Gathering at a trailhead off Alligator Alley Saturday morning, about 40 people stood in a large circle, heads bowed.
They were listening to Betty Osceola, an elder with the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, give a prayer near the southern end of the Florida Trail.
The group was about to embark on a southbound hike, following a marked trail through wet prairies, pinewood flats and dwarf cypresses. The journey, about four miles in and four miles back, is an effort to inform and educate the public on Burnett Oil Co.’s permits to begin exploratory drilling in Big Cypress National Preserve.
The company filed four applications with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on Jan. 22 to begin constructing the pads in one of the nation’s first national preserves. The company previously undertook seismic exploration projects in the preserve in 2017 prompting a legal battle the oil company ultimately won.
Jaclyn Lopez, Center for Biological Diversity, (727) 490-9190, jlopez@biologicaldiversity.org
Emily Deanne, National Resources Defense Council, (860) 318-6636, edeanne@nrdc.org
Hike, Rally to Save Everglades’ Big Cypress Set for Saturday
National Preserve Threatened by Oil Drilling
BIG CYPRESS NATIONAL PRESERVE,
Fla. At 9 a.m. on Saturday conservation advocates Betty Osceola and the Rev. Houston Cypress will lead environmental leaders and the media on a socially distanced hike in Big Cypress National Preserve along the route of a proposed oil well pad access road.
A press conference and socially distanced rally will follow the hike. Supporters can follow the event live online.
Here’s what’s in the night sky during International Dark Sky Week
Milky Way rises in the morning sky in April
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Stargazers (WDIV)
ORLANDO, Fla. – Dark skies are quickly becoming harder to find as light pollution expands. Light pollution is any artificial light that is not needed.
International Dark Sky Week aims to bring attention to the movement to bring better lighting to communities around the world. Shielding to target the light, using lower light and motion sensors help to control light pollution.
#DarkSkyWeek stargazing tips: Find a safe dark place near you, let your eyes adjust to the dark, and enjoy! Use a familiar set of stars, like the Big Dipper as a guide to nearby constellations.#ParkSkies#DiscoverTheNight#IDSW2021
Service, landowners develop a Florida panther habitat conservation plan fws.gov - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from fws.gov Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In November 2014, Floridians voted overwhelmingly in support of the Water and Land Legacy Amendment (Amendment 1), with the primary purpose of restoring funding for conservation land acquisition through the Florida Forever program. Florida Forever was launched in 2001 as a replacement for Preservation 2000, once the largest land conservation acquisition program of its kind in the United States.
Funding came from a third of real estate documentary fees, but this has been greatly reduced since the Great Recession. But, as Florida’s economy recovered from the economic downturn, funding for this land conservation program did not. And so, a coalition of conservation groups, including the Florida Wildlife Federation, garnered the support needed to pass this historic Amendment 1.