I can't help but reflect on the endless spread of the human footprint in the region - while the momentum of geologic processes advance in their steady, inexorable ways.
Crisis events will come, with ever-increasing frequency, until it dawns on even the most slow-witted that it is time to retreat.
2
We the people of Florida voted overwhelmingly to spend a lot of money to better control the release of polluted water from the big lake, it was called amendment 1_ the former corrupt governor red tide rick, thwarted the effort, his replacement, another trump schill, hasn't done much better. The everglades will continue to suffer until the right people take office.
11
One keeps reading isolated articles about the human effects on climate and human infrastructure influences on the environment with increasing despair. If taken as a whole and integrated, there seems to be a race to see what ares of the ecosystem break down first. There could be a cascade of world wide problems if ocean food chains are altered by acidification.
The needed emphasis on changing the planet's energy infrastructure and human footprint is way behind the needed schedule and unlikely to be altered much in the near future.
Recent rollbacks of environmental regulations will exacerbate the future problems.
4
Please don't put pythons in the same category as swamp alligators. They are an invasive species and have decimated much wildlife in the Everglades. They should be killed when discovered -- they are nearly impossible to find and they have no enemies except man... like the pretty but voracious lionfish.
It's adorable to worry about water and global warming but there is often more than one threat to an environment and yes and the basic cause may well be manmade.
OYOH, things do change... I hope those in their reproductive years might become less likely to reproduce. Negative population growth IMO is a GREAT thing.
4
Congratulations, Ms. Burleigh, on a wonderful description of the Everglades. I have followed the Glades since I was the first grad student in the Center for Wetlands at Univ of Florida in the 1970s. After spending 38 years "professoring up north," I was offered an opportunity to return to south Florida at my Everglades Wetland Research Park in Naples.
There are two major threats to the current status of the Everglades. One is climate change that will ultimately reclaim the southern extent of the Glades to saltwater mangrove swamps and open bays. The other is the current $2 billion "EAA Reservoir Plan"--a poor design released in 2017 to repair the water quality disasters of our Gulf and Atlantic coasts, but at the expense of possibly trashing the Everglades. See https://bullsugar.org/experts_say_eaa_reservoir_wont_work/?fbclid=IwAR3UF6RjA80rcHNW7s3IjHylzQ54yIZWDuHRstpSD8lOJ37GapmPbne-nCQ Oddly, this project is championed by the State of Florida and all of the NGOs in Florida except for three brave organizations: Marjory Stoneman Douglas's Friends of the Everglades, the Sierra Club, and Bull Sugar. Spending Federal and State money appears to be more important than protecting the Everglades, which could turn into a cattail marsh with excessive nutrients from Lake Okeechobee much quicker that the sea will claim it back.
Happy World Wetland Day on February 2 (designated by the Ramsar Convention). The Everglades is one of only 40 Ramsar wetlands in the USA.
5
I would have appreciated some more practical advice on how to view the Everglades, unless the author's point was to discourage any more visitors, amidst her environmental moralizing.
@Richard Should you go, you commit to long drives with occasional opportunities to get out of the car and explore (although I have never felt up to actually stepping off a boardwalk!)
Head out from Miami for Flamingo, or Naples on the Tamiami, or from Naples to Everglade City. There are also several trails in protected lands north of the Tamiami on its western end.
I think it takes days, and more than one trip, to even begin to really see it.
When you go, you will understand that “moralizing” should not be confused with love and grief.
4
@Richard you will get an up close and personal view with Garl. His website is linked to this article.
Florida Inshore Super Grand Slam:
Snook
Redfish
Speckled Trout
Tarpon
@Dookie , there is another slam, the trashcan slam...a jack, a lady fish and a catfish.
It's odd that the Times chose to run this eulogy to the Everglades in the Travel section. Both the exponential growth of air travel and the tourism industry overall have become significant contributors to climate change -- the very thing this article bemoans.
This irony can only call into question the continued relevance and existence of the Travel section itself. Why encourage the unbridled growth of world travel when world travel is one of the very things that fuels climate change? Are you telling us to see the world before we destroy it?
Until the Times addresses this contradiction, please, spare us the crocodile tears.
The fires ravaging Australia and the Amazon Rain Forest, the disappearing Everglades, the retreating ice sheets, ocean acidification, coral reef death, the loss of biodiversity... The planet cannot take much more at this rate, and I don’t have any hope that people will change. It seems the efforts to save the Everglades has dwindled while Florida has been trampled to death and sucked dry by industry, overdevelopment, greed, and apathy.
2
The Everglade mosquitos are twin engined.
1
Reading your article on my iPad here in Paris you transported me deep into the Everglades.
Great great writing. Please adapt it as a podcast
Jean-Pierre
Paris
7
Beautifully written. Thank you.
5
what a wonderful article. beautifully written, with a true love and comprehension. we too have loved the everglades for many years, and are dismayed to watch the changes, but still awed and appreciative of the regions glory. One tries to balance the needs of a growing human population with the ecological damage done by that growth. Open , undeveloped space is always tempting in our desire to provide better habitat and living conditions for our fellow men, and it nearly always comes at the cost of nature. Those thousands of acres of apartment development west of Miami proper, also represent decent housing with kitchens and indoor plumbing for tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of people. It is a heart wrenching tradeoff. thank you for your beautiful article.
3
@Joel jacobson Most politicians and developers are still stuck in a 17th C. mindset that untouched, unproductive (by human standards) land is a "wasteland" and has no human value. If it doesn't show a potential for financial profit; is not exploitable -- it is of no use. Our economy is driven by that principle.
3
Long before there was Spanish/European colonization, the spread of disease, and copious wars, there were indigenous tribes who lived on these lands ~ to them it was sacred and they understood the relationship between themselves and the land a most holy place ~ it was their sustenance; they understood the balance. So yes, Nina, I get and appreciate your concern for these lands but I find it laughable that you would write: "[two] centuries ago, the great naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt was the first to comprehend the interconnectedness of nature, and how human activity affected it. Humboldt never visited the Everglades, but it is surely one of the best places on earth to observe nature’s complex harmony up close." Not once in this article do you mention the first peoples and how they lived on the land. Just think about what has happened to the surface of this continent in just 400 years. I believe that not understanding the relationship ~ or worse dismissing the relationship indigenous peoples had with the land is our demise.
6
@Susan Yes, the native populations we often dismiss as primitive and uncivilized knew something we have yet to understand: how to exist in harmony with nature. When we are at war with the very environment that supports life, we are in fact killing our chances of survival as a species. Nature doesn't need us as much as we need her.
2
I’ve been living on and off in Florida, for fifty years. Fifteen years ago, I made my first visit to the museum at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, in The Everglades just west of Boynton Beach, FL. Going out to the ‘glades, walking the cypress swamp boardwalk ... fantastic.
The unique depictions of the hummock and slough topography, our comprehensive scientific understanding of The Everglades biome, the flora, the fauna, and the magnificent engineering already completed to repair sheet water flow in southern Florida, all on display for us to see and marvel.
What we needed then, was for our leaders to step up, acquire the land, fund the construction necessary to remediate the damage caused by the South Florida Water Management District, the Army Corps of Engineers, and to halt unconstrained development around The Everglades.
So what’s happened in those fifteen years ... absolutely nothing. We have not done anything on the federal, state or local level to repair, preserve, or protect or this world treasure.
We’re just sitting here, watching our planet die. Back in the day, you could swim off the beach nearly anywhere from Miami to Daytona, just a half mile, to the forty foot first reef. and it was loaded with creatures, magnificent forests of gorgonians, and beautiful hard corals. Now, in most places it’s all gone. There’s nothing but brown algae on a hardpan bottom, that’s from pollution runoff, it’s dying.
