Everglades National Park

Winter is the perfect time to visit Everglades National Park and Biscayne National Park, where new accommodations and a new tour catamaran named in honor of a key conservationist bring nature even closer.

Everglades National Park has (re)joined the ranks of national parks with an on-site hotel. That means real beds, air conditioning, WiFi, even a full-service 110-seat kitchen and bar.

WLRN environmental editor Jenny Staletovich and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Patrick Farrell talk about what it was like to wade through the muck of the Everglades to check on the decades-long battle to make the River of Grass work as nature intended.

We listen to the part of the first episode of Bright Lit Place, a new WLRN podcast distributed by the NPR Network. It was reported by WLRN's environment editor Jenny Staletovich. We also hear behind-the-scenes stories from Jenny and Patrick Farrell, the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer who worked on the project.

The long-lost Flamingo Lodge is reopening its doors after nearly 20 years.

Construction on the long-awaited visitor's center in Everglades City begins September 30th with the halting of onsite concession services including boat tours and rentals.

WLRN's Carlos Frías is joined by poet and interdisciplinary artist Arsimmer McCoy. She tells us about her solitary month in the Everglades as the park's artist in residence, fishing with her dad and the music and scents of Friday night football in Richmond Heights.

There’s a growing nursing shortage and it starts with a growing nursing educator shortage. Broward County communities are looking to start a new trash district. Plus, a teenage TikTok star who spends his time in the Everglades making beautiful photos and videos.

The canals were originally dredged to drain marshes to make way for cattle and farms. Conditions proved too harsh for settlers but the canals remained, growing wider and causing the collapse of inland freshwater marshes.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans passed four COVID-related bills. What will these laws mean for you? Plus, airlines are preparing for one of the busiest holiday seasons ever. A local artist brings a giant lit-up Florida Panther to Miami. And, jai-alai is now a dying relic.

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.

Opponents of a 13-mile highway extension across Everglades wetlands say Gov. Ron DeSantis and his Cabinet violated the law when they tossed a judge’s order blocking the road and set a dangerous precedent statewide.