Why was everglades national park created

This site remains in virtually the same condition as it did during the Cold War. Park visitors can take guided tours of the base and occasionally meet soldiers who were stationed there during the conflict with the Soviet Union. Learn more about Nike Missile tours. The park and the pristine blue water that encompasses its southern boundary will one day enjoy a virtually endless supply of clean, fresh water as a result of Everglades restoration.

There is a lot more to discover at Everglades National Park! Check out these interesting facts about this vast and unique national park: 1. Photo by Glenn Nagel www. An aerial view of the Everglades backcountry. Photo by National Park Service. One of the many animals that live in the Everglades, Alligators move three different ways on land.

They high walk, belly walk and belly run. Alligators, like this one in the Everglades, high walk when they aren't in a hurry. Other animal invaders that prey on, or compete with, native species include Cuban tree frogs, which eat smaller native frogs, and Nile monitors, which eat burrowing owls and crocodile eggs. Restoring the Everglades ecosystem will help to prevent new invasions and keep established invasive species in check.

The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan was approved in It is intended to restore, protect, and preserve the Everglades by capturing freshwater that now flows unused to the ocean and the gulf, and redirect it to areas that need it most for environmental restoration.

Restoring the Everglades will also have significant ecological benefits to places like Florida Bay and Charlotte Harbor, which depend upon freshwater from the Everglades to maintain the critical balance between fresh and saltwater necessary for healthy estuaries. Join our conservation army. Our nation's diverse and wondrous lands provide invaluable resources that require bold, future-focused management strategies.

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The Everglades. People The Everglades is surrounded by human development, including the cities of Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Naturally occurring bacteria in Everglades peat and muck assist with the process of decomposition under water, which is generally very slow, partially due to the low levels of dissolved oxygen. When water levels became so low that peat and muck were at the surface, the bacteria interacted with much higher levels of oxygen in the air, rapidly breaking down the soil.

In some places, homes had to be moved to stilts and 8 feet 2. The idea of a national park for the Everglades was pitched in , when a Miami land developer named Ernest F.

It had enough support to be declared a national park by Congress in It took another 13 years to be dedicated on December 6, One month before the dedication of the park, a former editor from The Miami Herald and freelance writer named Marjory Stoneman Douglas released her first book titled The Everglades: River of Grass.

After researching the region for five years, she described the history and ecology of the South Florida in great detail. She characterized the Everglades as a river instead of a stagnant swamp. At only 5, years of age, the Everglades is a young region in geological terms. Its ecosystems are in constant flux as a result of the interplay of three factors: the type and amount of water present, the geology of the region, and the frequency and severity of fires.

Water is the dominant element in the Everglades, and it shapes the land, vegetation, and animal life of South Florida. The South Florida climate was once arid and semi-arid, interspersed with wet periods.

Between 10, and 20, years ago, sea levels rose, submerging portions of the Florida peninsula and causing the water table to rise. Fresh water saturated the limestone, eroding some of it and creating springs and sinkholes. The abundance of fresh water allowed new vegetation to take root, and through evaporation formed thunderstorms.

Limestone was dissolved by the slightly acidic rainwater. The limestone wore away, and groundwater came into contact with the surface, creating a massive wetland ecosystem. Although the region appears flat, the wearing away of the limestone in some areas created slight valleys and plateaus—a difference of inches in elevation—that affected not only the flow of water, but also types of vegetation present.

The Everglades are unique; no other wetland system in the world is nourished primarily from the atmosphere. Before the first attempt at draining the Everglades in , the entire watershed extended from Orlando to Florida Bay. Average annual rainfall in the Everglades is approximately 62 inches cm , though fluctuations of precipitation are normal.

Droughts, floods, and tropical storms are normal occurrences in the area. When Lake Okeechobee exceeds its water storage capacity during the wet season, it pours slowly over the southern rim and flows for miles km to Florida Bay. The gradient change is so slight that the river moves only 2 feet 0. Sawgrass thrives in this river, dominates freshwater marshes and sloughs, and is the main characteristic of the region.

Severe weather, in the form of tropical storms and hurricanes, also affects the structure of the Everglades.

Between and , 40 tropical cyclones struck the Everglades, usually every one to three years. These storms alter the coastline, flush decaying vegetation from estuaries, strip weakened branches from trees, and disperse seeds, pollen, and plant material. Hurricane Donna in affected square miles km2 of mangrove forests by depositing marl over the roots and depriving the trees of oxygen. It also eradicated orchids, bromeliads, and other epiphytes that once flourished in the mangroves; their reappearance may take a century or more.

Donna also significantly spread buttonwood, saltwort, and glasswort, and epiphytes began to grow in new areas. Although the lasting effects remain to be seen, Hurricane Andrew in also destroyed mangrove forests and snapped slash pines in half. However, regrowth occurred quickly, and sand deposited by the storm surge improved nesting conditions for crocodiles and sea turtles. Ecosystems in the Everglades have been described as both fragile and resilient.

