Highly endangered Florida panthers died at a record pace in 2016, with most of the deaths attributed to vehicle collisions in just two counties, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

Obama administration officials tout that the president has protected nearly 550 million acres of public lands during his tenure, but observers say those numbers tell an uneven story of how President Obama has stewarded the environment, and add that the Democrat can accomplish much more before he leaves the White House.

While comparatively few cases of Zika virus have been identified in the United States, the National Park Service has been working to keep visitors, and employees, on top of the situation and is recommending that everyone visiting National Park System sites in Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico take precautions to ward off mosquitoes.

A plan to crisscross 110 square miles of swampy landscape in a search for oil promises to test the National Park Service's ability to balance the unimpairment of resources with the "enjoyment of privately owned oil and gas interests" at Big Cypress National Preserve, a nearly three-quarters-of-a-million-acre wildland that nurtures endangered species and filters a good portion of the sheet of water that nourishes the "river of grass" on its way into neighboring Everglades National Park.