The Everglades National Park in Florida

Friday, 19 February 2016 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General, Miami / South Florida, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, Environment, UNESCO World Heritage
Reading Time:  4 minutes

Everglades National Park World heritage plaque © Daniel Schwen/cc-by-sa-4.0

Everglades National Park World heritage plaque © Daniel Schwen/cc-by-sa-4.0

Everglades National Park is a U.S. National Park in Florida that protects the southern 20 percent of the original Everglades. In the United States, it is the largest tropical wilderness, the largest wilderness of any kind east of the Mississippi River, and is visited on average by one million people each year. It is the third-largest national park in the lower 48 states after Death Valley and Yellowstone. It has been declared an International Biosphere Reserve, a World Heritage Site, and a Wetland of International Importance, one of only three locations in the world to appear on all three lists.

Although most U.S. national parks preserve unique geographic features, Everglades National Park was the first created to protect a fragile ecosystem. The Everglades are a network of wetlands and forests fed by a river flowing .25 miles (0.40 km) per day out of Lake Okeechobee, southwest into Florida Bay. A popular term to describe it is “River of Grass”. The Park is the most significant breeding ground for tropical wading birds in North America, contains the largest mangrove ecosystem in the western hemisphere, is home to 36 threatened or protected species including the Florida panther, the American crocodile, and the West Indian manatee, and supports 350 species of birds, 300 species of fresh and saltwater fish, 40 species of mammals, and 50 species of reptiles. The majority of South Florida’s fresh water, which is stored in the Biscayne Aquifer, is recharged in the park.

Airboating © Jerzystrzelecki/cc-by-3.0 Sunrise in palms © NPSPhoto - Van Nimwegen Tropical marsh land © National Park Service Photo Mangrove trees along the coastline © National Park Service Photo American Alligator in Nine Mile Pond © NPSPhoto - S.Cotrell Everglades National Park World heritage plaque © Daniel Schwen/cc-by-sa-4.0
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Everglades National Park World heritage plaque © Daniel Schwen/cc-by-sa-4.0
Humans have lived for thousands of years in or around the Everglades, until plans arose in 1882 to drain the wetlands and develop the recovered land for agricultural and residential use. As the 20th century progressed, water flow from Lake Okeechobee was increasingly controlled and diverted to enable explosive growth of the South Florida metropolitan area. The park was established in 1934 to protect the quickly vanishing Everglades, and dedicated in 1947 as massive canal building projects were initiated across South Florida. The ecosystems in Everglades National Park have suffered significantly from human activity, and restoration of the Everglades is a politically charged issue in South Florida.

Everglades National Park reported in 2005 a budget of over $28 million. Of that, $14.8 million is granted from the National Park Service, and $13.5 million from various sources including CERP, donations, and other grants. The entry fee for vehicles in 2006 ranged from $10 to $200 for bus tours. Of the nearly one million visitors to Everglades National Park in 2006, more than 38,000 were overnight campers, paying $16 a night or $10 a night for backcountry permits. Visitors spent $2.6 million within the park and $48 million in local economies. More than 900 jobs were sustained or created within or by the park, and the park added value of $35 million to local economies.

Read more on Everglades Nationalpark, Wikivoyage Everglades National Park and Wikipedia Everglades National Park (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.




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