If we let our ecosystem die, we die.
14
@Dr. Ruth
I have also watched since the Great Recession of 2007-8, a dramatic increase of residential and commercial construction all over South Florida. Unless there is a halt or scientific break-through ... the future of the Everglades as eloquently portrayed in this article will be doomed. And the spike in water costs for the residents will be untenable. Who exactly are our representatives in the Senate at the Federal level? And who exactly is the Governor? And who is the newest official Florida resident? Not pro-environment that’s for sure.
10
Beautifully written. Eden and The Fall...such powerful, evocative language. Thank you!
6
Thank you.
3
Dont forget the farmers who have let their nitrogen laden runofff water destroy the Everglades. Gov Scott could have cared less.
16
Thanks to trump, Florida will soon be underwater
8
The Republicans are laughing.
2
Florida doesn’t deserve the Everglades.
6
Life on Earth is over. Please plan accordingly. If you are under 30, PRAY.
3
Don’t worry, new Florida resident Donald J Trump, along with his cronies in the EPA will do their best to further pollute the waters and kill as many birds as possible.
16
When my great-grandparents landed in South Florida, Miami extended not much beyond Avenue D (look it up). As a third-gen South Floridian I grew up on the edge of the Glades. where several school mates were Seminoles living in the Glades. Back then the Glades seemed merely our personal backyard and the Trail (Tamiami) just a two-lane blacktop with more sunning gators than cars on it.
I left South Florida in 2000. Disheartened that I no longer recognized "my" Florida. This had nothing to do with immigrants - South Florida was always rich with them. This had nothing to do with retiree's - Florida was always something of "God's Waiting Room" as we joked even back then.
What it really boiled down to, I think, was somewhere the glades, mangroves and sawgrass were no longer my backyard but no just a home to boats, condos and concrete. Money wrecked the land and ironically no amount of money is going save it.
36
@Wilson1ny Just love your story, the Everglades your backyard, more gators than cars on small road. I visited the Everglades for the first time this year and enjoyed it. Wish I could have seen it as you did.
1
Not “tropical clouds”. You would be at least 150 miles north of the Tropic of Cancer.
Clouds travel with prevailing winds and weather patterns so they could be tropical clouds.
Lets be blunt shall we. The Rs are in control down here, have been for quite a while, and very little is getting done. Besides, Big Sugar still rules and has bought off every R politician needed to keep the status quo. There is very little good news down here, don't expect anymore and it is probably going to get much worse now that we are starting to have salt water intrusion on a large scale. And it is just going to get worse as the sea level and tides rise. Local governments like Miami-Dade are starting to take action, but it is much too little much too late and pretty ineffective since the state government, controlled by the Rs, is useless. They are too busy trying to undo voter initiatives like restoring the voting rights of convicted felons to worry about something as insignificant as the environment. Remember, when you vote R you are voting for pollution and death. Simple.
22
Thank you. I have never heard it stated quite so clearly & Honestly ("Remember, when you vote R you are voting for pollution and death.").
Now many will go "Whoa there. you are way overboard".
But you know ? I don't think so. That statement is right square on target in SO many ways. Just one thing -you forgot to add Pollution, Death AND Evil".
I believe the author is in error on but one item: "Most of the old pine woods are paved over with towns and apartment complexes and strip malls whose names — Pine Crest, Pine Heights, Pines — refer to what was there."
I grew up helping my grandmother hang laundry from lines strung between the pines. Florida Pine doesn't exists in any numbers any longer for three reasons: Disease (pitch cankor), hurricanes (or the threat of them) and to a lesser but still significant extent - lumber. In other words - was was predominantly paved over might have been the old pine woods - but there was no longer much in the way of actual pines left on them.
6
The subheading completely misrepresents the contents of this story. The threats to the Everglades are numerous and man made. But the sea level rise bogeyman is only mentioned as an aside in the last paragraph. The sea level has been barely rising for hundreds of years and it is only models—that have been almost completely wrong, that suggest the sea might rise at a bit faster rate. The problem is that those skimming the story might think that sea level rise is the great problem for the Everglades—but as the story indicates it is not.
3
This is unfortunately what happens when policies of population growth uber alles take priority, for the benefit real estate developer campaign finance donors. Both political parties, at different points, have played a role.
5
@GRH Down here even local politics are controlled by developer big money. Our local City Commissioners amassed $135,000 in campaign contributions for a job then paying $14,000 a year. How do you fight that?
1
trump just eliminated protections for migratory birds.
Everything, literally everything terrible that is happening to this country has the stench of him.
The forests, the birds, the wildlife, the clean air, the clean water, all dying. And they cheer him on.,,
13
Obama used the Everglades as a prop, but failed to deliver in terms of EPA regulation under the Clean Water Act (Google "Everglades TMDL") or pressing Congress to appropriate restoration funds.
3
Oh Yes - it was Obama's fault
Politicians ignorantly/greedily let this harm happen for money. The South is short sighted. Rick Scott let this happen, for money. Big Sugar and mining, along with forever chemicals like PFAS etc from Military bases is poisoning the aquifer, the people and the animals. Cancer for mammals and fish in the canals, cancer/ALS etc in the neighborhoods from secret dumping.
Trump has harmed the environment, he's gutting the EPA. I've seen the fish kills, I've been choked by red tide. I am leaving Florida after 2 years and going back North where it is not perfect, but they are actively trying to protect the earth. If only someone could protect us against Trump and the GOP.
10
Nina -- we're with you. And great pics. What is happening to the Everglades is just a microcosm of what is happening worldwide. As our population swells, and as we all seek growth unabated, with ever bigger houses, fatter cars, and more jetsetting, we peek now and then at the folly of wrecking the one habitable planet we have -- teeming with a rugged beauty that belies its fragility at our hands -- and then move on, as if rubbernecking a bad accident. Good thing it wasn't us.
As our Republicans say, "Nothing to see."
21
but its all submerged under under salt water soon enough... right? i mean, you cant defend anything built on porous limestone from the multi meter seawater rise everyone agrees is inevitable. its a romantic idea defending the everglades but everything south of Miami is going away. maybe thats what the story is about? the nothern everglades? sorry, im from out of town.
2
Florida votes for the GOP and so, by definition, (a) climate deniers, (b) moneygrubbers (think Mar a Lago), and (c) anti-government rightwingers.
So, altho we can and should mourn the coming ruin or loss of the Everglades, Floridians have only themselves to blame for what is happening before their eyes.
10
@Kathy See my previous answers. Big development money, voter suppression, and the good old boys network all corrupt our ability to have a say. Not to mention Big Ag and Army Corps of Engineers.
2
One species that the draining of the everglades killed off that no one, not even the author, will shed a tear for, mosquitoes.
3
Like the senators from Utah, with its wonderful national parks, Republicans in Florida don't care about naure or the environment. If people from other states complain, we are called leftist elitests who want to kill jobs. Interesting how short-term calculations and a supposedly religious outlook go together.
7
The same thing is happening to wild lands and aquifers across booming sunbelt states. Texas Hill Country is being ruined. And the deserts East of Los Angeles and San Diego.
4
The evil is Trump. He is reversing humanity's attempts at conservation, pollution control, clean air, clean water, regeneration of natural environments, and all in the name of a fast buck. Trump is a punter, above all. Punters must never be allowed to influence doctrine. How did America sink so low?
8
Ah, the tragic irony of cruising around over a disappearing natural paradise, being lost to global warming, in a CO2-spewing private plane - while weeping...
4
We are terrible stewards of the Earth. We don’t deserve to be the dominant species. We are destroying the very planet we live on. How can an advanced society like ours allow this to happen? Money.
