Florida’s Environment: 13 Stories to Watch for January

To pair with the rest of our educational content in each Earth to Florida newsletter, we bring you monthly updates on statewide environmental news. Read on below to see what we found for the month of January:

13 Florida Stories to Watch

Kennedy Space Center plans to set aside 134 acres of land to make up for the wetlands it intends to fill in the process of new construction. This process, known as wetland mitigation banking, is used to ensure “no-net-loss” of wetlands. However, many opponents of mitigation banking argue the restored wetlands are often not of equal quality and biodiversity as the original wetlands. Florida has lost approximately 40% of its wetlands since 1845.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it is considering stripping protections from two of Florida’s endangered species: the Florida panther and the Key deer. The agency is looking to possibly change the taxonomy of the panther, due to a long-standing debate on whether the Florida panther is truly a distinct subspecies from other panthers in the U.S. Despite worsening threats caused by rising sea levels, habitat fragmentation and plans for expanded drilling in the Big Cypress National Preserve, both species are being targeted for a status change.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is developing a set of guidelines intended to help developers, planners and elected officials minimize impacts to four protected bird species. The protected birds include the American oystercatcher, black skimmer, least tern and snowy plover. According to FWC, these beach-nesting birds are threatened due to challenges such as habitat loss, incompatible management, disturbance and predators. The guidelines are part of a larger effort to protect all 59 species in the agency’s overall species management plan.
In Florida, trees can be essential for providing shade, reducing air pollution and offsetting rising temperatures, especially in urban environments. A new analysis of the canopy in Tampa set to be released this year has city officials concerned. They expect to see a decline in the number of trees in the city. Officials point to a 2019 law that shifted tree-removal decision-making power from the local government to the state as driving the potential losses.
A total of seven tornadoes touched down in one day in Southwest Florida this month. While the link between twisters and climate change still isn’t fully understood, Florida meteorology experts say a higher prevalence of storms, and whirling weather events like these in the state, could be tied to these global disruptions.
Florida agricultural producers must follow Best Management Practices to ensure that they limit how much fertilizer (and nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen) they release into the environment. ABC-WFTS Tampa Bay found that out of thousands of violation cases since 2019, only two have resulted in enforcement cases with potential penalties of $200,000. Some stakeholders wonder if the agency is doing enough to ensure agriculture producers are complying with pollution rules.
Last summer, 215 million gallons of polluted wastewater from a former phosphate mine were released into Tampa Bay to mitigate a leak at the Piney Point reservoir pond in Manatee County. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has now authorized a permit to build an injection well that would store the remaining wastewater underground. The move has drawn criticism from environmental groups and other state stakeholders. According to the Sarasota Herald Tribune, the review of the permit proposal “included 12 requests for additional information and approximately 7,356 public comments.” Florida Power and Light is also seeking permission to install injection wells to hold wastewater from the Turkey Point nuclear power plant in Miami.
Recently released data shows that this year’s crop of Florida oranges will be the smallest since 1945. In recent years, Florida oranges have been threatened by citrus greening – a bacterial disease that slowly suffocates trees and causes them to bear small and unpalatable fruit. Researchers from the University of Florida are attempting to mitigate effects and prevent the spread of the disease, but research is still in early stages. According to the USDA’s report, orange juice prices are expected to increase by about 10% as a result.
The Everglades are set to receive an unprecedented $1.1 billion of federal funding, which will be put toward restoration efforts, including wetland restoration, efforts to prevent algal blooms and sending clean water to the Florida Keys.
A record number of manatees died in Florida in 2021: 1,101. As the winter slogs on, officials are worried about cold weather further harming manatees. Three conservation groups have also threatened to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency if it doesn’t take steps to protect manatees from water pollution – another root cause of many problems facing the gentle giants. To help the sea cows, state wildlife officials set up a supplemental feeding station in Brevard County. After a slow start, the manatees have begun taking advantage of the romaine lettuce offerings. However, officials want to remind citizens that feeding manatees is illegal, as doing so can make animals more interested in approaching humans and put them at risk of being hit by boats. They offer other suggestions on how everyday people can help.
Florida’s legislative session began this month, and some bills are already stirring up controversy. Senate Bill 1024 would lower how much money utility companies pay residents who produce their own electricity with rooftop solar panels. Opponents include local solar companies, homeowners, clean energy advocates and other political leaders. The Miami Herald discovered that Florida Power and Light sent a document to legislators that nearly matches the official bill text. Meanwhile, solar has seen success in Tampa, where the utility company Tampa Electric has announced plans to build a sixth solar farm in Hillsborough County.
In December, Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed a three-year, $270 million “Always Ready Florida” plan to adapt to the impacts of climate change. The money would go toward building stormwater pumps, putting utility lines underground, storm-proofing fire stations and libraries and buying out flood-prone homes. The bill is currently making its way through the 2022 Florida legislative session.
Florida Senator Linda Stewart is trying to bolster a 2014 constitutional amendment that mandated a program to buy and preserve sensitive land in Florida. Despite the amendment, funding for the Land Acquisition Trust Fund has largely been ignored. Senator Stewart hopes that a new bill will allocate $100 million annually to the fund going forward.

The Good News

Climate change news got you down? The monthly Climate Optimist newsletter, produced by Harvard University’s Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment offers “helpful tips and good news to help you stay focused on our shared mission to tackle climate change.” Sign up today.

Things You Can Do

Looking to help Florida’s ailing manatees? Check out these actions you can take.

