Allie Preston, Author at Friends of the Everglades

Everglades Illustrated: Wrong project, wrong place

Last week, Miami-Dade County Commissioners voted 8-4 to approve the South Dade Logistics and Technology District, effectively gutting the Urban Development Boundary in favor of sprawling, industrial development at the expense of our natural environment. The original footprint of the project, identified in the map above, has since been reduced in size from 800 acres to a 311-acre mix of warehouses, call centers and other commercial uses south of Florida’s Turnpike. Regardless, it remains the wrong project in the wrong place, with construction slated for “Coastal High Hazard Area'' in dangerous proximity to Everglades National Park, Biscayne Bay and ongoing Everglades restoration projects. As another tropical storm approaches Florida's coast, it's more clear than ever: It's reckless to bend [...]

Allie Preston2022-11-07T17:05:08-05:00November 8th, 2022|Everglades Illustrated, Everglades Restoration, Hold the Line, Stopping Sprawl|

Support Friends of the Everglades on Give Miami Day!

The most impactful online-giving event in South Florida is upon us! Friends of the Everglades is excited to participate once again in Give Miami Day on November 17! Please show your support of our mission to preserve, protect and restore the only Everglades in the world by donating online at: everglades.org/givemiamiday2022. There has never been a more important time to safeguard our fragile Everglades and the surrounding environment. This year, we have: • FOUGHT an 800-acre industrial development on low-lying farmland in Homestead, near Biscayne Bay. • ADVOCATED for a new Lake Okeechobee water-management plan to prioritize public health & fragile ecosystems. • RALLIED to end sugarcane burning & convert to green harvesting. Your Donations Power Our Work! Meet [...]

Allie Preston2022-11-14T08:30:22-05:00November 3rd, 2022|All Posts|

Floridians deserve the Right to Clean Water

Join us in demanding clean and healthy water in Florida! The "why" is simple and obvious. The current system has failed our most basic expectations, risking or harming our most basic needs. Clean water should not be vulnerable to state-sanctioned pollution. To correct this systemic flaw, the Florida Right to Clean Water movement is working to amend the Florida Constitution to include a fundamental right to clean and healthy waters, setting out clear standards, priorities and consequences should a state executive agency violate this right. Floridians must band together to demand responsible governance and accountability when it comes to our most important natural resource. The goal is steep and we need your help. More than 800,000 physically signed petitions must [...]

Allie Preston2022-11-02T13:48:37-04:00November 2nd, 2022|Action Alerts, All Posts, Florida's Right to Clean Water|

Your moment of Everglades Zen: One day in Everglades National Park

The problems plaguing the Everglades are varied and plenty, and often we find ourselves hard at work behind our computer screens as we fight for the places we love. So when a couple of our staffers had a chance to spend a day on assignment in Everglades National Park, we were enchanted and inspired. A midday walk on the Anhinga Trail, accessed from the Ernest Coe Visitor Center in Homestead, brought us face-to-face (from a safe distance) with a mama alligator and her recently hatched brood. The tell-tale yellow stripes of the hatchlings provide temporary camouflage for blending in among the marsh grasses. From a perch above, the sharp eyes of a [...]

Allie Preston2022-11-01T12:01:26-04:00November 1st, 2022|Everglades National Park, Everglades Zen|

“Everybody deserves to breathe clean air.”

Friends of the Everglades board member Robert Mitchell speaks out against sugarcane burning at the Stop the Burn rally on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, at Nancy Graham Centennial Square Park in front of the Florida Crystals headquarters in downtown West Palm Beach. Other Glades residents also spoke out against harmful sugarcane burning practices on the first day of burn season that goes through May. There are few people who have been more outspoken or shown more passion for ending the harmful practice of sugarcane burning in Glades communities south of Lake Okeechobee than Robert Mitchell. A Stop the Burn campaign leader and the founder of Muck City Black Lives Matter, Robert also serves as a volunteer board [...]

