News
As rising seas invade the Everglades, spoonbills are finding new homes
6+ hour, 33+ min ago (160+ words) Deep in the Everglades, through the knee-high mud and up, up, up in the trees, tucked into nests made of twigs, are the squawking, flapping and distinctly pink offspring of one of Florida’s most iconic birds: the roseate spoonbill. “You…...
Public beachfront, sacrificed to private profit | Letters to the editor
1+ mon, 2+ week ago (639+ words) As a longtime resident of Hollywood, I strongly oppose efforts to turn the public oceanfront property into a Live Local Act housing project. The site is in a mandatory hurricane evacuation zone that already floods during king tides and sunny…...
The Agricultural Reserve needs a plan, not more exceptions | Opinion
2+ mon, 3+ week ago (578+ words) Palm Beach County’s Agricultural Reserve has reached a point where we need to stop pretending these are isolated decisions. Every few months, there is another request. Another exception. Another interpretation. Another project that is somehow supposed to be different from…...
We witnessed the likely end for two iconic Florida coral species | Opinion
8+ mon, 2+ week ago (762+ words) In early June 2023, the coral reefs in the lower Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas were stunning. We were in diving gear, checking up on hundreds of corals we had transplanted as part of our experiments. The corals’ classic orange-brown…...
Climate change is outpacing evolution. Scientists are using DNA to catch up
3+ mon, 2+ day ago (684+ words) That mismatch is killing some of the planet’s most vital ecosystems, from California’s towering redwoods to the seagrass meadows along its coast, both of which store vast amounts of carbon and support complex webs of life. Scientists are working to…...
Ocean protections clash with mining pressure in Indonesia’s most diverse marine ecosystem
3+ mon, 2+ day ago (1163+ words) “There’s nowhere on Earth that has as many fish, corals and everything else packed into one small place,” said Mark Erdmann, an American coral reef biologist who has spent more than two decades studying the region and became a central…...
Palm Beach County revisits rules for the Agricultural Reserve. Should there be any change?
3+ mon, 2+ week ago (1107+ words) Development rules could change for Palm Beach County’s 22,000-acre Agricultural Reserve: County officials plan to weigh the demand for mixed-use projects while respecting the region’s rural character for longtime farmers. County commissioners are set to review a presentation Thursday about…...
Our dying coral reefs threaten our future | Editorial
7+ mon, 3+ week ago (715+ words) The word “extinct” still shocks the senses when applied to species that play such vital roles in our ecological and economic landscape. So when NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, reported that two key species in Florida’s iconic coral…...
Save these protected mangroves, Broward | Editorial
4+ mon, 2+ day ago (577+ words) Thirty-seven years ago this week, people in Broward County went to the polls and taxed themselves to protect swampland, trees and mangroves from bulldozers. “If we don’t do it now, the land will be gone — for good,” said John Hart,…...
This bill would ‘change how Florida treats conservation lands,’ some enviro groups fear
5+ mon, 2+ day ago (713+ words) Sugar cane farms on land set aside for Everglades restoration? Peanut farming on property that could have been a Florida state park? That’s what some environmental groups are worried about with a proposal buried in a sweeping farm bill, moving…...