Florida Research News

Researchers from the University of Georgia are analyzing the origins and fate of plastic waste in Miami using what is known as the Circularity Assessment Protocol, or CAP. In addition to keeping records of any litter found on land and in water, the CAP helps examine what kinds of products are most frequently sold in local stores and how they are packaged, waste management practices and local attitudes about conservation and pollution. The CAP method has been used in 10 countries and 27 cities around the world, but this is the first time it’s been established in a major U.S city.
Apalachicola Bay was once an oyster paradise, but issues like overharvesting, lack of freshwater, industrial waste and disease outbreak wiped out more than 90% of the region’s harvestable oysters. Restoration attempts began in 2018, but environmental monitoring was lacking before the reefs collapsed. As a result, conservationists turned to paleontologists for help. They began digging through buried fossilized oyster shells which provided decades worth of important data, helping environmental managers determine which oyster reefs have the potential to be saved.
As climate change causes oceans to warm, tiger sharks have been recorded migrating sooner than usual and shifting their range north by almost 250 miles. The study, based on 40 years of shark tagging data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, found that the sharks are spending more time outside of zones where they are protected from the commercial fishing industry. This change in distribution leaves the sharks more vulnerable to fishing practices that would drive down their population numbers. Researchers worry about how the shift in the species’ range will have cascading effects on the ecosystem, including sea turtles and seagrass.
For the first time, the National Weather Service station in Key West has participated in the study of snowstorms. Typically, the station releases weather balloons to collect regular atmospheric data as well as data about tropical storms and hurricanes. In response to a recent storm that brought snow as far south as Georgia, an extra balloon was released to collect data that will improve the modeling of snowstorms at NASA’s request.
Research from the Florida Museum of Natural History has found that the number of unprovoked shark bites rose in 2021 after three years of decline. In contrast, 2020 had the lowest number of shark bites recorded in over a decade. The reason for the increase is unclear, but Tyler Bowling, manager of the museum’s International Shark Attack File theorizes that 2020s low numbers may be related to beach closures mandated early in the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the increase, numbers remain within long-term averages.
Scientists at the University of Miami and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have found that lethal stony coral disease can be transmitted through sand. When sand that has come into contact with infected coral spreads to healthy coral, signs of the disease can appear in just one day. In response to the results, researchers have connected with coastal authorities to discuss increased monitoring for work that could shift the sand and trigger outbreaks.

National News

A recently published study estimates that invasive species cost the United States more than $21 billion a year. Most affected is the agricultural sector, where many crops are damaged or destroyed by invasive species. According to study co-author and biologist Drew Kramer of the University of South Florida, if more money were allocated to prevention measures, larger monetary losses could be mitigated.
Coal-burning power plants in four states are set to close coal ash ponds ahead of schedule due to new action from the EPA. The agency has ordered facilities to stop dumping wastewater containing coal ash, a toxic substance that is left over when coal is burned, into unlined storage ponds. The coal ash can leak from these ponds and contaminate waterways, poison wildlife and cause respiratory illness in humans. Though a regulation to reduce pollution from coal-burning power plants has been on the books since 2015, this is the first time the EPA has enforced it.
In a joint conference, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that 2021 ranked as the sixth warmest year since 1880. The last several years all rank within the top ten. Climate scientists also tracked significant weather events fueled by climate change such as historic flooding in Germany and China, extreme heatwaves in the northwest U.S. and western Canada and 21 named storms. According to scientists, 2022 has a 99% chance of being in the top 10 warmest years.
The Biden administration has announced a 10-year, multibillion-dollar plan to reduce the fire risk on up to 50 million acres by thinning overgrown trees and using controlled burns. Though the number of wildfires hasn’t varied much in the last decade, the size of them has. 2021 included a 400,000-acre fire in Oregon and another in northern California that reached nearly one million acres. Rising temperatures and drought due to climate change has been one large factor, but for many years the forest management policy of extinguishing every fire also contributed. Controlled burns can help to prevent wildfire by clearing dead vegetation.

The More You Know

Sea Turtle Oversight Protection, also known as STOP, is an organization that deploys volunteers to protect sea turtle nests in Broward County. After being told its permits would be phased out, the group sued the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and won. The state argued that the turtle guardians were not needed and caused disturbance to the turtles, but the judge denied these claims. STOP volunteers guide turtle hatchlings toward the ocean instead of inland towards city lights, and they also educate beachgoers on how to avoid disturbing the turtles. Florida beaches are important sea turtle nesting sites, accounting for 40% of the world’s loggerhead nests.
Plagued by algae blooms, dying seagrass, nutrient pollution, development and more, the ecosystem of the Indian River Lagoon has faced a myriad of challenges. However, since 2018, the Indian River Lagoon Clam Restoration Initiative has worked to restore the water body by releasing 12 million clams into the lagoon. With plans to seed 12 million more clams this year, those working on the project point to the benefits of the small bivalves, including their ability to filter and remove small particles from the water column as well as feed on phytoplankton. The clams are also prey for spotted eagle rays, stone crabs, fighting conchs and other important marine organisms in the ecosystem.
Sea level rise and storm surge have caused Raulerson Canal in the Everglades to grow from 15 feet to more than 70 feet wide, resulting in what the National Park Service calls an ecological collapse. The canal was originally dug in the early 1900s to drain wetlands for farming that never materialized. Instead, the canal resulted in saltwater intruding on and harming delicate freshwater marshes that serve as a first line of defense against sea level rise and hurricanes. Everglades National Park, Audubon, Ducks Unlimited and federal and state wildlife agencies are close to damming the canal, a project that was overlooked in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.