Everglades National Park
Where is Everglades National Park located?
What endangered or threatened animals can be found in Everglades National Park?
How does Everglades National Park support biodiversity?
What challenges does Everglades National Park face?
Encompassing more than 1.5 million acres (600,000 hectares), Everglades National Park is situated in the southwestern portion of the more extensive Everglades region in southern Florida. Incorporating forest, marine, and wetland habitats, the park is home to dozens of endangered or threatened animals, including the Florida panther and the American crocodile. It is also home to more than 350 species of birds and a wide assortment of mammals, reptiles, fish, and flora. It constitutes the largest subtropical wilderness left in the United States.
Origin of the park
Everglades National Park was authorized in 1934, but, because of difficulties acquiring land, it was not established until 1947. UNESCO designated it a Biosphere Reserve in 1976 and a World Heritage site in 1979. The park’s area has been expanded several times, the last significant expansion coming in 1989 when Pres. George H.W. Bush signed a congressional act adding more than 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares) to the park, saying at the time, “Through this legislation that river of grass may now be restored to its natural flow of water.” The phrase river of grass derives from the seminal 1947 work by environmentalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas, The Everglades: River of Grass, which is widely credited with changing the public perception of the Everglades from a useless swamp to a precious ecosystem.
The park encompasses some 2,400 square miles (6,200 square km), including most of Florida Bay, and preserves a unique blend of temperate and tropical species and freshwater and marine habitats. Part of its northern border adjoins Big Cypress National Preserve. Biscayne National Park is to the east, off the Atlantic coast, and Dry Tortugas National Park lies to the southwest, at the western end of the Florida Keys.
In addition to its Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage designations, it was declared a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in 1987, further indicating its status as a globally recognized region.
A diverse and fragile ecosystem
Everglades National Park serves as a biodiverse sanctuary for hundreds of bird species, over 40 types of mammals, and a wide assortment of fish and reptiles. The low elevation of the park—its highest point is just 8 feet (2.4 meters) above sea level—also makes it a fertile home for flora. Among the roughly 800 plant species within its borders, there are 39 types of orchids. The uniqueness of the Everglades National Park ecosystem, which supports both fresh and salt water, means that it is the only place where American crocodiles and alligators live together in the wild.
The park offers an abundant diversity of fauna. In addition to alligators and crocodiles, visitors can be treated to sightings of birds as diverse as the roseate spoonbill and the bald eagle, as well as some 300 species of fish (and fishing is permitted in parts of the park). Sightings of the endangered Florida panther are exceedingly rare, with estimates saying that fewer than 250 are left in the wild.
Continuing challenges
Everglades National Park was damaged by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. As a result of that storm, the park was on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger from 1993 to 2007. In 2010 it was again added to the list, because of concerns about decreases in water flowing into the Everglades and increases in pollution levels there. In addition to altered water flow, invasive species severely threaten native wildlife.
Invasive Burmese pythons became pervasive in the park in the 1990s, as people who no longer wanted them as pets released them into the wild. The snakes have had catastrophic impacts on the populations of some mammals in the park, including raccoons, opossums, and rabbits. The pythons have virtually eliminated rabbits and foxes from the park. Since the 2010s the National Park Service (NPS) has explored ways to manage the python population, including partnering with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The NPS runs a program to help find and remove the snakes by training python-sniffing dogs that alert handlers to the pest predators and allow for their humane removal.
To combat decades of artificial drainage and habitat degradation, Congress authorized the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) in 2000. The plan called for a joint partnership between the federal government and the state of Florida to fund about 50 restoration projects. The original plan called for $8.2 billion to be spent over 30 years. By fiscal year 2024, the U.S. government had spent about $3.2 billion and Florida about $2.8 billion. The timeline for full implementation has been extended from 30 to 50 years.