Staff at Deer Lake State Park joined with the Atlanta Botanical Garden to restore wet prairies and seepage slopes where endangered pitcher plants can grow.

The Florida Park Service is celebrating 50 years of prescribed fire in state parks. To commemorate the occasion, burners and staff gathered for a prescribed fire at Falling Waters State Park - the site of the first prescribed burn in 1971.

What happens when A LOT of people want to tube the Ichetucknee River? It’s a delicate balance between protecting the resource and encouraging visitors to experience it. Join Park Biologist Sam Cole in this edition of the Biologists Tell the Story as he explains the science behind the balancing act.

Many of Florida's natural landscapes depend upon fire to develop and maintain healthy ecosystems and reduce the risks of wildfire. Join Environmental Specialist Matthew Hodge in this edition of the Biologists Tell the Story as he describes planning for a prescribed fire and measuring the success of this tool.

If you build it, they will come. That’s what Biologist Laurie Dolan found with a population of Florida scrub-jays along the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway. With Florida Park Service management of a 446-acre parcel of land, the population has grown from 25 birds in 2008 to more than 100 birds in 2019.

For 2019, most of the sea turtle nests have hatched and the adult turtles are migrating back to their feeding grounds. Here in Florida, park rangers, biologists and volunteers are still telling stories and planning for 2020.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Park staff applied prescribed fire to 15 acres of wet flatwoods to expand a small population of rare hooded pitcher plants, a carnivorous plant native to Florida.