The Convoy Point Channel is an important route for boaters at Biscayne National Park—it is the only marine passageway to Biscayne Bay from Homestead Bayfront Park, park headquarters and the Dante Fascell Visitor Center. The route becomes clogged with mostly human-discarded debris, but thanks to a recent volunteer route, the passage is now clear.

National Parks. They are places of wonderment. They spark our curiosity, help us relax, and can keep us in shape. They offer thousands of miles of hiking trails, majestic vistas, deep woods, rushing streams, and quite literally an open-air zoo of wildlife that relies on these landscapes to thrive and, in some cases, merely survive.

It's not every day that a 180-foot-long, 6,000-pound plastic pipe washes ashore in a national park. But that's what happened recently at Elliott Key in Biscayne National Park in Florida. What follows is the story of how it was removed by a band of volunteers.

It sure doesn’t seem like a whole year has passed, but it’s time again for the annual Christmas Bird Count. Sponsored by the National Audubon Society, this is the 115th consecutive year the count has been held, making it one of the world’s longest running and largest citizen science projects. The 2014-15 count dates fall between December 14th and January 5th. Participation is free.