Have a Safe and Legal Hunting Season
Archery Season opened October 25 in Zone D (our panhandle zone). So what better time than now to go over a few things pertaining to hunting. First, in 2023, FWC documented a deer in our zone with CWD, Chronic Wasting Disease. Now, Georgia documented their first case...
Pensacola Bay Invasive Species Summer Survey 2025
Each year Florida Sea Grant conducts a summer survey of selected invasive species of concern in the coastal area of Pensacola Bay. Below are the results of the 2025 survey. Beach vitex Beach vitex is an invasive vine that grows in the sands of our beaches and dunes. ...
Our Environment: Part 24 – Our Changing Climate
In Part 1 of this series, we mentioned many of the issues that mankind is facing, but climate change may be the largest. In this series we have taken a journey on how humans got to this point. We began with our origins and how we dispersed across the planet. Our...
Our Environment: Part 23 – Hydrogen as an Energy Source
In 2011 many scientists, and executives from the oil and automobile industries, believed the energy source for the future was hydrogen. Most of the attention was focused on fuel cells that combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity and emit water vapor into...
Aquaculture in the Southern United States: Part 4-Louisiana & Mississippi
Aquaculture in the Southern United States: Louisiana & Mississippi Aquaculture has become a cornerstone of food production and rural economic growth across the Gulf Coast. In Louisiana and Mississippi, the industry reflects both states’ deep-rooted connections to...
Fall is an Excellent Time to Manage Vegetation
Fall is here - peanuts are being picked and football season is in full swing. With fall being synonymous with the end of the growing season, it is a surprisingly good time of year to start many vegetation management operations. Fall is a particularly good time of year...
Nurse Shark Spotted in Big Lagoon
Many who have snorkeled or dove in the Florida Keys have most likely encountered nurse sharks there – they are quite common. But here in the northern Gulf – though present – encounters are not as frequent. In the Keys you can don a mask, swim along a seawall, bridge...
Our Environment: Part 22 – Geothermal Energy
Geothermal is one source of energy that has been explored, and utilized, in recent decades. It is heat which is stored beneath the earth – either in the soil, rocks, or the fluid portion of the mantle. It has been used primarily in heating our homes and producing...
Our Environment: Part 21 Biofuels
This option for providing power has not been discussed as much recently as it was a decade ago. At that time many were looking at using corn waste, used cooking oil, and animal manure as a source of energy. Some universities devoted a lot of their research dollars...
Panhandle Terrapin Project 2025 Report
Introduction The diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) is the only resident turtle within brackish water and estuarine systems in the United States (Fig. 1). They prefer coastal estuarine wetlands – living in salt marshes, mangroves, and seagrass communities. ...