11
@Mike, add to that ignorance, greed and apathy and that would pretty much sum it up. I agree we don't deserve our place as the dominant species on earth, but at least we won't be forever. (I try to find some consolation by thinking in long term geologic terms.)
3
Bittersweet reading. Bitterness aside, thanks so much for writing this piece.
4
In 1974 Congress passed a bill and sent it to President Richard Nixon to be signed. He authorized the Federal Government to spend $150 million to purchase the Big Cypress National Preserve.
5
Well, I have a different take. I don’t want our federal tax dollars going to Florida to fix this problem, caused by Florida residents and industry (like the sugar industry), until the federally owned and run (and poorly maintained by the federal government) Amtrack tunnels and tracks are fixed. Much of the tunnel problems were caused by hurricane sandy, unlike the human caused problems of the Everglades. Trump, McConnell, and wife/ secretary of transportation Chao have canceled the Gateway deal agreed to by Obama, Christie and Cuomo. This is USA government property that is long overdue for US dollars for repairs.
3
@LAUGH ATI T Do you really think global warming had no effect on the size and scale of Sandy?
1
20 years of one party rule in Florida left us with most of the 4 billion unspent. Floridians passed a constitutional amendment to buy land around springs to protect our aquifer. Nothing. Polluter Pay constitutional amendment is not enforced and uses shaky math that allows Sugar, it is capitalized around here, to pay about 25 cents on the dollar for their runoff filled with poisons.
Cane fields were back pumped into Lake O during recent years of heavy rains. Rick Scott dismantled regional water management districts. SWFMD or Swiftmud as it is locally known, and was filled with cronies and yes men to the governor. The Kissimmee River is still badly polluted with nitrogen and phosphates. The muck at the bottom of Lake O is loaded with decades of abuse. The state fought in courts for years to avoid use numeric measurement of water quality.
It was all avoidable.
7
As if we needed another reason, here again is justification for the noble choice of not having children. There are far, far too many of us across all corners of the globe. Not reproducing is the one indisputable gift that we can give poor, beleaguered Ma Nature. Essentially everything else we do causes her harm.
9
I grew up in Hialeah. My mother was a bird watcher. We would rise before dawn and drive out along Tamiami Trail to watch the birds at sunrise. Later, as a Boy Scout I would camp weekends in the Everglades. In fact, we could hop on our bikes and be out in the Everglades in about 10 minutes. I was sickened then by the rate of destruction of the natural habitat. I weep now for what we have lost. The relentless effort to drain the swamp has resulted in a habitat that will soon be fit for neither man nor beast. We have indeed paved paradise and put up a parking lot.
13
I'm a naturist. Yes, the conclusions of the author have merit; yet the over dramatized expression is counterproductive of the goals of our community. They feed the narrative of the Trumpists.
The Everglades are wonderful and would be worth preserving, but not a dollar should be spent on them unless we know that the state of Florida will not be under the ocean in 2050 or so. Because if rising seas will sink the state, the Everglades are doomed anyway. The lack of action on climate change is the biggest threat to the Everglades, even more than the mismanagement of decades past and ever encroaching development.
2
It has been clear to me for a while that places like the Everglades are effectively gone. The proverbial canary in the coal mine. Why would this region be any different from the low-lying islands in the Pacific that are being abandoned due to rising sea level and salt-water contamination of drinking wells?
We would need to be in a full-on conversion to clean energy as of today to have any hope, and we haven't even started. Indeed, a large part of our own country refuses to even recognize the problem.
So the Everglades are gone. The question to me at this point is, given the trajectory of human inactivity in addressing this threat, can anything be saved?
4
Overpopulation in South Florida has ruined the surrounding ocean as well as the Everglades. Over the past 40 years , I have witnessed the decline in Molasses Reef off Key Largo and I don’t think there is a single coral reef off Key West that isn’t dead and covered with brown algae. There are still many vibrant reefs in the Caribbean, so it’s more than warming ocean waters. It’s all the agriculture, lawns and golf courses releasing tons of nitrogen-rich runoff.
And then there is the red tide...
10
@Yaholo And many don't realize the Roundup on lawns also pours phosphate into our waterways making the problem worse. Cyanobacteria.
1
Thanks so much for the beauty and heartbreak in the essay and photos.
3
Beautifully written and full of haunting imagery. It really hit home when describing the gray muck in his hand instead of sand and clams, why must greed be more sacred than the beauty of the earth, which is free! I’m grateful for people like you who shares and explains the scope of what we are on the verge of losing, what can never be regained! Hopefully it’s not too late...thank you very much for this heartfelt and prescient article!
4
Having settled here twenty years ago and raised three native Floridians in the time since, I have learned one thing: Development, cattle, sugar, and above all else money, trump all in this sad place. Eventually, and quicker than we think, there will be nothing but a concrete jungle, one lacking in fresh water. There is no reason to put down roots here, as there will be nothing left in a few short decades. I encourage my children to think of themselves as inheritors of my home state in the Southeast, rather than develop emotional ties to a place destined to die. It’s heartbreaking, but after multiple storms in a short period, horrific red tides and algal blooms, and never-ending man made construction, I can see nothing here but doom, and sooner rather than later.
7
Sadly, the Everglades are doomed even if we keep the global temperature rise to 2 degrees C. If you want to see why ...
The easy to use interactive and highly accurate Lidar-based Risk Zone Map on Climate Central's Surging Seas' not always so easy to navigate website shows that just a 0.5 meter rise will bite off a vast swath of land and mangrove swamp that is today barely at or above sea-level, or barely below it. This is of course some of the most important Everglades habitat for birds and fish and seashore creatures of diverse kinds. Just a few inches higher in elevation, the strange and fascinating ecosystems with large threatening looking prickly pear cacti (Opuntia stricta) I've explored pursued by clouds of mosquitoes won't be able to move north fast enough to outpace the centuries long flood.
Once the rise hits 2 meters, which on our present trajectory will very likely happen before 2200, most of Florida south of I-75 will be gone.
Googling 'future sea level rise with 2 degrees c of warming' led me to a link to a map on the same website that shows a simulation of the cumulative sea level rise expected from 2 degrees C of global warming.
In two or three centuries, Lake Okeechobee will have become Okeechobee Bay.
https://ss2.climatecentral.org
1
Not many comments here about the loss of the Everglades. I expect if Disneyland was closing, it would garner more attention. Says a lot about American values today.
7
My college is located at the edge of the Everglades, and this article does a beautiful job of depicting the place I've called my home for 3 years. Florida is a strange state, juxtaposing civic libertarianism with a robust and beautiful preservation ethic, carried out by private donors and underfunded state agencies. There is profound natural beauty here but also great destruction. Hopefully, more will come to see the beauty of creation embodied in the wild, primeval landscape of the Everglades through Nina Burleigh's excellent essay.
2
My parents visited the Keys every November for years. Once old enough, so did I. The Everglades is one of the most beautiful places on earth, with species that exist no where else.
It is heartbreaking to think it may be lost to future generations. With global warming and rising ocean levels I'm not sure any measures taken can save it! That doesn't mean we shouldn't try!
2
Many thanks for the beautiful photographs. We are in love with the Everglades. It's a great gift that we should aggressively defend. This article is splendid.
John Ogden, a great scientist and an influential conservationist in the preservation of Florida's Everglades, was in love with the Everglades and worked for years to save them. I worked with John at the Audubon Society Condor Research Center in Ventura, CA back in 1983 and he was anxious to get home to the Everglades the he loved. It makes me sad to read this article and to see the destruction of such a beautiful area that John tried for so many years to save for the birds he loved.