Allie Preston2022-10-13T22:12:25-04:00October 13th, 2022|Sugarcane Burning|

Marjory’s Circle Member Spotlight: Meet Annie Potts

Marjory’s Circle launched in 2020 to sustain the legacy of our spirited founder, Marjory Stoneman Douglas. The group that emerged hails from all over, possessing different backgrounds and motivations, but is connected by a desire to see the Everglades protected and preserved. Meet Annie Potts Name: Annie Potts Location: Palm City, FL Member since: December 2021 As a long-time supporter of historic lighthouse restoration in the Bahamas, Annie Potts is no stranger to the tenacious work required of preservation efforts or the impact that individuals can make when they join forces. Born in New York, Annie has lived in Palm City for more than 30 years. The secluded little peninsula she calls home juts into the south fork of [...]

Allie Preston2023-02-07T15:52:03-05:00October 13th, 2022|Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Marjory's Circle|

VIDEO: Treating the symptoms, not the disease

Florida has a long history of treating the symptoms of a problem instead of the root causes. A lingering algae bloom in Florida Bay, fed by an excess of nutrients, is just the latest example. During today's Clean Water Conversation, we heard from fisheries scientist Jenn Rehage, Florida Keys fishing guide Steve Friedman and avid angler Dave Preston on the current conditions in Florida Bay, the importance of addressing water-quality issues proactively and at the source, and possible impacts on the Bay from Hurricane Ian that may still be yet to come. Harmful algae blooms are increasingly prevalent in Florida. Today's conversation scratched the surface of one of Florida's most challenging environmental problems and underscores the state's inadequate response [...]

Allie Preston2022-10-12T15:42:15-04:00October 12th, 2022|Clean Water Conversations, Florida Bay|

Everglades Illustrated: A system overwhelmed

Hurricane Ian barreled into the west coast of Florida on September 28 as a powerful Category 4 hurricane. As relief efforts remain rightly focused on the heartbreaking human toll of the storm, the environmental fallout has yet to come front and center. Satellite images are helping to piece together the beginnings of a story that has only just begun to play out. In the NASA satellite image above, swirls of sediment stirred up in Florida’s coastal water, “lifted from the seafloor as Ian neared the coast,” starkly contrast with dark plumes of stormwater runoff exiting the land. Though this tannin-colored runoff is not altogether unusual, the sheer volume of water coming off the landscape is out of the ordinary, [...]

Allie Preston2022-10-11T12:58:37-04:00October 11th, 2022|Caloosahatchee Estuary, Everglades Illustrated|

Clean Water Conversation Rescheduled for October 12

NEW DATE: Our Clean Water Conversation about Florida Bay, originally scheduled for September 28, has been rescheduled for Wednesday, October 12. We have much to discuss, including Hurricane Ian's impact on a lingering algae bloom that had been troubling Florida Bay. Our featured guest list has grown to include Islamorada fishing guide Steve Friedman who serves as Commodore to the Florida Keys Guides Association. He'll join leading fisheries scientist Dr. Jennifer Rehage, full-time Everglades and Biscayne National Park fishing guide Benny Blanco and Friends of the Everglades board member Dave Preston for a live discussion about current conditions in Florida Bay. This live conversation will be streamed directly to our Facebook page and our YouTube channel from 12 - 1 p.m. on Wednesday, [...]

Allie Preston2022-10-05T09:00:59-04:00October 5th, 2022|All Posts, Clean Water Conversations, Florida Bay|

Your moment of Everglades zen: After the Storm

Many of us are still struggling to wrap our minds around the immense toll of Hurricane Ian. The powerful storm that ripped across Florida last week, bringing record winds and flooding, has left areas from southwest Florida to north Florida devastated and tens of thousands of people displaced or without power or water. The economic damage has been estimated over $100 billion, and we haven’t realized the full extent of the storm’s lasting environmental damage. Of course, the human toll will be the most catastrophic cost, with deaths attributed to the storm surpassing 100 as of Tuesday morning. Nature can be brutally destructive. But it is also resilient. The calm after a storm always clears a path for new [...]

Allie Preston2022-10-04T09:07:28-04:00October 4th, 2022|Everglades Zen|

About Allie Preston