A 16-foot Burmese python and over 50 eggs were removed from under a house in the Florida Everglades during the holiday weekend. The female python, weighing about 165 pounds, was removed by Ron Bergeron, an Everglades conservationist. The python was one foot away from becoming the largest on record. The python’s nest was lodged within the outdoor structure underneath a home. Some of the eggs hatched upon the conservationist’s arrival. Two men…
By Kimberly Miller Posted Jun 14, 2019 at 4:00 PM A thirsty Everglades National Park will get more water with $100 million to elevate 6.5 miles of roadway and a Thursday approval by water managers to relocate power lines. The two projects focus on the Tamiami Trail, a stretch of asphalt west of Miami that prevents water from flowing south along its natural path from Lake Okeechobee into the park and Florida Bay. This month, the U.S. Department…
Chad Gillis, Fort Myers News-Press Published 4:37 p.m. ET June 13, 2019 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is revising management plans that should eventually help water quality and quantity in southern Florida. Corps officials met Thursday with the South Florida Water Management District in West Palm Beach to talk about the changes and how the agency plans to get more water to Florida Bay, which has been damaged from a…
BY SAMANTHA J. GROSS AND ADRIANA BRASILEIRO HERALD/TIMES BUREAU JUNE 03, 2019 05:55 PM, UPDATED JUNE 04, 2019 04:53 PM TALLAHASSEE After years of work on the part of lawmakers and advocacy groups alike, a project aimed at reviving the natural flow of fresh water into the Everglades received the long-sought funding it needs to raise another 6.5 miles of the Tamiami Trail. The United States Department of Transportation announced Friday that $60 million, plus a nearly $40…
By ANTHONY MAN | SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL | MAY 08, 2019 | 4:35 PM Gov. Ron DeSantis, delivering a report card for the first part of 2019 and touting the Florida economy, told a Broward audience Wednesday that the state is well-positioned on several fronts for continued economic and population growth. Though much of the speech contained talking points that could have been delivered by previous Republican governors, with several themes that pleased the largely business-oriented crowd,…
Tyler Treadway, Treasure Coast Newspapers Published 2:40 p.m. ET May 8, 2019 | Updated 2:40 p.m. ET May 8, 2019 WEST PALM BEACH — The newly appointed South Florida Water Management District board hinted Wednesday that besides building water-cleaning projects, they intend to impose stricter regulations on polluters. And the newest board member led the charge during a workshop on the district’s role in cleaning the state’s water. Increased nutrient pollution entering Lake Okeechobee…
By: Anthony Man South Florida Sun Sentinel The Florida Commission on Ethics gave its blessing Friday morning to Ron Bergeron serving on the powerful board that governs South Florida water supplies and restoration of the Everglades. Hours later, Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Bergeron to the board of the South Florida Water Management District. “He has devoted his life to the protection and restoration of our Everglades and…
For Immediate Release April 12, 2019 Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced the appointment of Ronald M. “Alligator Ron” Bergeron to the board of the South Florida Water Management District. The appointment comes after the Florida Commission on Ethics voted 8-0 to adopt an advisory opinion allowing Bergeron to join the board. “I am pleased the Florida Commission on Ethics reached a conclusion on this matter and I am happy Ron will…
tampabay.com Florida has had some colorful public servants over the years: a governor who claimed the Pope had sent hit men to kill him; a congressman who took payoffs from a fake sheik and then claimed he was collecting evidence for his own investigation; and, more recently, a U.S. senator who flew on the space shuttle and also went python-hunting. And then there is Ronald “Alligator” Bergeron, a former state wildlife commissioner…
Source – wuft.org An emergency alert rang through Davie Elementary, a wooden two-room schoolhouse built so long ago that it’s now a museum. Ron Bergeron was in the first grade. “There was a Florida panther on the school grounds,” Bergeron recalls with a chuckle. Surely, the school would shut down until the panther cleared the area, he thought. But this was the Everglades, after all. “They let us go out to look…
