As the United States continues to feel the effects of global warming and rising sea levels, there is renewed concern for the Key deer, a species native to the Florida Keys who could be pushed to cataclysmic levels by environmental change. The animal is the smallest deer species in North America — adults stand at just 30 inches tall.

Key deer have been dwindling in numbers throughout the 2010s. There has been a push by conservationists to promote the deer and grow their numbers; but with continued habitat loss from climate change — a factor that is unlikely to improve — some experts are wondering whether the so-called ‘real-life Bambi’ can be saved at all.

Why are Key deer so threatened?

It is mainly due to rising sea levels from climate change, which are “already altering the landscape of Big Pine Key and at least 20 smaller islands the deer call home,” said The Associated Press. By 2100, sea levels in portions of the Florida Keys will rise from 1.5 feet to 7 feet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This means that on the islands inhabited by the deer, sea level increases “will continue to shrink freshwater and food sources Key deer need to survive,” said the AP.

If scientists can’t stop rising sea levels, freshwater will continue to turn to saltwater, and increasingly powerful storms will keep pushing this saltwater inland. Once it’s there, it “can be tough for that water to drain with roads and other human development,” said CBS News. With no “fresh water to drink or to grow food for the deer and other animals that call Big Pine Key home, it leaves them with a bleak future.” The Key deer “won’t have habitat and will become extinct,” Chris Bergh, the program field director for the Nature Conservancy, said to CBS.

The possible extinction of the Key deer could also affect other species in the Florida Keys. The Key deer is an “umbrella species that is helping all the other animals that need this habitat as well,” wildlife biologist Christina Wilson said to CBS. The animals “play a huge role in the Florida Keys, they are always eating something constantly.” This makes them an important part of the Keys’ overall ecosystem, which could be in flux if the deer disappear.

What is being done to help the species?

Legislation such as the Endangered Species Act has been passed to help save animals at risk — but it appears to be an uphill battle. If you “move the Key deer to a series of zoos like people have done with pandas and other endangered species,” you can “keep them going, but at what cost and to what end?” Bergh said to NPR. “Is that really a future for the species?”

Even in the “best case scenario for sea-level rise, we’re going to lose habitat for all of these species,” Nikki Colangelo, the endangered species manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in South Florida, said to NPR. That is why conservationists “need to be considering some of these other strategies,” such as relocating the deer to other habitats.

But that brings about another problem: “If you take them any other place with deer, they’re going to interbreed and then you’ve lost the Key deer,” former Texas A&M University professor Nova Silvy said to the AP.

TALLAHASSEE – State aerospace leaders have outlined major upgrades around Cape Canaveral as they look to build on this year’s record number of launches, which were boosted Monday by the liftoff of two Falcon 9 rockets.

Space Florida officials think six projects, ranging from an improved electrical system to replacing a bridge, need about $100 million a year through public and private investments.

Todd Romberger, Space Florida’s senior vice president of the spaceports business unit, said the work, based on industry trends, would increase the annual “tonnage” capacity of what could be launched at the cape from roughly 1,000 metric tons to 5,000 metric tons.

“That would be the equivalent of about 220 Falcon 9 launches a year, which currently we are getting up close to about 100 or so over the next, I would say, year or two,” Romberger said Thursday during a Space Florida Board of Governors meeting.

Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez, who is the chairwoman of the Space Florida board, said listing the projects “really hones in on what the challenges are for our growth.”

The projects

The six projects involve upgrades to wastewater treatment facilities, improved electrical infrastructure, wharf expansion at Port Canaveral, added fuel distribution, wetland mitigation and replacement of the NASA-owned Roy D. Bridges Bridge over the Banana River, which connects the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

“This bridge has some, I’ll call it geometric constraints that will inhibit passage of large cargo over it,” Romberger said. “And so, this is an issue that we will need to solve to help relieve some of the bottleneck in moving large things around the cape.”

Replacing the bridge would cost $145 million.

Meanwhile, upgrading the electrical system across the spaceport is projected to cost $275 million. The current system is considered insufficient for certain launch operations.

Also, Space Florida estimates additional wharf space would cost $2.1 billion.

Space Florida this year released a report calling for a nearly doubling wharf space at Port Canaveral during the next decade to meet the needs of the private space industry.

The study priced the work at $42.2 million for the first phase, growing to $2.1 billion for what is outlined as a seven-phase project.

Space Florida is considering another study to determine how all of the state’s ports can be tied to the space industry.

Part of the reason for the wharf expansion is projected demand for liquid natural gas for launch vehicles. Keeping fuel on pace with expansion, separate from the wharf projects, would cost $182 million.

Another $180 million would go toward locating and restoring wetlands in exchange for at least 381 “wetland mitigation credits” at the cape over the next 10 years.

Also, Space Florida said the spaceport is at capacity for its wastewater. While it will look at on-site treatment, it would prefer new infrastructure that would be installed by Brevard County to accommodate up to 700,000 gallons a day. The estimated cost is $20 million.

“We do not expect these to all be solved solely by the state or by our partners at (the Florida Department of Transportation),” Romberger said. “But the bottom line here is that we need to work together with federal partners, with the spaceport users, to come up with creative solutions where we are, you know, as a community and as an industry contributing together to solve these problems.”

Space Florida didn’t provide a breakdown on how much will be requested from the state and federal governments.

The SpaceX rocket launches on Monday were the 77th and 78th from Florida this year, up from 72 orbital rocket launches from the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in 2023.

There were 57 launches in 2022 and 31 in 2021.

The wharf study projects 197 launches in 2028, 282 in 2033, 386 in 2043 and 1,252 in 2073.