International Nature Conservation

Nature Conservation 4/2012 — 9. 11. 2012 — International Nature Conservation — Print article in pdf

Plesník J. & Pelc F.: The Everglades National Park – Water Availability Has Been Crucial for its Fat

authors: František Pelc

The Everglades National Park situated in southern Florida and covering 6,105 km²is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States: it was declared in 1947. The protected area is a flat network of wetlands and forests fed by a river flowing only 400 m per day out of the Lake Okeechoobee, southwest into Florida Bay.

The Park is the most significant breeding ground for the tropical wading birds in North America and it harbours the largest continuous mangrove growth worldwide. Freshwater channels are characterized by low-lying areas covered in fresh water: sawgrass prairies lacking even the slow movement of surface water are so prominent in the region that the Native Americans called it “River of Grass”. The only dry land within the park is hammocks which rise several inches above the grass-covered river and consist of tropical and subtropical hardwood forest.

In the late 19^thcentury the wetlands began to be drained to obtain new land for agricultural and residential use there. As the 20^thcentury progressed, water flow from the Lake Okeechobee was increasingly controlled and diverted to enable explosive growth of the South Florida metropolitan area.

In 2000, the Congress approved the Comprehensive Everglades Restora­tion Plan (CERP), a USD 10.5 billion project that is expected to take 30+ years to complete. The CERP approach is to use the best available science to restore the South Florida’s natural ecosystems while maintaining urban and water supply and flood control.