NEW: Earlier this year, southeast Florida’s largest state park had an unusual visitor: famed golfer Jack Nicklaus. He wasn’t visiting for leisure. He was there to see if he could build golf courses. He left the park convinced it could be done 1/ .

Sad news today: a pioneering Florida manatee researcher, James “Buddy” Powell, died over the weekend . When ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau wanted to see manatees decades ago, he called on Powell — then a high school kid from Crystal River — to help him.

In just four hours of marine debris cleanup in Tampa Bay: . •50+ abandoned crab traps .•Thousands of pounds of plastic .•Hundreds of feet of ropes and fishing line

RT @MatthewCappucci: NEW: Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) writes he “can’t help but notice the possibility that….

Florida’s state wildlife agency @MyFWC considers light pollution as a form of habitat loss: .

In 2016, Florida’s Big Cypress became the nation’s first “dark sky” preserve, a key designation to help endangered nocturnal species. But the leading group that classified the park now says artificial light from Alligator Alcatraz “directly threatens” that.

RT @Jason_Garcia: One reason Florida leaders rushed to get their Everglades immigrant prison built so quickly was to make sure a court coul….

RT @mahoneysthename: NEW: As the clean energy debate rages on in Washington over the "big beautiful bill," Florida's solar industry is in a….

82-year-old Clyde Butcher, world-renowned photographer who last year earned a presidential medal for his life’s work documenting the Florida Everglades, joined protests yesterday against @AGJamesUthmeier’s proposed “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center

RT @mahoneysthename: Records show both the American Petroleum Institute and Chevron lobbied on the bill.

The fate of a future oil drilling ban along Florida’s treasured Apalachicola River comes down to Gov. Desantis. The drill ban bill hit his desk this week, starting the clock. Read more @TB_Times: .

Worth noting: Zalupski was rumored to be behind the controversial proposal recently to trade away 600 acres of St. Johns County preserved wilderness. We’ve asked his company lawyer multiple times if Zalupski was involved in his personal capacity and have never received a response.

In a statement to the Times, Gaddis said “the passage of the State Park Preservation Act was vindication in and of itself that I made the right decisions last August.”.

NEW: The fired state employee who leaked plans to develop nine Florida state parks is suing the DeSantis admin for retaliation . In the lawsuit, James Gaddis alleges he was directed to keep the park plans secret (@TDOnline first reported) .

RT @mahoneysthename: ~1 yr after the @TB_Times revealed a deal to trade 324 acres of preserved forest to a luxury golf resort, top Florida….

Poaching, sweeping habitat loss and dwindling wetlands have plummeted the population of one of Florida’s most beloved flowers . Now @USFWS proposes bolstering ghost orchid protections by adding it to the endangered species list.

RT @mahoneysthename: The power of public backlash: . Last summer, golf resort Cabot Citrus was poised to get 324 acres of state forest, to….

NEW w/@mahoneysthename: The golf course developer that wanted more than 300 acres of Florida state forest — a move the Cabinet granted early approval — is poised to do a 180 after backlash. The company now wants to sell the state 340 acres for conservation.

RT @mahoneysthename: Weeks since its withdrawal, secrecy persists around the Florida land swap that would have granted 600 preserved, publi….

RT @christisch1: While many people have stayed in Tampa Bay after last year's hurricanes, some have left. They are spread across the countr….

RT @FloridaIssues: These Tampa Bay residents moved before a new hurricane season. They told us why. - #GoogleAlerts.