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National Geographic

THE COMPASS

PHOTOGRAPH BY CARLTON WARD

Miles of beautiful beaches, warm weather, and tropical waters have always made Florida a perfect place to escape the winter cold. But beyond the numerous vacation destinations is a state with a rich history and abundant wildlife. In this edition, learn how Florida is enacting sweeping law to protect its wildlife corridors, see how the Miami condo collapse highlights an urgent need to adapt to rising seas, and travel to a tiny, tropical national park with
a curious history.

Let's explore Florida.

ANIMALS

Swallow-tailed kites roost on a ranch within Florida’s wildlife corridor, near Lake Okeechobee, before flying thousands of miles to South America. Such green spaces are important rest stops for birds undertaking transcontinental migrations.

PHOTOGRAPH BY CARLTON WARD JR.

Florida enacts sweeping law to protect its wildlife corridors

The Florida Wildlife Corridor Act was passed unanimously. It aims to protect green spaces, drinking water, and wildlife such as panthers.

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Researchers put a nail into this mountainous star coral colony in Key West, Florida, in September 2019 to mark the rapid progression of stony coral tissue loss disease.

PHOTOGRAPH BY LUCAS
JACKSON / REUTERS VIA ALAMY

A deadly disease is wiping out coral in Florida and the Caribbean

Researchers are racing to stop stony coral tissue loss disease, which is killing some of the region's oldest and largest corals.

Florida is considering allowing limited catch of Atlantic goliath groupers, fish that can grow up to eight feet long and weigh 800 pounds.

PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID DOUBILET,
NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

Goliath grouper fishing may be allowed in Florida again after 30-year ban

But the enormous, once-endangered fish’s population is still too low to justify fishing, scientists argue.

At the end of the 2020 breeding season in August, researchers counted some 112 Florida grasshopper sparrows in the wild.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK

Bringing back the ‘most endangered bird’ in the U.S.

Three years after being described as on its last legs, the Florida grasshopper sparrow is soaring again.

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ENVIRONMENT

Cave diver Jaime De La Puerta Salazar swims through Peacock Springs, about 70 miles northwest of Gainesville, Florida, where green-tinged groundwater is sandwiched between river water on the cave ceiling and the silty springs floor.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JASON GULLEY

Pollution and overuse threaten Florida's fragile freshwater springs

Declining flows, agricultural runoff, and sewage are pressuring the world’s largest network of freshwater springs.

The partial collapse of a condominium in Miami is pointing up the fact that waterfront communities there need to urgently address sea level rise, which is quickly becoming a hazard.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JEFFREY GREENBERG,
EDUCATION IMAGES / UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP / GETTY

Miami condo collapse highlights urgent need to adapt to rising seas

Though climate change-related factors were probably not behind the partial collapse of the Florida beachside building, other properties are vulnerable to rising seas.

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A female panther and three kittens explore Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, a reserve of old-growth cypress forest surrounded by encroaching suburbs on three sides.

PHOTOGRAPH BY CARLTON WARD JR.

How America’s most endangered cat could help save Florida

Once nearly extinct, the Florida panther is expanding its range. Protecting wildlife corridors could save the cat—and humans—from sprawl.

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TRAVEL

DREAM NOW, GO LATER

Dry Tortugas National Park, located 70 miles west of Key West, houses the 19th-century Fort Jefferson.

PHOTOGRAPH BY SERGEY CHERNYAEV, ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

This tiny, tropical national park has a curious history

Pirates, prisoners, and a deadly epidemic haunted Florida’s Dry Tortugas.
Now it’s a haven for wildlife.

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Florida’s Everglades National Park is the largest contiguous mangrove forest in the western hemisphere.

PHOTOGRAPH BY CARLTON WARD

Everything you need to know about Everglades National Park

Plan your trip to southern tip of Florida to visit the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States.

Worth Avenue is the perfect place for some sunrise breathing exercises.

PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVE ALLEN,
ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

A yogi's perfect day in West Palm Beach, Florida

This sun-soaked beach town has become a wellness hub.

The Rocket Garden at Kennedy Space Center includes Saturn, Juno, and Mercury-Redstone rockets.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT ORMEROD

5 stellar ways to see Florida’s Space Coast

Discover a constellation of cool sites on this historic coastline near Orlando.

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WHERE WILL WE JOURNEY TO NEXT?

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