Florida Everglades

Florida Everglades

The Florida Everglades

Bonnie Adams

Social 120

Robert Olson

December 18, 2008

The Florida Everglades

The Florida everglades are known to be a World heritage site. The fight to save the ecosystem of the everglades has going on for many years. The wetlands are an International importance. The restoration plans is still in the spot light as of today. My own personal experiences of the everglades are something that is unforgettable.

The idea for the everglades in the 1800’s was to drain the area and plant sugar. Thinking that sugar would boost the economy. In the 1900’s some of the land was drained around the Okeechobee Lake and the sugar land cooperation’s moved in. The run off of the pesticides and fertilizers was not good for the ecosystem of the everglades. In the 1930’s the Herbert Hoover Dam was built to prevent flooding. Even though, the dam prevented flooding it shut off the water supply to the everglades. The everglades were the entire area from Lake Okeechobee south to the southern tip of the peninsula.

A wonderful lady, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, came to Florida to study the ecosystem of the everglades in the 1940’s. In 1947, Marjory wrote a book called The Everglades: the River of Grass, to educate the people about the everglades and the importance of its ecosystem. She spent most of her life fighting for the everglades. Marjory formed Friends of the Everglades, in 1969. Her objected was to stop the jetports being built and taking away a large portion of the everglades. The jetport was stopped after one jetport was built. The runway still exists in the Big Cypress. (everglades.org)

Soon after they established the Everglades National Park. The Park consist of 1,509,000 acres of wilderness, it is the largest area left east of the Mississippi River. In 1989, President George Bush signed the Everglades National Park Protection and Expansion Act. 109,506 acres were also added to the eastern side of the park. Then...

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