6
Canoe camping the ten thousand islands, especially this time of year when the mosquitos and no see-ums are less prevalent, was an annual tradition for my friends and family 10- 20 years ago. We knew then that this special place was not the paradise it once was (pretty spectacular though) but we cherished it just the same. I hope that some still make the effort to camp, fish and enjoy this very special piece of our fragile world as I am sure it still holds some treasures for the human soul (thank you for the photos) and with that some hope. Remember to go gently and vote for a Florida to go gently too.
1
What a beautifully written yet sad article. We all have our favorite parts of the Everglades. As a kid it was the Gumbo Limbo trail lined with the majestic burgundy papered bark trees. As an adult it became Shark Valley. I would get lost in the 15 mile bike/walk/run/tram alligator filled path. It became my Tour de France track before it became crowded with bikers. My tribute to Shark Valley would be my yearly one hour car ride West with bike rack on New Years morning to welcome the a new year with a purposely planned ride around the loop. That was heaven until I truly SAW the heavens in the Everglades. The park introduced monthly moon-lit rides on the same path where I would train for bike competitions. However, on these nights the only training was with all my senses as the Everglades would become like no other place on my earth.
5
I am a native of south Florida, although I no longer live there. My father's family moved to Miami in 1918. In the early 1920s they built a house near NW 7th street and 23rd court. At the time, the edge of the Everglades was around NW 27th avenue, about a half mile away. I started venturing into the 'glades, fishing with my father in the 10,000 Islands for example, in 1953 when I was 10 years old.
The destruction of the Everglades ecosystem began in the late 19th century. The goal was to drain this "worthless swamp" and turn it into something productive. Then the south Florida land boom began. In 1920, the population of Dade County (Miami and environs) was around 43,000. By 1950 it was 500,000. The population of Dade County today is about 2.75 million. Although my family prospered from this growth (we were in the construction business), there is no way this place, or the state of Florida for that matter, could accommodate this growth without severe environmental impact. From malaleuca trees (imported as landscape exotics) to pythons and every other intentionally or accidentally introduced species, Florida and the Everglades have been irreversibly transformed. Climate change and sea level rise are the final insult. The ecosystem of the Everglades will eventually be changed into something new, but it won't be anything like the Everglades my grandfather knew.
8
What a beautiful eulogy for one of the most alluring and magical expanses of our planet. I grew up on the edge of the Everglades, and my earliest impressions of life, the rich, wild abundance of it, were formed in an infancy of tall grasses, endless skies, and the flashing torrents of vast flocks of waterfowl. Those early experiences have shaped much of who I am and the work I now do as a conservation scientist. I moved away long ago, but trek back multiple times each year, ostensibly to see family. But, each visit always includes at least one kayak or canoe trip into the Everglades, and with each sojourn I will stop, as Nina does, to take it all in, and then fight off the sadness for what we have done to this place. My hope in these moments is that maybe these Everglades can become a beacon to show us what we must do to restore a more resilient relationship with the life around us.
4
Wonderful story. The Everglades was fixed in my imagination as a kid. The flat bottom boats skimming across the shallow tropical water seemed beyond exotic. Clearly I need to find the time visit the park in person much sooner than later.
Props to Erik Freeland for his work in contributing to this story. All the photos are amazing, but the shot of the American alligator in the water is captivating.
It's a wonderful place. There is ample camping space at Flamingo, overlooking Florida Bay. Great for kayakers, and they rent boats too. We may camp in February, before the mosquitos really get going. Stayed at the (long closed) motel there in June, 1869 and you couldn't go outside to the coke machine, the mosquitos would descend on you, and about 30 would get in the motel door. From Flamingo you can drive the boat north through a mazo of mangrove islands all the way to Shark River on the Gulf. Or, from Flamingo head south all the way to the Florida Keys. The solitude is amazing, with Miami only 50 miles away on that dead-end road.
The Everglades are a national treasure. It’s unfortunate that the GOP lead state government is tone deaf to environmental changes due manmade pollution, development and climate change.
4
Thank You Nina for this excellent essay. I read Majory Stoneman Douglas' book The Everglades: River of Grass a couple of years ago and highly recommend it to anyone interested in this incredibly complex biome. Other reads to recommend are 'The Commodore's Story' by R.M. Munroe and 'Bartram's Travels' written in the 1770's by William Bartram about his exploration of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Beautifully written and a long time standard of American literature, the author describes the features of the land, the flora, the fauna and the people, most of whom are native prior to the destruction brought on by "progress". His account of sailing up the St, Juan River (St. John) to Lake George, observations of clear evidence of large "Indian Towns" including descriptions of Mount Royal, crystalline waters, transparent to 30 feet hosting "nations of fish"....should be required reading for every history student. As you succinctly put it; "Eden and the Fall coexist here..." 250 years Our collective "freedom" has left us scorched earth and withered branches on the Tree of Life. Surely we must learn to Live WITH the Earth, not just ON it. Thank you.
1
You will be happy to know that Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL) and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) are among the most active and aggressive advocates for the restoration of the Everglades in our state's history. Unfortunately, Rep. Rooney has decided to retire this year, but has committed his extraordinary will and business acumen to the Everglades cause when he leaves government. These men have garnered federal funds for reclamation. The governor has replaced the board that oversees Everglades issues with a new and dynamic group of environmental advocates, including Col. Charlette Roman, a career Army officer. She has served in major command posts, and brings her military experience and environmental passion to interact with the Army Corps of Engineers in fixing this problem. Don't despair, my friends. Those of us who live within spitting distance of this world treasure are all in to making up for the sins of our forebears.
2
Few years ago, my husband and I lived in Coral Springs, FL and we regularly walked into the Everglades to enjoy fishing. The glades was such a magnificent place regardless of the pollution and human activity. Many will always carry the beauty of this remarkable environment. I am not optimistic that it will be saved.
2
Sadly, this story will be repeated with every wilderness, national park, monument, AONB, etc., around the country and around the world. We have collectively decided that we do not care. We keep buying, developing, plowing, building, straightening, fixing, improving, mitigating any space we can. We love national parks so we buy a lot right outside our favorite one and pop a house on it. Then we need supplies for our new favorite vaca spot so we lobby for better roads and a building supply store and an organic grocer. We fly planes over it. We light it for safety. We string power and internet. We can't stop and we won't stop. All of these wonderful, amazing, jaw droppingly beautiful, one-and only places will soon become like a trampled neighborhood playground . We, the whole of us, just
don't
care.
3
This is an excellent and moving article about the majesty of the Everglades.
It is important to highlight that it is not just important for biodiversity nationally as an American National Park. The Everglades are of international importance:
- UNESCO Biosphere for its biodiversity
- UNESCO World Heritage Site for cultural and natuarl heritage
- RAMSAR wetlands for internationally important wetlands
So the world needs Florida to care and look after this place. Maybe if there was a small tax on tourists to Florida to fund the Everglades Restoration, then everyone could contribute. Think of all the jobs there could be in restoring the Everglades. Think of the kind of future we could have.
5
On the subject of the Everglades, I highly recommend “Killing Mister Watson” by Peter Matthiessen. A wonderfully written story that takes place in the 1890s and details some of the very early development in the area.
1
Prior to Fidel Castro the US imported a great deal of its sugar from Cuba. With the advent of the Cuban trade embargo, the price of sugar skyrocketed due to shortages.
Enter US price supports for domestic sugar production, and the wholesale development of the Everglades agricultural area south of Lake Okeechobee followed. At the time it was regarded as a matter of national security to protect a domestic sugar industry
Of course the sugar price supports remain in effect some 60 years later, much to the benefit of the agribusiness interests involved.
