Turkey hunting, off road vehicles and drones in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge? Maybe.

This week's guest, Carlton Ward Jr., has been instrumental in casting a vision for the Florida Wildlife Corridor. The Florida Wildlife Corridor imagines a contiguous linkage of undeveloped land from the Everglades to the Okefenokee Swamp. As a nature photographer, Carlton helped promote the idea by traversing the entire route and sharing his stories with politicians and in the media. In late June 2021, as a result of his efforts and those of many others, the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act was signed into law.

Follow Carlton on line at carltonward.com and floridawild.com. Learn more about the Florida Wildlife Corridor at floridawildlifecorridor.org. Find him on Twitter and Instagram at @carltonward.

This week's episode begins with Craig Pittman and his wife encountering red tide near their home in St. Petersburg.

Our guest is Cynthia Barnett, author of the newly published book, "The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans." Cynthia has written numerous books about Florida's freshwater, but dives into the salt for the first time here. She is also an environmental journalism professor at the University of Florida living in Gainesville. 

This week's episode begins with Craig's investigation of the MURDER of a Florida river.

Our guest for this episode is Punta Gorda native Jason Vuic, author of the recently released book, "Swamp Peddlers: How Lot Sellers, Land Scammers, and Retirees Built Modern Florida and Transformed the American Dream." Jason tells a Florida origin story of sorts about how land speculation, unethical developers and lack of regulation wrought upon the state the numerous environmental disasters we're currently facing.

Why is Florida so screwed up? This book has A LOT of the answers. Find it at your local bookstore or anywhere online.

This episode marks the one year anniversary of the "Welcome to Florida" podcast. Craig Pittman and Chadd Scott look back at the first 52 episodes, highlighting some of the most memorable. All previous episodes, and the "Preview" episode which explains how "Welcome to Florida" came to be can be found in the archives.

This week's guest is Miccosukee tribal elder Betty Osceola. Osceola works as an environmental advocate on behalf of her tribe and the Everglades and owns Buffalo Tiger Airboat Tours in the Glades. You can find Betty Osceola on Facebook as well as her Walk For Mother Earth project.

This week's episode is sponsored by Eco-Pathways. Eco-Pathways is a Florida company working with property owners building better dune walkovers, beach boardwalks, docks, piers and other water access. Eco-Pathways' engineered product has a 50+ year guarantee, won't fade or crack like wood, requires almost no maintenance, is easy to install and isn't full of chemicals like pressure-treated lumber.

This week's episode begins with good news for conservationists in Florida from a most unlikely place: the Florida state legislature.

Craig also updates on a scary development regarding Florida's coral reef.

Our guest this week is Dr. Cynthia Heil, Director of the Red Tide Institute at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota.

In the episode, Heil mentions resources available for Florida residents and tourists regarding the health of our beaches including:

visitbeaches.org (updated twice daily with current beach conditions)

myfwc.com/redtidestatus (current sample/cell concentrations of Karenia)

ore info on the Mote Marine website: mote.org/redtidefaq

With the Indian River Lagoon - North America's most biodiverse estuary - two National Wildlife Refuges and miles of critical sea turtle habitat along the Atlantic Ocean, Indian River County boasts remarkable natural beauty, even for Florida.

This bonus episode of "Welcome to Florida" focuses on Indian River County's ecotourism opportunities from sea turtle and manatee experiences, to hiking, biking, kayaking, birdwatching and much more.

Our guests are Barbara Schlitt Ford, Executive Director of the Environmental Learning Center in Vero Beach, and Kendra Cope, founder of Coastal Connections.

We'll learn about what there is to see and do for nature lovers in Indian River County. To begin planning your next long weekend or family vacation in Indian River County, check out VisitIndianRiverCounty.com.

This week's episode begins with Craig throwing his hat in the ring for a new job! Don't worry about him leaving the podcast, the chances of him landing this job are low.

Our guest is Calvin Branche, a leading historian on Florida author John D. MacDonald whose 21 Travis McGee novels captivated readers for decades. His novels have been turned into successful movies including "A Flash of Green" and "Cape Fear." MacDonald is also likely America's first environmental novelist, incorporating conservation themes into his work as far back as the 1960s.

"Welcome to Florida" is presented by Eco-Pathways, a Florida company which has developed a long-lasting, environmentally friendly, engineered material to replace wood and pressurized lumber in dune walkovers, boardwalks, docks and piers. Learn more at Eco-Pathways.com. 

This week's episode begins by discussing a puzzling decision by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to recommend opening a fishing season on goliath grouper.

Our guest is Jono Miller, author of "The Palmetto Book: Histories and Mysteries of the Cabbage Palm." The Cabbage Palm is Florida's state tree and essential to understanding its history. What makes this tree unique? How has it influenced Florida history? What does it have to do with Elvis and gangsters? We get the lowdown from Jono who you can find online, here.

At the end of the episode, Craig mentioned the Gizella Kopsick Arboretum in St. Petersburg which has examples of every palm species growing on Earth. You can learn more about them here.

This week's episode is presented by Eco-Pathways.com, a Florida company that has developed an engineered material for use in dune walkovers, boardwalks, docks and piers that will stand up to our harsh conditions for decades longer than plain wood or pressurized lumber. Eco-Pathways modular design makes it easy to install and the engineered material doesn't splinter or fade like wood, there are no rusty nails sticking up like wood has, and it doesn't contain the toxic chemicals of pressurized lumber.

This week's episode features Buck Island Ranch manager Gene Lollis. Buck Island Ranch is unlike any cattle ranch you've heard of. Buck Island Ranch is working in part to protect the environment and wildlife.

Take a look for yourself.

Ranching and agriculture are both major causes of and solutions for climate change, biodiversity collapse, clean water and clean air. If you'd like to learn more about this connection, regenerative agriculture and our national food production system, listen to "The Doctor's Farmacy Podcast" with Dr. Mark Hyman.

Want to buy more sustainably and ethically raised beef? Look into the Audubon Society's conservation ranching and certified beef program.

This episode is again brought to you by Eco-Pathways. Eco-Pathways creates dune and beach walkovers, boardwalks, docks and piers that are longer lasting than pressurized lumber, require a fraction of the maintenance and don't contain any of the many toxic chemicals pressurized wood does. Learn more at Eco-Pathways.com. 

This week's episode begins with Craig's latest "Washington Post" article where he writes about Miami making history in hiring the nation's first Chief Heat Officer.

Our guests are Susan Fernandez and Bob Ingalls, authors of "Sunshine in the Dark: Florida in the Movies." We'll trace Florida's history in film from the silent area when Jacksonville was Hollywood, all the way through 2016's "Moonlight" which won the Academy Award for best picture.

We'd like to welcome Eco-Pathways as our latest sponsor. Eco-Pathways is a Florida company that designs and constructs beach walkovers, boardwalks, trail bridges, docks and piers out of a proprietary engineered material which lasts longer and requires none of the maintenance of wood while not containing any of the chemicals found in pressurized lumber. Visit eco-pathways.com to learn more.