restoration scientist Mark Cook. The previous largest group was a flock of 147 flamingos in 2014.

On the same day President Donald Trump visited the immigrant detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” environmental advocates said they fear wildlife may forever steer away from the fragile wetlands if the temporary project becomes a permanent one.

Environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit to block a migrant detention center being built on an airstrip in the heart of the Florida Everglades. The lawsuit filed Friday seeks to halt the project until it undergoes a stringent environmental review as required by federal law. The lawsuit filed in Miami federal court says there is also supposed to be a chance for public comment.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration is racing ahead with construction of a makeshift immigration detention facility at an airstrip in the Everglades over the opposition of Native American leaders who consider the area their sacred ancestral homelands.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said he believes people are trying to use the Everglades as a "pretext" for opposing immigration enforcement. He also mentioned there may be plans to do something similar at Camp Blanding in North Florida.

“Detaining immigrants at a remote airfield in the Everglades, with no clear legal framework or due process, is about fear, not safety,” José Javier Rodríguez said Wednesday. “The most obvious reason seems to be political theater, just trying to get attention in Washington, rather than looking out for the interests of our state and its people.”

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Monday plans to turn an old Everglades jetport inside Big Cypress National Preserve into a 5,000-bed immigrant detention facility.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is directing the state to build an immigrant detention center on so-called "Alligator Alcatraz" — a partially-built airstrip in the Everglades.

On Thursday, a judge ordered longtime Everglades scientist Tom Van Lent to surrender in a case that shocked the normally tight-knit Everglades community.

The Southland Water Resource Project, a $200 million proposal to mine 6,000 acres for up to 44 years, has been approved by Palm Beach County commissioners, but has divided the community and alarmed Everglades conservation groups.

Gov. Ron DeSantis denounced the Florida House of Representatives' proposed cuts to Everglades and water quality funding at a press conference Tuesday, marking the latest in his series of criticisms of House lawmakers over agenda discrepancies.

The South Florida Water Management District reported overall nesting down although snowy egrets, South Florida's dominant wading bird, had back-to-back good years. While rainfall played a part, the it suggests more work needs to be done to fix the region's wild landscape and keep water where birds need it to successfully raise chicks.