I lived in Dade County 17 years and South Dade for 10 of those. In 30 minutes I could drive from my home to the interior of the park. I would ride my bike in near solitude on the lightly traveled park roads.
Joni Mitchell was right: You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.
Still...if the falls on the Miami River had not been dynamited in the early twentieth century, Miami’s growth would have stopped one mile west of downtown. It seems so easy to take one little action such as draining a seemingly worthless swamp with one box of dynamite, but the cumulative effect of lots of “little” actions can be catastrophic.
3
"it is profoundly imperiled by pollution, human schemes to drain and control it, animal and plant invasives and sea level rise."
and, people who
"drove as deep into the saw grass void as (they) could, parked, got out"
Nina Burleigh's excellent essay is absolutely heartbreaking. As enthusiastic bird watchers, my husband and I have visited the Everglades many times, and I can attest to the amazing number of birds and plants that we saw on our first time many years ago. It was evident, too, that there was a decline in species over the years. We feel so sad and frustrated at the deliberate and callous refusal on the part of local and federal governments to ensure the future of this singular and wonderful biome.
There is apathy on the part of many locals, too, who don't pressure their elected representatives to preserve the Everglades. And we shouldn't overlook the negative effect of the sugar industry, which has destroyed so much with little opposition.
131
@Elizabeth Bennett There is not only apathy on the part of the locals they vote to destroy areas like this when they keep supporting Republicans who deregulate everything and could care less about the environment.
11
@Elizabeth Bennett
Honestly, from having lived in Miami nearly all my life, my perception is that many locals have barely trekked out to the Everglades, don’t know and appreciate what it does for the human population, and are certainly not thinking about it any capacity other than as some empty fringe land that’s yet to be occupied. Sadly, that level of environmental and political ignorance is all too commonplace, and since elected officials won’t properly take the reins and give this space the care it deserves, an alert and rightfully worried minority has to shoulder the burden of trying to effect change. If more people here cared about this backyard just a bit more and committed to preserving and improving it, it would stand a better chance. There are victories here and there, but not anywhere near the scale at which they should be happening, otherwise these kinds of articles weeping for a fragile beauty, sullied by people, would not be written.
6
@Elizabeth Bennett Not really. Florida is a notoriously red state, but flooding would make it blue :)
3
In the spring of 1832 John James Audubon in the company of Dr. Benjamin Strobel visited south Florida including Key West. Being the spring, all the birds were nesting and the wading bird density and biodiversity was INDESCRIBABLE. At that time, south Florida rivaled the Okavango Delta of Botswana and the Pantanal of Brazil.
That was then, but this is now. Now it is estimated that wading bird abundance in south Florida has been reduced by a whopping 97%! since the time of the Audubon and Strobel expeditions.
If you have never seen a roseate spoonbill I suggest you hurry down to the Everglades - to say goodbye.
57
We still have a lot of Spoonbills along the Gulf Coast wildlife refuges. Just as consolation.
2
With the news in 2014 from two independent teams of scientists that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is likely irreversibly retreating we can see the future of the Everglades and it is not bright.
20
Though I am certainly hopeful that we will, collectively, come to our senses and save what is left of our natural places - from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the Everglades, but in this age of trumpian greed it may soon be too late. And if that comes to pass, thanks to Nina Burleigh for a touching eulogy to one of my favorite national parks. And kudos to Erik Freeland for the spectacular photos worthy of this wonderful park.
52
There are parts of old Florida that are truly inspiring — from the architectural to the natural.
But so much of Florida is simply a winter haven for snowbirds (and Earlybirds), that I simply can’t stand going there anymore.
My father left me a condo in his will, and after a few visits, I sold it.
26
@David G -- Old Florida is everywhere. From American Beach Museum and Kingsley Plantation to Alexander Springs, Micanopy, and even Venetian Pool in Miami. Much has been lost forever, like the Keys. Authors who captured old Florida -- Zora Neale Hurston, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and Harry Crews. Sometimes, all you have to do is look up -- Florida still has decent air quality and some of the consistently best clouds on the planet.
2
@David G
Good; perhaps you could spread the word amongst your Yankee peers.
1
In 1940 the population of Florida was~ 2 million. It is now over 21 million. In what world can we continue to cram ever more people into the same place, along with all the things humans need to live and that will not, in the end, destroy the natural world? A state or planet for that matter, used to grow, feed, house etc a near unlimited number of people, will by definition have fewer and fewer resources available for anything else. What we have seen in Florida is just the “natural” effect of our increasingly self destructive civilization that always requires: more people, more growth, more development, etc all at the expense of the natural world. until we come to grips with this basic fact of physics, we can lament, but will not reverse, the downward spiral we are in environmentally.
39
@AL Don't worry, even the deniers in Florida are realizing that climate change is real. They see the threat coming; its in the insurance rates. Self interest will force a change in their thinking. Maybe it will be too late for the few remaining, but change will come. Florida is the canary in the mine for the rest of the nation.
1
@AL , exactly. And it is beyond extraordinary that population growth has been shunted aside and virtually abandoned by today's so-called environmental movement in order to give all the oxygen in the room to the issue of global warming. Astonishing.
2
@AL I agree. In the mid 1860's, R.M. Munroe recounted in his book "The Commodore's Story"that you could meet all the inhabitants of Miami...in an afternoon! Then came Flagler and land speculation, sugar barons and the misappropriation of Native Lands. Yes that same old American theme...maybe a little less to do with physics and more to do with physical abuse.
I am currently reading "Bubble in the Sun" about the real estate debacle in the 1920s and there is a great section on the Everglades and the disastrous effect of the coast to coast road and later highway on the ecosystem. A quote from a native born
naturalist from the 1940s is etched in my memory. "Florida was an easy state to ruin, and it was ruined with ruthless efficiency."
Will we ever learn?
57
The local and state governments of Florida have not learned. As developers continue to takeover no land is saved for wildlife or green spaces. Local and state government is as corrupt as the last Governor who enriched himself $150 million. Where I live now a massive development is planned without a care for local residents we have a two lane bridge to take us into and out of town. The streets are narrow since a majority of the town was built in 1565. We are over run by tourists who think how wonderful it would be to live here. And do not forget the people who have speculated on second homes with morgages being paid off by AirBnB short term rentals who have destroyed neighborhoods with long legacies. The 64 million dollar question...where to move next?
3
My wife and I moved to Miami 45 years ago and every winter make time to visit the Everglades. We are amazed that so many Miamians have never been there. As we drive through the Redlands farming district (with a stop at “Roberts is here” fruit stand) toward the park entrance we feel we are going back in time to another era. Once in the Park we feel relaxed and free in the sawgrass prairie, under the endless sky.
Unfortunately, when we get to Royal Palm and walk out on the Anhinga trail we see fewer and fewer birds and alligators and see the Water choked with invasive cattails and water hyacinths. Each year it becomes more empty and desolate. Coming back every year, we see the gradual deterioration of what was a pristine wilderness, a deterioration which is accelerating.
What the author does not mention is that the Florida limestone is porous, which means that as the ocean levels rise, the salt water intrudes into the interior of Florida, permanently polluting and destroying not only the fresh water sloughs, but the wells from which Miami and the cities on the coasts get their drinking water. Trump calls climate change a hoax, but that hoax is going to drown Mar a Lago, which will not matter because long before it is under the sea it will be uninhabitable due to lack of fresh water. It is sad, but it is inevitable.
77
We humans seem to think everything exists independent of everything else. That’s like saying you can have pristine wilderness next door to a giant city. In this part of the country people are surprised that YNP is being affected by climate change because there are a relatively fewer number of people here. It and we are all tied together and we will all go down together if we don’t realize that.
