{"id":362022,"date":"2026-08-04T00:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T00:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/362022\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T00:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T00:44:11","slug":"cape-coral-sidewalk-plan-faces-burrowing-owl-habitat-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/362022\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Coral sidewalk plan faces burrowing owl habitat concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Residents worry sidewalk project may harm burrowing owl habitats in Cape Coral<\/p>\n

\"DefaultCAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\n

Residents in Cape Coral are raising concerns about the impact of sidewalk construction along Orchid Boulevard on burrowing owls, a threatened species in Florida. <\/p>\n

Lauren Lopez, a Cape Coral resident, shared her thoughts on the owls living in her neighborhood. <\/p>\n

“We have quite a few in our neighborhood. The kids love seeing them. We have one that just moved across the street,” Lopez said. <\/p>\n

She expressed her concerns about the city\u2019s development potentially affecting the birds’ habitats.<\/p>\n

“It’s honestly heartbreaking,” Lopez said. “I wish there was a way that we could coexist with our environment and where we didn’t have to push the wildlife out of their homes.” <\/p>\n

The city approved the construction of a sidewalk along Orchid Boulevard in May. Officials have identified three burrowing owl sites along the road. <\/p>\n

Christopher Kartes, another Cape Coral resident, has taken steps to help the owls by digging holes in his yard to provide them with alternative habitats. <\/p>\n

“I kind of hope that they leave the burrows alone, while also, I guess, trying to maintain the sidewalk they want to put in so desperately bad,” Kartes said. “I’ve seen multiple owls just flying around and not having a home.”<\/p>\n

Lopez emphasized the importance of preserving the owls for future generations. <\/p>\n

“I wish they would care more because I really want our future generations to see these animals thrive,” Lopez said. <\/p>\n

The city confirmed it has applied for the necessary permits from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to address the presence of the burrowing owls along Orchid Boulevard.<\/p>\n

DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents worry sidewalk project may harm burrowing owl habitats in Cape Coral CAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014 Residents in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[147305,24647,114926,209,211,210,147301,147299,147304,28,15748,4329,147303,147300,147302,33043,147297,147296,112882,32368,13835,147298],"class_list":["post-362022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-burrow-sites","tag-burrowing-owl","tag-burrowing-owls","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-christopher-kartes","tag-city-permits","tag-development-concerns","tag-florida","tag-florida-fish-and-wildlife-conservation-commission","tag-gulf-coast-news","tag-habitat-protection","tag-lauren-lopez","tag-neighborhood-owls","tag-orchid-boulevard","tag-owl-habitats","tag-sidewalk-construction","tag-sidewalk-project","tag-threatened-species","tag-wildlife-conservation","tag-wildlife-habitats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}