Florida State Parks has been announced as the 2019 National Gold Medal award winner. The National Gold Medal honors park systems that demonstrate excellence in long-range planning, resource management and innovative approaches.

Recently, about 70 visitors gathered in the front of the Lodge to learn about the Chimney Swifts and watch their aerial dance as they entered the chimney to roost for the evening.

The Florida pompano, part of the jack family, is a species of marine fish with a compressed body, short snout and deeply forked tail. Pompano fish often have a color variation of blue, green and yellow on their dorsal areas and silver and yellow on their body and fins.

Battling exotic and invasive plants on 14,000 acres at Lake Kissimmee and Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek state parks in Central Florida requires constant attention. The Lake Wales Ridge and surrounding areas provide vital habitat for endemic species such as the scrub blazing star and pygmy fringe-tree.

Just as the landscape is recovering from Hurricane Michael, so is the wildlife. At Three Rivers State Park, you can see the fox squirrel bouncing around the landscape once again.

Restoring 7,000 acres from industrial timberland back to an ecosystem of longleaf pine and wiregrass has been an 18-year project at Torreya State Park. The restoration work is not yet complete.

In Florida, experts have verified 170 native butterfly species with an additional 30 considered to be either non-native or vagrant strays. Learn where to see them in north Florida from Biologist Rick Owen.

As one of the most important agents for natural change, fire plays a vital role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem.

Saving the endangered Savannas mint has been a challenge at Savannas Preserve State Park. A partnership with the Bok Tower Gardens’ Rare Plant Conservation Program has made all the difference in saving this plant that blooms with beautiful purple flowers in the fall. Biologist Douglas Rogers tells the story.

In 2022, 70 Florida State Parks staff joined Department of Environmental Protection water quality experts to find new ways to tell the story of Florida's springs.

Healthy seagrass communities are the most productive ecosystems the world. Biologist Becky Collins tells the story of how mooring buoys and channel markers help boaters protect the seagrass communities.

Whether you are exploring the park by foot or bike, you have a very good chance to run across one of our favorite park inhabitants, the gopher tortoise.

A unique resident of North Key Largo is endemic, meaning that it is found in the wild only here and nowhere else in the world. A large portion of this area where the endangered Key Largo woodrat lives includes Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park.

In this installment of the Biologist Tells the Story series, you'll meet Maulik Patel, environmental specialist at Collier-Seminole State Park. His efforts managing the natural resources at the park include using prescribed fire, controlling invasive plants and animals, and controlling the flow of water through the park.

After the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma in 2017, state parks in the Florida Keys started on the road to recovery. The team pulled together at Long Key State Park to assess the damage and develop a plan to help habitat recovery. In this edition of The Biologist Tells the Story, Biologist Janice Duquesnel tells the story of replanting the park.

Annual entrance passes can be purchased at all park ranger stations and museums. If you require immediate use of your pass, this is the best option. Passes can be purchased during regular business hours 365 days a year.