1
@Ira Loewy We always stopped at "Robert is Here" for the best Key Lime pie in the Keys!
2
That's what happens when vote for the climate-change denying, business profits-over-environmental-protection GOP, which Florida has done repeatedly over the past two decades.
Your largest environmental resource gets destroyed by climate change and pollution.
56
Are you implying this only started in 2016! Time for a reality check. The destruction of Florida and most everywhere else has continued, almost without pause, thru democratic, and republican admins and yes, even during the Obama years. Our way of life is simply incompatible with long term sustainability or viability of natural systems no matter what empty suit is in the WH.
22
@Matt , if there is a conflict, unfortunately Democratic administrations have typically also frequently caved to real estate developer, agricultural, and military-industrial interests, especially in Florida, as perhaps the most important "swing" state in the union, because politicians from the Democratic Party also want to be reelected. And the environment and the Everglades and alligators, etc. do not contribute money to their pockets or walk into voter booths.
2
The economic value of the Everglades watershed in terms of the water it supplies, climate moderation and carbon sequestration can be measured in the trillions of dollars. Throw in its importance to recreation and ecotourism and you have some idea how critical the Everglades is to this region. We simply can’t afford not to preserve our natural places.
3
I have lived in Florida for about 35 years now. Don't want to live anywhere else, despite the heat and humidity. I have watched the politicians in Tallahassee back big business (especially Big Sugar) over the environment time after time. Both parties have done nothing to really help the Glades.
The people of Florida voted on a referendum to buy large pieces of Glades land and save them from destruction. A certain governor who is now a senator, took the millions and spent it on everything else but what it was intended for. It breaks my heart.
97
@Jennifer By any chance is that former governor/now senator the same one who is the undisputed KING of Medicare fraud?
52
@Jennifer I think you mean Senator Rick Scott. It's time we name names.
Year after year politicians and companies shortchange our world in the belief that protecting our environment will hurt the economy. The two are not opposing concerns.
3
@Scott S.
yes that would be rick scott
1
One hundred years ago there were 1.5 billion people on Earth. Now over 6 billion crowd our fragile planet. Only 3% of all the water on Earth is fresh water. All life on Earth is ultimately dependent on fresh water. As sea levels and temperatures rise, as hurricanes increase in size and frequency and as 'development' continues, the southern third of Florida will slowly be submerged beneath the waves. I frequently drive into the Glades at night to observe the night sky, because where I live the light pollution makes all but the brightest stars invisible. I especially enjoy watching the major meteor showers. I'll miss the Glades when they're gone.
20
@KOOLTOZE , as of 2020, it is closer to 7.8 billion and expected to hurdle on to at least 11 or 12 billion before maybe, maybe leveling off. . . The planet would only be so lucky if the population had stabilized at 6 billion.
6 billion came and went about 20 years ago, around 1999.
3
@GRH ...
I know, I was just testing you...lol...
1
I grew up in South Florida in the '50s and '60s. In my home library, I still have a copy of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas's book, plus vintage copies of two books by the other Marjorie-- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings-- The Yearling and Cross Creek. I haven't lived there for 50 years but every the I visit I never miss a chance to tour the Everglades. It breaks my heart every single time. Florida has learned nothing in 100 years. Now the coastal streets are filling with water during King Tides, a term I never heard until recently. On my last visit, we literally had to wade to our car after dinner. Sad, yet Florida keeps electing climate-denying politicians to statewide office.
63
@Still a Florida Girl Both of our major political parties have been lax when it comes to supporting and implementing the minimum standards of the Clean Air Act or the Clean Water Act. I am also a child of the 50's and 60's when children were encouraged to run and play outdoors. The tragedy of the Everglades destruction has been unfolding or rather collapsing for the past 250 years. Ultimately we will all be victims of our own success. If this is "winning".....Yes! (d.t.) I'm tired of winning! The body count is simply too high.
1
@Still a Florida Girl Thanks for the reminder: I think I'll reread The Yearling and Cross Creek. There is nothing better than good writing.
1
A well told story that reminded me of how we destroyed another unique environment, the seasonally wet prairies of the upper Midwest. Millions of acres in southwestern Iowa and southwestern Minnesota were once sloughs/wetlands every spring. Over many decades, they were drained by perforated pipes (tile) buried several feet under the surface. Water leeches into the pipes out of the soggy soil and is diverted downhill the nearest river. (I remember being flabbergasted when I first learned about the scale of these tile systems). Pockets of seasonal wetlands remain in the ditches that flank every country gravel road, and in a few low-lying fields. But these are now disappearing too to make way for more corn and soybeans. I just read that Bois de Sioux watershed in western MN laid 15,000 miles of new tile since 2000. I applaud the farmers and others who are saving bits of our midwestern wet prairie Eden
17
@Beck Also known as “The great southwestern Minnesota corn desert”
1
Some people have really caught a break. After decades upon decades of neglect and mismanagement of natural areas around the world - forests, marshes, aquifers, and at the top of the list the Everglades the governments, politicians, and administrators responsible for this destruction can now sweep their incompetence and responsibility under the very useful rug of climate change.
17
It is also true that when a hilltop of native plant communities in Idaho, or any other state, is bulldozed to make way for mansions on said hill, that it is gone forever. With every passing minute, more and more of our natural heritage disappears while the chambers of commerce exult in the "housing starts" hoopla. Growth for the sake of growth ...
20
"Panthers are collared and tracked near Big Cypress Preserve, but 21 were hit by cars last year, out of an estimated statewide population of only 150."
What a crying shame. And let me guess....many of the car-owners were more concerned about the 'damage' to their precious vehicles??
15
@Lynn
They didn't even notice, they were texting...
2
I guess the Everglades misnamed. They’re not forever.
15
1. It is amazing that an article of this length completely excludes any mention of the Miccosukee people, who live in the Everglades. It is shameful.
2. Please look deeper into the negative impacts of the bridging of the Tamiami Trail. Instead of focusing on maintaining existing infrastructure (ie- numerous culverts under the road that are totally clogged with overgrowth from neglect), the government/advocacy groups want to spend millions of dollars more on a lovely looking overpass with zero actual impact to the environment. The main reason the water cannot flow north to south under the road is that the water is too polluted and does not meet the federal standards to be allowed into the park. It has nothing to do with physical infrastructure, but everything to do with years of disjointed construction, half-finished projects, maintenance neglect, and pollution from the north. Building a beautiful raised skyway will not let more water flow - only a serious commitment to cleaning the water will do that.
37
@Sally First, I completely agree with you about the lack of mention of the Miccosukee tribe. It is really really shameful.
Second, I am curious to know why you think the bridging wont be effective (especially the bridging in combination with the construction of the CEPP reservoir and new storm water treatment area south of Lake O. The pollution problem and the Florida Bay salinity problem both need to be solved, but I don't think the bridging is a waste of time by any means.
11
@Adele
1. A U of Miami study showed that clearing out the existing culverts and adding spreaders would be a lower impact, lower cost, and more environmentally friendly solution (as the water would flow slowly and more naturally). Why spend millions upon millions of dollars when a more effective solution is right in front of you?
2. In 1991, the State of Florida reached a settlement agreement on water quality standards for water entering the park with the US. As part of that, there is a formula that limits the amount of phosphorus entering the park. The more water, the lower the amount of phosphorus must be. Given water quality conditions, why spend millions of dollars to build a bridge that will essentially do nothing? Why not spend the money on projects such as the L-28 canal system, which brings around 30% of all the water into the park (and grossly exceeds the phosphorus limits).
While the bridge looks nice, it is grossly expensive, inefficient, and unnecessary given the current state of the water going south.
