Marilu Flores

Florida’s staghorn and elkhorn corals once helped build the living reefs that protect coastlines, support fisheries, shelter marine life, and define Florida’s ocean heritage. Their functional extinction is a heartbreaking warning about what happens when climate change, pollution, and underfunded conservation collide. But this moment must also be a call to action: with fully funded coral recovery programs, science-based protections, and renewed commitment to the Endangered Species Act, Florida’s reefs can still have a fighting chance.

As America approaches 250 years of independence, we are sharing regional wildlife stories about endangered and threatened species.

The Southeast is a region alive with motion. In the Everglades—one of America’s most unique and endangered habitats—slow-moving rivers of water wind through cypress swamps. Warm ocean waters sustain the rainforests of the sea, our coral reefs, while critically endangered pine forests provide roosts for threatened and endangered wildlife. Shaped by water, heat, hurricanes, and resilience, the Southeast is a landscape unlike any other.

As America approaches 250 years of independence, the Northeast tells a deeper story.

This is where the nation began.
It’s also where some of our earliest wildlife losses happened — and where endangered species are still fighting to survive today.

Meet the Scientist: Dr. Frank Ridgley, learn how scientists at the Miami Bat Lab are using innovation, research, and community action to protect the critically endangered Florida bonneted bat.

Under the moonlit desert sky, bats pollinate the cacti and agaves that shape our ecosystems and our tequila. From the Lesser Long-Nosed Bat’s comeback to the Indiana Bat’s struggle against white-nose syndrome, discover how the Endangered Species Act safeguards these vital creatures and the fragile balance of life they sustain.