Everglades National Park

The Everglades National Park is the second largest in the country after Yellowstone and the largest subtropical wilderness in the continental U.S. It is a 1.5 million-acre tract of marshy land and swamp and an important and fragile ecosystem.

The first inhabitants of this region were Calusa Indians who lived mainly along the estuaries, fishing and collecting shellfish. During the Seminole Wars of the 1830's, Seminole Indians also retreated here to avoid capture by the army. The Indians called the everglades "Pa-hay-okee", or grassy water. Later, environmentalist Marjory Stone Douglas gave it the moniker "River of Grass." The later is an appropriate name because it reflects the true nature of the Everglades. The whole area is composed of a wide, shallow river that flows from Lake Okeechobee to the Bay of Florida. The bottom of this river is porous limestone over top of a bedrock base called the Tamiani Formation. It catches rainfall and acts as southern Florida's main water reservoir.

The park was created in 1947 after environmentalists finally convinced the government that the Everglades were vitally important to the balance of nature. Originally, the politicians, notably Governor Napoleon Broward, wanted to drain the Everglades for more farmland. He commissioned the construction of hundreds of canals to divert the water for irrigation and drinking water. These early development projects were just the first of many threats to this delicate environment, some of which still continue today.

The Everglades region is home to thousands of plant species and a wide variety of animal and bird life. Examples include alligators, deer, sea turtle, egrets, manatees, and river otters.