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L.L.Bine.

Be an outsider. One and a half million acres of shallow water marine habitats, freshwater marshes and

prairies, salt water wetland forests, and pine and hardwood forests provide refuge for threatened

and endangered animals in the Gulf of Mexico.

The green sea turtle, American crocodile, West Indian Manatee, Everglades snail kite and piping plover all depend on critical habitat within Everglades National Park.

1.3 million acres of the park is designated wilderness, making

it the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States and the largest wilderness area

east of the Mississippi River.

Historically water flowed from the location of modern day Disney World through the

Kissimmee River Valley south to Florida Bay.

The extremely flat landscape was known as the river of

grass and it supported abundant plants and wildlife with a range of habitats.

In late 1800s people began to drain the Everglades for agricultural, residential, and commercial development.

Canals, roads, and buildings displaced native habitat and wetlands were either filled in or drained in the process.

Congress authorized an enormous system of water management infrastructure

called the Central and Southern Florida flood control project in 1948.

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