The health and productivity of any ecosystem relies on the number of species present: the loss of one species weakens the entire ecosystem. For example, Florida apple snails Pomacea paludosa are an amphibious freshwater mollusk. They have a single gill and lung, and live on stalks of sawgrass in water depths no more than 20 inches 51 cm. They are the primary food of the endangered Everglades snail kite Rostrhamus sociabilis and limpkin Aramus guarauna as well as the raccoon, otter, and young alligator.

Apple snails lay their eggs on sawgrass stalks about 6 inches 15 cm above the water line, and they are intolerant of being submerged for long periods of time. When the eggs hatch, young snails must enter the water quickly or face death. When water levels are too low or rise too quickly while snail eggs are developing, apple snails do not flourish, affecting the many reptiles, mammals, and birds that feed on them.

With regard to the ecology of trophic dynamics, or food chains, the species of invertebrates play a vital role in the Everglades. Crayfish, insects, scorpions, and other invertebrates also support a web of animals. The group of animals most integral to the overall success of Everglades wildlife is freshwater fish.

Few places in the Everglades stay submerged from one year to the next, so alligator holes and deep clefts in the limestone are vital to the survival of fish, and the animal community as a whole. Freshwater fish are the main diet of most wading birds, alligators, and otters, and require large areas of open water in order to repopulate. Young amphibians also play an important role in the food chain. Tadpoles spread quickly in isolated areas where fish do not have the time or access to reproduce in numbers necessary to support larger animals.

Hundreds of species of amphibians are found in the Everglades, and their availability helps support wildlife during short hydroperiods or in remote locations. These smaller animals support communities of larger animals, including 70 species of land birds that breed within the Everglades, and water birds, of which 43 breed in the area. Many of these birds go on to migrate through the West Indies and North America.

Several dozen species of mammals also thrive in the region, from tiny bats and shrews to midsize raccoons Procyon lotor , otters Lontra canadensis , opossums Didelphis virginiana , and foxes. The largest include white tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus , the Florida black bear, and the Florida panther.

Although slight changes in water level affect many species, the system as a whole also cycles and pulses with each change. Some transformations to the diversity of plant and animal life are natural, caused by fire or storms, and some are induced by humans, such as urban encroachment, the introduction of exotic species, and rapid global warming.

Environmental conditions in the Everglades favor no particular species. Some species, such as snail kites and apple snails, do well in wet conditions, but wood storks and Cape Sable seaside sparrows Ammodramus maritimus mirabilis do well in dryer circumstances. Several ecosystems are present in the Everglades, and boundaries between them are subtle or absent. The primary feature of the Everglades is the sawgrass marsh. Prior to the first drainage attempts in , the sheetflow occupied nearly a third of the lower Florida peninsula.

Sawgrass thrives in the slowly moving water, but may die in unusually deep floods if oxygen is unable to reach its roots. It is particularly vulnerable immediately after a fire. The hydroperiod for the marsh is at least nine months, and can last longer.

Where sawgrass grows densely, few animals or other plants live, although alligators choose these locations for nesting. Where there is more room, periphyton grows. Periphyton supports larval insects and amphibians, which in turn are consumed as food by birds, fish, and reptiles.

It also absorbs calcium from water, which adds to the calcitic composition of the marl. Sloughs, or free-flowing channels of water, develop in between sawgrass prairies. Sloughs are about 3 feet 0. Aquatic animals such as turtles, alligators, snakes, and fish thrive in sloughs; they usually feed on aquatic invertebrates.

Submerged and floating plants grow here, such as bladderwort Utricularia , water lily Nymphaeaceae , and spatterdock Nuphar lutea. Miami has an Amtrak station. The park may be explored by personal vehicle, commercial tour bus, bicycle, motor boat, or canoe.

There is NO public transportation in the park. On 30 May , an Act was passed authorizing a park to be acquired through public donations. Thirteen years later, through a combination of federal, state and private lands, a vast wetland teeming with life was dedicated as a national park. Everglades was the first national park preserved primarily for its abundance and variety of life, rather than for scenic or historic values. Boundary changes since have substantially increased the size of the park from the original , acres , hectares.

In , the Secretary of the Interior increased the size of the park to 1,, acres , hectares , including the former wildlife refuge. Two additional boundary changes increased the park to 1,, acres , hectares by In , Congress passed legislation that expanded the eastern boundary of the national park by , acres 44, hectares , primarily for the purposes of ecosystem restoration and protection. Highest visitation is from December through April, and the lowest visitation is May through November.

Walking and canoe trails, boat tours and tram tours are excellent for viewing wildlife, including alligators and a multitude of tropical and temperate birds. At the end of the nineteenth century the south Florida coast was still largely wilderness, one of the last coastal regions east of the Mississippi to be settled.

Early mariners knew about Cape Sable, located west of Flamingo as it appeared on their maps. It was here in that Dr. Henry Perrine was given a grant of land. Unfortunately his plans for a settlement did not materialize due to his untimely death at the hands of Indians.

He built Fort Poinsett on Cape Sable. The town of Flamingo was established in ; its citizens had to choose a name in order to obtain a post office. According to records from the National Archives, Howell C. Low was the first postmaster.

He was appointed on December 13, Cape Sable had its own post office and Jay L. Watrons was appointed postmaster on February 23,