The Florida Everglades National Park

The Florida Everglades National Park is the second largest national park in the lower 48 states, and the largest freshwater marshland in the world (10). It is home to more than 600 kinds of animals, and 900 plant species that dwell in a variety of habitats, including mangrove forests, a dry pineland ridge, shallow sloughs that carry fresh water through the park, and several types of tree islands (13:12). While hunting in the park has all but ceased because of the efforts of the park rangers, the park and its residents are now in danger from the effects of pollution from nearby vegetable farms, sugarcane plantations and real estate development. This paper will look at factors contributing to the pollution of the everglades and what is being done to combat the problem and restore the park to its original state.

The Everglades National Park in Florida was authorized by Congress in 1934 and established in June, 1947 (11). The authorization act allowed for a maximum of 2,000,000 acres for the park, which immediately became a wildlife refuge so that it could be given organized protection. The state of Florida initially gave 850,000 acres to the United States, and three months later, a park of 407,000 acres was established. Florida also gave the federal government $2,000,000 for acquisition of additional land within the park and beyond its boundaries (11). The present boundaries of the park were fixed in 1960, but the federal government is moving to expand the park by 109,

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rt reversing the decades of damming and dredging. They will flood the land to create a vast reservoir and restore saw grass marshes to perform the conservation and cleansing roles played by Lake Okeechobee before humans interfered with the natural water flow. Plans to establish a vast series of filtering marshes designed to scour out farm pollution before it reaches the wilds may help restore the Everglades, but it could also prove harmful. An expert on bird-killing parasites says that 40,000 acres of "manufactured wetlands" will lure birds by the thousands, but the pollution they filter could also attract the deadly Eustrongylides ignotus parasitic worm. These worms are eaten by fish and other worms, both of which are eaten by wading birds. The parasite coils up and grows in the birds' intestines and is likely to kill any nestling it infects (16). The parasite does well in high-phosphorus conditions. In 1994, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a permit to allow pumping of water through the first marsh, a 4,700-acre prototype in western Palm Beach, but ordered the district to test for presence of the parasite (16). The Florida Supreme Court, in 1997, held that a constitutional amendment for the cleanup of the

Category: History - T