U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

On "Florida Matters Live & Local," we dig into a lawsuit in Charlotte County pitting a landowner against federal wildlife protections for the Florida scrub jay and why it could be significant to the Endangered Species Act.

The ruling upheld a previous judge's ruling that said the federal government giving control over building in Florida's wetlands to the state could imperil endangered species like the Florida panther.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated there are less than 1,000 ghost orchids left in the United States.

The Center for Biological Diversity says logging, urbanization and suppression of natural fire cycles have "destroyed and degraded the habitat" the species depends on.

Nearly 2,000 manatees died in the state in 2021 and 2022, a two-year record. Widespread water quality problems and seagrass losses left the sea cows starving.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to add the butterfly to the threatened species list by the end of the year following the extenned public comment period.

U.S. officials decided to extend protections to monarch butterflies after warnings from environmentalists that populations are shrinking and the beloved pollinator may not survive climate change.

Boyd Hill Nature Preserve is an important habitat for gopher tortoises in southern Pinellas County. Recent deaths and a lack of protections for the species raise concern with the Center for Biological Diversity.

His ruling that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency violated the Endangered Species Act shifts power away from the state.

The rare ghost orchid found mainly in Florida and Cuba should be immediately protected by the U.S. as an endangered species, three environmental groups claimed in a lawsuit arguing that federal officials are unduly delaying a decision.

Wildlife officials are using a new method to help control the explosive population growth of the invasive snake by tracking down their prey.

The ungainly yet graceful wood stork, which was on the brink of extinction in 1984, has rebounded dramatically in Florida and other Southern states, officials say.