1
@Sally "Shameful" seems a bit harsh. I think Nina's essay is a good introduction to a topic that gets little press. It is clear that we all must find allies where we can. The Clean Water Act has been largely ignored by both political parties who are beholden now more than ever to Big Money/Dark Money. Citizens with gallons of RoundUp are part of the problem, along with developers and sugar barons. When the crystalline purity of the natural world becomes a hindrance to the emphemera of cultural hedonism....we are as collectively dead as the Roman Empire.
3
This is a compact summation of the last decade-plus of errors made, greed unchecked, man at our worst. I also grew up visiting the Everglades, marveling at its liguous fasciatas snails, the plumes of countless birds, the cypress and mangrove stands; even the aptly-named saw grass invited respect. Between corrupt pols, unruly and amoral developers, the Army Corps (which should be abolished, in my humble opinion) and the Fanjul brothers and their sugar empire, the Glades fight for life every day.
Until Florida puts a moratorium on development (fat chance) and shuts Big Sugar down, it will remain up to those of us who love and cherish the Glades to bring attention to its plight in hope that, someday, the people of Florida might actually elect politicians who care about the health of this fragile state.
von Humboldt cautioned us about our impact on nature over 300 years ago. He would cry, too, if he could see the Everglades today.
30
I warmed up slow to Florida when my parents moved down there in the late 70s—one of many retirees. They lived in the west coast Venice-Sarasota-Englewood area. When I would visit, I would always try to find someplace untouched by development, old Florida. It wasn't easy. Myakka State Park was a haven and sometimes I could find a coastline area that felt virgin, even though it wasn't. A few years ago, I finally visited the Everglades and Thousand Islands. It was depressing talking to the rangers—the invasive species problem is huge. Even though I could see the beauty, it felt like it was dying. I think it will get a lot worse, but hope as a species, we can rally and turn it around before it's all gone.
17
A great pity. But, short of coverting Everglades into a Venetian lagoon, what else can be done?
From south of Orlando to Florida Bay, sheet flow is how water historically traveled through this region. Restoring that is part of the key. Water storage. Restoring flow through Lake O.
2
The algae blooms are a direct result of fertilizer in the half million acres of sugar cane plants. After the harvest that same 500,000 acres are burned creating smoky streams in the air we breathe. On top of this we have a federal government that since 1934 has placed price supports on sugar. Then there’s the health issues from sugar consumption.
I don’t get it. Could it have something to do with $10 million per year for lobbying? Ask the biggest recipients.
128
The algae comes from the lake. The sugar cane is mostly south of the lake. It is not just in Florida. It is in most fresh water lakes in the US. I even saw that it was in Central Park.
4
You could build a whole lot of houses on stilts once the Everglades is gone.
@qisl
They would have nothing to drink.
Hopefully development minded people will realize that our current situation all over this planet is not one we can 'build' our way out of.
8
The invention of air conditioning was the kiss of death for Florida. Before that, all flora and fauna lived in balance, as the only man that lived there was the Native American, who did not need such a rapacious method of “enjoying” the beauty of it.
28
@Mary Corbett Sugar preceeded AC, and with it, expansion and greed.
13
@Mary Corbett
It probably was - but your statement isn't really accurate.
Myself, my parents and my grandparents all grew up in South Florida with no air conditioning - either home or automobile. There were no condo towers or hotels blocking the ocean breeze, so while not exactly comfortable, having no air conditioning was tolerable.
I willl let you know that my grandparents Miami home, built in 1935, had solar panels original to the house and a wood burning fireplace for the chilly nights.
PBS has a wonderful show on the Everglades. Coming from MN and the great Boundary Waters, I am so grateful they were never compromised like here. I hope that MN's keep China's mining out of there now. Some here in FL just don't seem to understand the importance of this beautiful piece of land. Bc their leader's continue to decade after decade not clean it up or change the roads and behavior that is polluting it.
20
Calleendeoliveira, I thought it was a mining company from Chile.
For novels about the Boundary Waters Canoe Area I recommend Peter Geye, who has his fourth book coming out in April.
1
SE Australia is also a beautiful place. But it's burning.
This is global. I don't see why the Everglades should get some kind of 'MAGA-hat' exemption.
9
I’ll be visiting in 2 weeks to kayak among the sawgrass. This article is disheartening, as are others in a similar vein about human and environmental threats to our environment. Everglades is really the only place in Florida I enjoy.
8
I have visited the Everglades area on busness aka Belle Glade and Lake Okeechobee and pleasure exploring and driving to the Keys. What a unique magnificent natural park resource!
3
Wonderful article that brings back memories of when I worked with wading birds in the Everglades, driving airboats to tree islands and wading through water to study the birds.
I will echo the comment that Brazilian pepper is invasive, not endemic (which would mean it's only found in FL, when in fact it is not native to FL).
Also, the cormorants in the first photo are roosting, not nesting. Nesting implies that there are nests and the birds are courted.
Overall, this is a great article that I feel comprehensively discusses major issues affecting the Everglades.
18
Thank you Ms. Burleigh for this wonderful piece that illustartes that man, again, has been so destructive. While leaving and coming back three times, I first made permanent home in Florida when I was sent here to school after my father died in 1963. The population of the state was 5.6 million. Today it is 21.4 million and growing at a rapid rate.
The destruction of our natural environment can be placed on numerous sources including the Army Corps of Engineers, greedy land owners and more. Now, on the coasts, we facing rising waters, salt water incursion into drinking water supplies and, on the Gulf Coast especially, every increasing "Red Tide" episodes that are partly caused by agricultural runoff Enough! Stop this madnesss and save what is left for future generations.
16
The destruction of the Everglades, and in fact the rest of Florida and the planet, is not a side effect. It is the “logical” end result of a civilization that values growing humans at the expense of the systems that almost every other species needs. If you use them to grow people, they won’t be available for anything else. What I find incredible is that this isn’t obvious to anyone who steps outside in the morning and just looks around.
11
To many, unfortunately it is NOT obvious when they step outside in the morning. This article along with other pieces published in The Times are intended to educate and get people talking! I am however simpatico with your indignation brudda.
Thank you for this article. The accompanying photography by Eric Freeland is wonderful. The more people who learn about this National Park as well as the ones near where they live, the better! The more who become interested in seeing the Everglades, the more who visit with their families and experience it’s fragile magic and learn about the problems facing them, the more tears, anger, voices raised...the more likely the delicate links that remain will be sustained, for our next generations. Please keep writing, questioning and informing.
13
Great article Nina. You mention the many ways you've explored the Everglades but one way you didn't mention is by bike. We often ride our mountain bikes through Big Cypress and the nearby Fakahatchee & Picayune preserves and the beauty and fun of it is mind-blowing. Give it a try.
10
A unique region exists and no other in this world. Did not know that. The flora and fauna numbers. Did not know that. The destruction by humans. Well, of course. Saved this article in my folder concerning my species and what it has done to its home.
7
This is one of the places on earth that breaks my heart.
28
@lindalui
And the other place is the rest of the globe.
9
As Edward abbey said. Nothing that is beautiful or wild or free is going to survive the tsunami of human numbers and “civilization “.
14
Great article. The brazilian pepper is invasive, not endemic.
13
I think Florida is hopeless. I live there in the mid 1960s when the population was a little less than 6 million, now its well over 21 million. Adding over 15 million more people and all the roads, houses, parking lots they want and water they demand has ruined a lot of nature there including much of the Everglades despite the national park. And they vote for climate deniers, maybe getting swamped by rising seas is a from of cosmic justice as that will be getting what they voted for.
