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02/08/2021 06:58 AM EST
Good Monday morning. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won their second Super Bowl in franchise history, following a dominating performance on both sides of the ball. In the quarterback battle of the aging yet savvy veteran vs. the rising superstar, it was Tom Brady who came out on top to win his 7th title and another Super Bowl MVP award. For someone who’s first-ever NFL game was a Bucs playoff game, this was a marvelous moment. Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday night called Tampa Bay “Title Town” since two of the area’s three professional teams won championships in the past year, and the third the Tampa Ba
WLRN
Racoon Point was constructed in the 1970s and is one of two oil drilling sites in Big Cypress. Burnett Oil wants to expand drilling in the preserve to two additional locations.
A Texas company conducting controversial oil exploration in the Big Cypress National Preserve wants to expand operations and hopes to start drilling by 2022.
According to applications submitted to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection last week, Burnett Oil Co. has asked to construct two new roads and drilling pads about a mile east of Raccoon Point one of two drilling sites constructed in the 1970s and south of Interstate 75. The work would cover more than 30 acres.
Dr. G. Melodie Naja, has been working on Everglades-related issues since 2008, was recently named director of the South Florida Natural Resources Center in South Florida.
âWe are very excited to have Dr. Naja join the South Florida National Parks and Preserve team,â said Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Parks Superintendent Pedro Ramos. âShe brings with her a deep knowledge of and passion for the Everglades ecosystem. I am confident she will use that to achieve the Centerâs goals and lead the team forward in Everglades restoration and management.â
Naja, who started in her new position Jan. 19, most recently served as Director of Science at the Everglades Foundation, where she led a team of interdisciplinary scientists, modelers and engineers working on Everglades ecosystem restoration projects. She was also responsible for maintaining high standards of scientific integrity and communicating the Foundationâs technical work to diverse stakeholders.
Everglades National Park
The Everglades ecosystem once stretched across a mosaic of wetlands and subtropical wilderness from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay. Unfortunately, by the mid-1900s nearly half of the slow-moving “river of grass” had been drained to make way for farms and urban development. The park was established in 1947, after decades of activism, to preserve a treasured 1.5 million acres of the ecosystem.
The Everglades is a complex mix of salt and freshwater wetlands, hardwood hammocks, and pine rocklands that support a wide variety of flora and fauna. The ecosystem functions as a giant water purifier, filtering and cleaning water that drains from farms and impervious surfaces before reaching Florida Bay and the Ten Thousand Islands. The Everglades also contributes to South Florida’s climate resilience, naturally absorbing the impacts of hurricanes and minimizing coastal erosion and flooding.
There’s an art to visiting our national parks and preserves at the right time of year. You don’t want to screw it up by, say, arriving at the Grand Canyon’s South Rim in summer, amid the scorching Arizona heat and throngs of tourists, or trying to take a hike in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park in March without proper snow gear. If you show up at the right place at the right time, you can spot wildflowers blooming or fall foliage at its peak, enjoy ideal temperatures, and beat the crowds. Here’s what we recommend.