Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management

Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management Dedicated to protecting, preserving, and enhancing the natural resources of Palm Beach County
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Palm Beach County ERM is seeking the public’s help in tracking paraffin wax recently found along multiple shorelines wit...
06/19/2026

Palm Beach County ERM is seeking the public’s help in tracking paraffin wax recently found along multiple shorelines within Lake Worth Lagoon.

This white, waxy, odorless material has been identified by FWC’s Marine Debris Program as paraffin wax. If you observe this material, please report the location, date, and photos, via direct message (DM)

Your reports provide valuable information that helps us better understand the extent of this marine debris within Lake Worth Lagoon & beyond.

Update on Winding Water’s BigfootOn June 7 we posted about a Bigfoot sighting at Winding Waters Natural Area in West Pal...
06/17/2026

Update on Winding Water’s Bigfoot

On June 7 we posted about a Bigfoot sighting at Winding Waters Natural Area in West Palm Beach. This Bigfoot turned out to be a baby purple gallinule. Department staff headed back to Winding Waters to see if they could snap more photos of this adorable animal. Check out this older, but still sporting some mighty big feet, purple gallinule chick. We estimate its age at around three to four weeks. You can see its amazing growth between the first sighting on May 29 and the more recent sighting on June 16. In another three to four weeks this youngster will be airborne, taking short flights around the wetland. Visitors to Winding Waters Natural Area may catch a glimpse of these birds at the wetland boardwalk and observation platform. Learn more about this Palm Beach County natural area at pbcnaturalareas.com.

The Butterflies are Blooming! Wait! What? This must be a typo – butterflies don’t bloom! They certainly do if they are F...
06/15/2026

The Butterflies are Blooming!

Wait! What? This must be a typo – butterflies don’t bloom! They certainly do if they are Florida butterfly orchids (Encyclia tampensis)! These Florida natives are found in forests and swamps from central Florida south through the Keys. The flowers are 1 to 1.5 inches across, with greenish-bronzish sepals and petals tinged with varying amounts of red. Its most distinctive feature is a tri-lobed lip with two lobes on either side of the column and the third lobe fan-shaped and typically blotched with purple. There is also an ‘alba’ form with white flowers that have little, to no, purple blotches. These small flowers are borne on tall stems, allowing the wind to move them back and forth like fluttering butterflies – thus their name. This orchid does have a honey-like fragrance, which is most notable during the late morning hours. They bloom May through August, with June being the peak month. Learn more about Florida butterfly orchids and other Florida native orchids at https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/ornamentals/floridas-native-orchids/.

𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗙𝗦 🌊🤿🪸Dive in with our scientists as they monitor the 𝑺𝒆𝒂 𝑬𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒓, a dive site off Boca Raton. ...
06/14/2026

𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗙𝗦 🌊🤿🪸

Dive in with our scientists as they monitor the 𝑺𝒆𝒂 𝑬𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒓, a dive site off Boca Raton.

⛴️ The 𝑺𝒆𝒂 𝑬𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒓 is a 171 ft. barge that was filled with concrete culverts and placed in 70 ft. of water in 1991. It flipped upside down during deployment, and is now known as “Aqua Zoo” because of the plethora of marine life there on any given day – goliath groupers, sea turtles, fish, rays, etc.

𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗳 – 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽, 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗲, 𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗸? 🪸

On just a 30-minute survey of the Sea Emperor last year, Palm Beach County ERM divers documented 191 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙨 representing nine species and 48 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙞𝙨𝙝!

These surveys provide us with critical data that informs future artificial reef work.

𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐛𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞?📍
Visit 𝗽𝗯𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗳𝘀.𝗰𝗼𝗺 to view an interactive map & learn more!

06/13/2026

June is GREAT OUTDOORS MONTH and today, June 13, is NATIONAL GET OUTDOORS DAY. Palm Beach County's natural heritage is preserved and protected through Department environmental programs like the 31,000-acre Natural Areas System. This June, celebrate the county’s natural wonders by exploring the GREAT OUTDOORS. Visit pbcnaturalareas.com to view an interactive map to locate the nearest natural area. Then GET OUTDOORS!

Freaky Critter FridayTo most people, ducks aren't that freaky. Unless they are black-bellied whistling-ducks. First frea...
06/12/2026

Freaky Critter Friday
To most people, ducks aren't that freaky. Unless they are black-bellied whistling-ducks. First freaky thing about them, their appearance. These ducks have electric pink legs, reddish/peachy bills, chestnut bodies and, of course, black bellies. Second freaky thing about them, their sound. They emit high-pitched whistles as they fly by. Listen to their calls here: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-bellied_Whistling-Duck/sounds. Compared to the "normal" looking and sounding mottled ducks, black-bellied whistling-ducks certainly stand out from the waterfowl crowd.

These ducks are found in several southern states and expanding northward. They eat mainly plants, including grasses, sedges and agricultural crops including corn, rice and wheat. They are cavity nesters, using tree hollows where a limb has broken or the trunk has rotted away. They also use nest boxes. Black-bellied whistling-duck pair photographed at Winding Waters Natural Area in West Palm Beach. Visit pbcnaturalareas.com to learn more about this Palm Beach County natural area.

06/11/2026

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: 𝐒𝐚𝐰𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐈𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 🏝️

Take a look at what restoration looks like from above from 2008 to present day.

This spoil island infested with invasive exotic plants was transformed with native plants like red mangroves. Shallow sand flats recruit seagrass and oysters and provide foraging habitat for species like Green Sea Turtles, Snook and Great Blue Herons.

The island features two basins connected by an interior canal making it the perfect spot to paddle and enjoy nature.

•Note from 0:05 to 0:19 video generation AI tools were used to turn historical aerials and construction aerials into a “hyperlapse” restoration visual•

Volunteers in Action On June 10, 2026, a group of hard-working volunteers spent several hours removing trash and chopped...
06/10/2026

Volunteers in Action
On June 10, 2026, a group of hard-working volunteers spent several hours removing trash and chopped vegetation from Hypoluxo Scrub Natural Area. The volunteers started the event in the parking lot, removing trash from under the boardwalk and towers. Then they made their way to the central maintenance road / hiking trail to remove chopped vegetation. The vegetation was removed to create open sandy areas for scrub vegetation to grow and thrive. Volunteers raked up the debris, put it into bins and dumped it into two Department trucks. The final area visited by the volunteers was the restored wetlands. The wetlands receive stormwater runoff from nearby streets during heavy rains. Any trash on the streets is swept away and enters the wetland. Department staff erected fencing around the outflow to trap the trash. This works for the most part – however, trash does get past the fencing. Volunteers used pool skimmers to reach some of the trash. In less than three hours the volunteers removed more than 2,000 pounds of chopped vegetation and debris! Thank you, volunteers, for working so hard to protect this Palm Beach County natural treasure.

Address

2300 N Jog Road, Fl 4th
West Palm Beach, FL
33411

Telephone

+15612332400

Website

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