Everglades Essay

Giving full credit to restricting the Mississippi River as the culprit for loss of wetlands is not accurate. The booming oil and gas exploration of the 1970’s and 1980’s merits a name on the marquee as well. The pipelines and canals used to transport the resources to the outside world placed a great deal of stress on the fragile wetlands. Erosion from the barges in and out of the marshes as well as the salt water allowed into the fresh water, providing a precarious habitat for fresh water species – flora and fauna alike. Plants provide root systems to hold soil in place. Fish and fowl provide an economy for the area. Enter

Wetlands provide fish and wildlife habitat. It supplies food water, along with areas that can be used for nesting or resting. Wetlands also act as a aquifer recharge and discharge area. They are able to recharge groundwater or excess groundwater is able to discharge into the wetland. Wetlands act as flood storage when rainfall and snowmelt leave an excess of water around and no place to go.

The Everglades National Park protects the largest wild life area east of the Mississippi River. The Everglades are the largest remaining sub-tropical wild life area in 48 states sitting on 1.5 million acres preserved at Florida’s tip off shore. The Everglades contain various ecosystems such as rivers, lakes ponds, marshes, etc. These wild life areas feature both fresh and saltwater areas, open prairies, pine rock lands, tropical hardwood forests, offshore coral reefs, and mangrove forests. This paper will summarize how humans contributed to the destruction of the Everglades and how man is working to save the Everglades. Since the Everglades is comprised of both fresh and saltwater areas the vast range of wildlife species in the Everglades include but not limited to reptiles, mammals, aquatic birds, etc. The vast spectrum of wildlife living in the Florida Everglades include but not limited to aquatic animals, mammals, reptiles, etc. Of this vast spectrum of wildlife living in the Florida Everglades there are 56+ species who are either endangered or are in jeopardy of being endangered. The Everglades are home to two National Parks, four National Wildlife Refuges, and one National Marine Sanctuary that bring almost 2 million visitors every year to experience this natural beauty located minutes from Miami Florida. The powerful environmental forces of sun, water, wind, and fire greatly affect the development and lifecycles of these

Maintaining ecological diversity is necessary for the survival of a biological community. In the United States, American citizens are on the verge of irrevocably damaging one of the country's most unique and diverse treasures - the Florida Everglades. This national park is now the only remaining patch of a river that used to span 120 miles from Lake Okeechobee to the Florida Bay. Dikes and levees created by the Army Corps of Engineers in the late 1940's drained this river to reduce flooding and increase useable water for the development of the region. This major diversion of water lead to a trickle down effect causing the continual decline of the environmental state of the Everglades. Since then, debates over the

Biodiversity is something the snakes are also messing with. The definition is " Having many different kinds of plants and animals means that species have different choices for survival" as say in the article Are the Everglades Forever?. So by snakes eating most of the animals , its not giving an opportunity to the other animals

The wetlands does only help the wildlife and humans it helps from damaging property, Now you think I'm crazy but I'm not ok, now listen, wetland can help us by storm like hurricanes', floods, and many more. Take for example, in New Orleans, Louisiana, has suffered extremely consequence of the hurricane Katrina, one of the most powerful hurricane in the entire untied states history. Scientist believe that hurricane would did less damage if they had more wetlands, but in the 1800's they destroy the wetlands for more land and because the mosquitos that cause the yellow

Have you ever wondered where your water comes from? If you live in Florida it comes from a place known as the Everglades. However the water supply is affecting the park located in Florida. To explain it further the park is being affected by small changes having a big impact, the water being affected and the price for saving the Everglades is high. Not to mention a approved is needed to save the subtropical wilderness.

The article “Louisiana is losing a football field of wetlands an hour, new U.S. Geological Survey study says” by Mark Schleifstein provides the reader with lots of detail on how much land Louisiana is losing. By giving statistics and reason why Louisiana is losing so much land.

These wetlands can be protected if humans reduce pollution amounts. Many wetlands are affected by pesticides and fertilizers, among other pollutants, clogging up the waters. Another thing which is harming wetlands is when people drain them or get rid of them to make way for open land. People can help by either joining a cause which preserves wetlands or by making sure rivers and streams become pollution-free zones so that the organisms living there can continue to survive.

To assist with conversation, the Everglades have been divided by the government into two regions with two purposes. The northern area is reserved for agriculture, primarily sugarcane, and the lower portion has been turned into a historical national park (“Why Should I..”, 2013). The parts that are not included in the preservation constantly face battles against development and even more destruction; thousands of miles of the Everglades are not included in or protected by it’s natural park status. Only 22 of the 56 endangered species are protected in the national parks (Sart, 2015).

Attention Getter- Louisiana has lost over 1900 square miles of wetlands, and continues to lose 25-35 square miles of wetlands each year. That equals out to a football field of land lost each hour. 2

Since the 1950s, Florida 's population has risen at an annual rate of approximately four percent. In the [past] 50 years, more than eight million acres of forest and wetland habitats (about 24 percent of the state) have been cleared to accommodate the expanding human population. In 1990, about 19 acres per hour of forest, wetland, and agricultural land [were] being converted for urban uses. Because of this growth, Florida’s ecosystems are now

In the 1600’s, there were approximately 220 million acres of wetlands in the forty-eight states (Dahl 1990). Since then, the numbers have been dropping drastically. In 1980, an estimated number of 103.3 million acres of wetlands were left (Dahl and Johnson 1991). That’s a 53% decrease! (See Figure 3.5) Most states have lost around 50% of their wetlands, but others such as Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, and Ohio have lost about 80%.

Wetlands are a critical component of our environment and are thought off as being among the most productive ecosystems in the world. Wetlands are defined as geographical areas where water covers or overly saturates the soil during the majority of growing seasons (CZM). They vary based on their appearances and locations which are greatly influenced by regional and soil divergence such as topography, climate, water chemistry, vegetation as well as human degradation (CZM).

It is clear that for developing countries wetland are very important ecologically, because the serves as habitat for a variety of animals.