Welcome to the Everglades!

There are a lot of endangered animals in the Everglades. If we don’t keep protecting them, inside and outside the Everglades, they could become extinct. Some of these animals are the American Alligator and Crocodile, Florida Panther, Manatee, Green Turtle, and so many more! Not all the animals there are endangered: some have a lot of their species all over the world, and others are just on the brink of being endangered. For example, there is thought to be less than 100 Florida Panthers in the wild of South Florida today.

To help the Florida Panther the Nature Conservancy Florida is helping to make sure that land with critical resources that the panther needs is being conserved. About a year ago the Conservancy did a project with the state and protected over 1528 at Black Boar Ranch. The state and the Conservancy are working on protecting a lot more land for the Panthers. To do this, they need a lot more money. So, if you want to help, you can donate money. People all over the world come to the Everglades to see all kinds of amazing animals. And if you want them to be there when you visit the Everglades, you can donate money to any of the animals there. There are so many groups and organizations saving land, space, food, water and money for the animal in the Everglades. Do you want to help? Well now you can! Click these links for ways to help: 

www.southfloridaparks.org/donate/

https://www.nps.gov/ever/getinvolved/donate.htm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">/https/www.nps.gov/ever/getinvolved/donate.htm

http/www.evergladesfoundation.org/the-everglades/saving-the-everglades/

http/www.nwf.org/what-we-do/protect-habitat/waters/everglades.aspx

There are many threats to the Everglades. 3 main ones are water control, introduced species, climate change, and invasive species. Invasive species is a main one, so I will talk about that. Invasive species is when a plant or animal from a different place comes to another ecosystem, and all the organisms already there haven’t adapted to being around this new species.

Invasive species usually thrive in their new home, because they have no natural predators. 1.5 million acres of the Everglades have been evaded by nonnative plants. Some invasive species are introduced on purpose, but if they aren’t that can be very bad. They can wipe out tons of other species, and they pose a threat to native species as well.

If you want more detail about this topic, or any of the others listed, there are a lot of websites and people you can talk to, to get more information.

"Quick Facts." Everglades Foundation. The Everglades Foundation, n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.

http://www.evergladesfoundation.org/the-everglades/facts/

United States. National Park Service. "Everglades National Park Quick Facts." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.

https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/news/parksignificance.htm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/news/parksignificance.htm

United States. National Park Service. "Inventory of Threatened and Endangered Species in Everglades National Park." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.

https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature/techecklist.htm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature/techecklist.htm

United States. National Park Service. "Nature." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.

https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature/environmentalfactors.htm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature/environmentalfactors.htm

"The Nature Conservancy." Save the Florida Panther | The Nature Conservancy. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.

http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/florida/explore/save-the-florida-panther.xml

United States. National Park Service. "Natural Features & Ecosystems." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.

https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature/naturalfeaturesandecosystems.htm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature/naturalfeaturesandecosystems.htm ;

Park, Everglades Holiday. "5 Everglades Surprising Facts." 5 Everglades Surprising Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.

https://www.evergladesholidaypark.com/Everglades-surprising-facts/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://https://www.evergladesholidaypark.com/Everglades-surprising-facts/

Hamilton, John. Everglades National Park. Edina, MN: ABDO Pub., 2005. Print.

Jankowski, Susan. Everglades National Park: Adventure, Explore, Discover. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2009. Print.

There are 8 main ecosystems in the Everglades National Park. They are hardwood hammock, pinelands, mangrove, coastal lowlands, freshwater slough, freshwater marl prairie, cypress, and marine and estuarine.

• A hardwood hammock is a lot of broad-leafed trees that grow on a natural rise of a couple inches in elevation.

• Pinelands (or pine rocklands) are forests that grow on hard, rocky ground made up of limestone. It is dry, like the hardwood hammocks, because of their high elevation.

• A mangrove is a type of tree or shrub. If you say “mangrove”, you aren’t necessarily talking about a certain place, but just several of the species. Mangrove forests are mostly around rivers, and coastal channels of the edge of south Florida.

• A coastal lowland (or coastal prairie) is a strip of relatively low land that has plants that are salt-tolerant, because of how close it is to the sea. It is mostly marshy.

• A freshwater slough is relatively low land that transmits freshwater through the Everglades. They are marshy rivers, they are deep, and almost never dry up.

• A freshwater marl prairie is a marsh that borders deep sloughs, and have many different types of low-growing plants. Water can slowly drain out, so there is no rapid water drainage. A freshwater marl prairie looks a lot like a freshwater slough.

• A cypress is a type of tree. It can survive standing in water. Where the limestone underneath the water gives way, a solution hole is formed, in a circle. You will often see a cluster of cypress trees growing here.

• Marine and estuarine ecosystems are mostly in the Florida Bay. The Florida Bay is the largest body of water in the Everglades. The Florida Bay contains more than 800 square miles of marine bottom, which is mostly covered in underwater plants.

The Everglades story starts in the 1800s. American Indians and African slaves hid there, even though the environment was wild and sometimes dangerous. And, members from the Seminole Indian tribe hid here from U.S. soldiers, who were walking the "Trail of Tears". But even so, in 1830, a lot of American-Indians were forced to leave the Everglades. This was because the Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, affecting the American Indians in the Eastern United States. So, some members of the Seminole Tribe left, but some brave members stayed, hiding in the Everglades. The Seminoles who decided to hide in the Everglades were relatives of other American Indian tribes in Florida. The Seminoles were joined in hiding by African slaves, who left the South before and during the Civil War. These two groups both learned how to survive in the Everglades, over time, hiding from the U.S. soldiers.

There were many dangers in the Everglades that the slaves and native tribes had to survive against. For example, there were tons of dangerous animals, like mosquitos and flies that want to suck your blood. There are also poisonous snakes, and animals like bears, panthers, crocodiles, alligators, and wild boars that could kill you. Another threat to the people hiding is the weather. If it rained a lot, there was flooding, and everything they were hiding could have been ruined, along with where they were sleeping. And if there was a really bad storm or hurricane, they could get crushed by a falling tree, or blown into muddy water they can't get out of, pushed around by the wind. But somehow, Seminoles and African slaves learned how to survive. And finally, since the soldiers weren't ready to face all these dangers, they gave up looking for the Seminoles, and they were never found.

The Everglades became a national park in the year 1947. It was the president Harry S. Truman who made this happen. A big part of making the Everglades a national park a book that was published in 1947, all about the Everglades. The book was called The Everglades: River of Grass and it was written by Marjory Stoneman Douglass. The book was all about the breathtaking beauty of the wilderness there, and how it keeps the whole environment in a natural balance. And a huge, main point was how the Everglades has to be protected: if we continued to drain water from the Everglades, life inside and outside the park would be destroyed. Most life around the Everglades depends on the evaporation of the water in the Everglades. Without all the rainfall that comes from the evaporation, wetlands would dry up. Not long after the Everglades became a national park, America began the largest water project ever attempted anywhere on Earth.

Overall, the whole United States has helped the Everglades. A lot of money was donated (millions of dollars) to the Everglades, to help it be repaired. Even so, there is still much that has to be done. If you want to make a difference, you can. You can donate money, raise awareness, and educate people all about it. And, you can help within a bigger group of people. For example, the government, and big companies are funding research, to find out more. And last, the most helpful thing that YOU can do is tell other people how they can help, and get them interested, and helping too.