191
@Barry Schiller
Earth is hopeless. Since the mid-60s we've added over 4,000,000,000 humans to the equation.
41
I have lived in Naples, FL, for more than seven years. While I would never vote for Ron DeSantis, I have to give him credit for recognizing the importance and value of our environment. Per Wikipedia, “he signed a $2.5 billion executive order for water quality and Everglades restoration work [and] he created a chief science officer position and created an office of coastal protection and resilience.”
5
And we are currently adding > 80 million net more every year. 2 California’s or 4 Florida’s worth, every year. All while the planet does not get a single sq ft bigger. Can we really be surprised that nature is going away?
18
The most immediate threat to the Everglades is not climate change but urban and agricultural development. When climate change becomes a full reality, the Everglades will be reduced to few isolated small ecosystems.Climate change will be the last nail in the coffin.
39
@J. Parula
Climate change is a full reality. It is here now. The worst impacts are merely yet to come.
We long since passed 400ppm CO2. That was full reality.
16
@J. Parula The most immediate threat to the Everglades is that people in Florida continue to support Republicans.
3
Great photos with the article
82
I went canoeing in the Everglades one winter and spent the nights on a chickees. Very fond memory.
Of course the weather is not always perfect. Sometimes the wind blows up choppy waves. One night the temperature dropped below freezing (very uncommon in those parts), but somehow the mosquitoes survived to continue their ways the next day.
Nowadays we have cell phones to help find our way back out the maize of channels and lagoons that all look more or less the same to the short term visitor, but navigation was easier at high tide.
Beautiful photos. The special places in our national park system deserve full protection. They are wonders more important than any of our individual impulsive natures.
44
The narrow media/cultural focus on climate change as the over-riding environmental issue of the day is preventing our society from focusing on issues like preserving the Everglades. Changes need to be made in water management, agricultural regulations, residential and commercial development etc. Now.
Massive international political "summits" will never yield results in time to save the Everglades, or any of the hundreds of unique and valuable eco-systems under threat today.
32
@laurence - please consider the following: Local and national (federal) action can affect the outcome of our polluting habits, our overdevelopment, our agricultural practices and all the other damages we do in our borders.
But we, and the rest of the world, all have to do everything possible to end use of fossil fuels, because that international effort is the only way to fight something that crosses all borders, will acidify oceans and raise sea levels.
So we get articles about pollution, about every other ill, but they are also generally made worse by climate change. It would be a shame to focus only on local details just to pretty up the last bit of the Everglades before they're lost to the sea.
16
Florida’s problems of development, as the article mentions a number of places, predate our focus on climate change by so many decades. You, in fact, appear to attempt to be trying to distract from that with your argument.
2
@laurence
Bizarre statement. Sort of like saying "the entire house is on fire, but that's a narrow focus, what we really need to do is put out the pilot light in the oven". And then to blame that on the media. The same media that published this article. The same media that's been reporting on the fate of the Everglades for decades.
One of the problems is that there is a whole planet with environmental disasters happening all at once. Many of them directly attributable to climate change and most all of them will be severely impacted by climate change. But by all means, do go figure out a plan for the Gowanus canal in your back yard. And put sea level rise into your plan.
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Sadly, this is old news, Nina. Your compassionate tears only increase the salinity. In 1890 there were 25,000 whites living south of Lake Okechobee. In 1990 there were 6,000,000. Now, you cite 2,000,000 more drawing water from the River of Grass -- actually from the Biscayne Aquifer. That sub-surface repository of fresh water has undergone encroachment from sea water for at least sixty years now -- Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties to name but three.
The Everglades is, or was, a water-land, like the Boundary Waters, or the Allagash, but it was always too vulnerable for mankind. From the Kissimmee, to Lake Okechobee -- seasonally overflowing, seeping through the slow, southwesterly drainage of Pah-hay-okee (the "grassy river," as the Seminoles knew it, fifty miles wide, two feet deep) -- outlets at Turner, and Shark River Sloughs carried "sweet water" to Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, inter-acting with the Keys ecosystems and 200 miles of coral reef. It was one contiguous living system, defined by water only, with a biomass reflecting a dependence critically involved with seasonal levels and salinity.
That pristine pre-Columbian era of some 5,000 years ended 130 years ago with dredging, then a railroad through the Keys, two highways bisecting west-east, and endless canals for drainage, allowing development and farming where water once flowed, leaving the most-maligned National Park in the USA. Sad words? Yes, but true, as I saw it for 40 years.
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@capnbilly
In 1970, as a college freshman in Wisconsin, I went to Daytona Beach and Florida for the first time. Seeing the majesty of the Atlantic Ocean, my first time, was a religious experience. I almost started crying at the beauty of it. There were approximately 7 million souls living in Florida in 1970. Fast forward to now and I'm retired and spent 2 weeks in Key West in November last year. The population of Florida now is about 21 million people. This lovely place strains and groans to accommodate such a huge, demanding population. I fear for the future of this, the state of Florida, where I've had to he best times of my life.
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@capnbilly You forgot to mention one of the "original sins": the levees built to control Lake Okeechobee as far back as 1910 (now known as the Herbert Hoover Dike) as well as all the levees on the edges of the Glades across Alligator Alley and the Tamiami Trail, and on the eastern populated edge all the way up to Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. The continued existence of massive sugar farms south of the Lake is an affront to anyone concerned about bringing the Glades back to a semblance of natural. But with all the levees and water control systems in place, the restoration is a huge exercise in plumbing. Which I fully support, given the alternative.
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Wonderful article about a magical place.
Went fishing just last Sunday in the Everglades and enjoy all activities from hiking to photography to paddling and fishing in this ecosystem
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We must study the Everglades and learn all we can, and enjoy it while it is there. Atmospheric CO2 is already high enough to ensure that the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets will melt. This will raise sea level by more than 20 feet and destroy the Everglades, among other things.
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@Richard Schumacher
Sure, scientists should study it, but I would suggest, per your "Atmospheric CO2 is already high enough" point that otherwise folks just stay home instead of planning CO2-intensive travel to visit it and further along its demise. The best thing people can do for most all imperiled ecosystems is to stay home. Unless you seriously subscribe to the notion that we are doomed any way you slice it, so might as well live it up while you can.
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Sooo many studies on so many levels, time after time, excuses to kick the can down the road. What’s done is done, past was then. Do something now, like lower phosphate & nitrogen in the water, support & enforce the Clean Water Act (good luck with that as the Trump Admin just rolled back the most protective provisions for streams & wetlands among many, many more known pollutants, see NYT 9/19/19 “Trump Admin Rolls Back Clean Water Protections”). Build a bridge for toxic water to flow where? FL, sunshine state, solar is unsupported & downright discouraged for decades. My understanding, FL has near 50 million residents (hard to count) that swells to 100 million with winter visitors! Whose voting & who cares? Trump is unfit for office, Reps know he was caught doing so, but say, “Let voters decide.” Screw the law, we’ll make them whatever I want. Where are our representatives, how do good people fit in this turn of the screw?
I was lucky enough to visit the Everglades in the 1980s--pre-Disney World. Orlando Airport's bar looked like the "Star Wars" bar.
We took a guided canoe trip through the Glades & saw hundreds of birds, snakes dropping out of trees.
I started serious bird-watching there & had at least 100 species. My favorite was the Anhinga--like the Cormorant, a bird w/no oil on its wings. After it catches a fish, it finds a rock & spreads its wings to dry--vulnerable to predators. Loved the Brown Pelican--so clumsy on land, so graceful in the sky.
I hope the forces of development don't destroy this natural wonder.
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Disney World was built in the 1970’s.
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@Mark K. I believe Disney World opened around 1966.
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