Saving the Everglades: the Everglades of Florida are one of Earth's most precious resources. More than half have been lost. Is it too late to save the rest?

* OBJECTIVES

Students should understand

* what is unique about the Everglades, and how they are important to Florida's ecological well-being;

* how the Everglades' natural balance has been disturbed and what is being done to try to restore it.

* WORDS TO KNOW

conservation: the protection and maintenance of something, such as a natural resource.

* TEACHING STRATEGY

Ask students if they have any favorite parks or nature areas. What is special about them? Is it important to preserve some areas in their natural state? Why or why not? Then ask how many have heard of the Florida Everglades. If so, what (if anything) is special about them?

* BACKGROUND

The Florida Everglades have been designated an International Biosphere Reserve (1976), an official Wilderness (1978), a World Heritage Site (1979), and a Wetland of International Importance (1987).

* CRITICAL THINKING

NOTING DETAILS: Why are the Everglades known as a "river of grass"? (Saw grass, a tall marsh plant, is common to the area.)

MAKING INFERENCES: Why is so much water from the original Everglades area still being drained into the sea? (When canals and drainage systems were first built, people did not realize how they would affect the supply of water and the Everglades' ecological balance.)

* ACTIVITY

CLOSER TO HOME: Have students investigate whether there is a national park or other area in their state that is being conserved or restored. What reasons are given for saving the area? Do students agree with those reasons? Encourage them to use known facts or other data to defend their answers.

They are known as the Florida Everglades, but you could also call them the World's Everglades. Take a trip around the globe, and you won't find another place like them.

Historically, the Everglades were a broad, shallow expanse of saw grass and slow-moving water that spread across most of southern Florida. Human tinkering has drained away large areas of the original 2.9 million acres (see maps, p. 12). All that remains are the Water Conservation Area (about 860,000 acres) and Everglades National Park (about 1.5 million acres). That is still a huge area, but what is left is in trouble. A massive effort to save this "river of grass" is under way. Can it succeed?

What Makes the Everglades Unique?

The Everglades waterway is unusually wide for a river--about 60 miles across, at its widest points. It also is very shallow (less than a foot deep) and flows extremely slowly. But most unusual about the Everglades is the ground. The Everglades have many low humps of land called hammocks, some of which rise above water level while others lie below the surface. They are home to many tropical and subtropical flowers, including about two dozen kinds of orchids, and trees that include mangroves, cypresses, palms, and pines.

Like the vegetation, many of the animals that live on or around the hammocks are particular to the area. Some are rare, or come in rare combinations. For instance, this is the only place on Earth that is home to both alligators and crocodiles.

Water Woes

Humans have been making changes in the Everglades--or trying to--since the areas first settlers. Not until the 20th century, though, did the changes become large-scale.

In the 1920s, a dike was built around Lake Okeechobee to control seasonal floods. More flood-control systems were built after hurricanes occurred in the 1940s. Then, as more people began moving into the area, canals and drainage systems were built to channel water to specific areas and to clear land for farms, homes, and businesses.

It turned out that the land was not as rich for farming as expected. Even so, water continues to be drained from the Everglades--massive amounts of it. Each year, an estimated 1 trillion gallons of freshwater is wasted. (One trillion gallons would meet the needs of 15 million or more people for a year.) Instead of being stored for future use or returned to the Everglades, that water is being drained into the sea.

Upsetting the Balance

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists more than 100 Florida plants and animals as threatened or endangered. Many of those species are native to the Everglades. Loss of or changes to their natural habitat have caused many unforeseen problems.

The wood stork is one of those endangered species. This bird uses its long beak to search for fish in shallow freshwater. In the 1930s, about 8,000 wood storks lived in the Everglades. Fifty years later, there were only 500. In 1984, the bird was placed on the federal endangered species list.

The wood stork and other Everglades life relied on the seasonal rise and fall of the waters. (Most rain falls between May and October. The rest of the year is mainly dry.) Since humans started controlling the flow of water into the Everglades, however, that rhythm has been interrupted. Too much water washes away feeding or nesting areas. Too little dries out vegetation that some animals need for nourishment.

Changes in water flow have caused other problems, too, including:

* Freshwater shortages: With freshwater drained away from coastal areas, seawater has seeped farther and farther inland. People can't drink salty water, and many Everglades animals can't live in it. "Crocodiles are very sensitive to changes in salinity [saltiness]," says Frank Mazzotti, an expert on Florida wildlife. "Salinity influences what area of the bay they occur in and where they build their nests. The location of the nests is related to the success of the nests and the survival of the hatchlings [babies]."

* Increased water pollution: Pesticides and other chemicals used by farmers in the northern Everglades have seeped into the water system. Most farmers have switched to safer products, but the plants, animals, and humans of the Everglades are still being harmed by what was used in the past. For instance, people who harvest shrimp or clams have found their catches being decreased because of pollution.

* Drought: "Eighty percent of our rainfall depends on evaporation from the Everglades," South Florida naturalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas pointed out in 1990. "If you don't have rain and water, South Florida will become a desert. It's as simple as that." Douglas, who died in 1998, was perhaps the most well-known defender of the Everglades.

Not all of the Everglades' problems come from changes in water flow. The introduction of exotic plants and animals has also thrown the ecosystem out of kilter. Take the Burmese python, for example, a snake that comes from Asia and can grow to more than 20 feet long. Some of these pythons have been released into the Everglades, where they have no natural enemies. As their population grows, the animals on which they prey are increasingly at risk.

What is to Be Done?

Most people agree that the Everglades are worth saving. Several reconstruction and preservation projects are already under way or planned, including restoring the paths of rivers, cleaning harmful chemicals from soil and water, and removing exotic species. The estimated price tag is more than $8 billion, with Florida and the federal government both promising funds.

However, politicians, environmentalists, and farmers often disagree about how and when money should be spent. Judy Sanchez is a spokesperson for United States Sugar Corporation, which refines sugar from Florida-grown cane. She believes that the urgency for change is overstated. "It's the same 'sky is falling' rhetoric [language] that's been used time and time again," she says.

Bob Graham, a former U.S. Senator from Florida and president of the Everglades Foundation, disagrees. He says that action should be taken immediately--before it's too late. "Five years. Ten years. Somewhere in there, probably no more, is all the time you've got left," he says. "It's all the time the Everglades have."

With 900 people moving to Florida each day, figuring out how to balance the needs of a booming population with the needs of nature will not be easy.

Words to Know

* saw grass: a marsh plant with sharp-edged leaves. It can grow 10 to 15 feet tall.

* exotic: not native to the place where it is found.

* ecosystem: a community of living things that naturally balances and sustains itself within a certain environment.

Your Turn

WORD MATCH

1. ecosystem     A. saltiness
2. exotic        B. language
3. hammock       C. nonnative
4. salinity      D. a plant-rich
                    hump of land
5. rhetoric      E. a balanced
                    community of
                    living things

ANSWERS

1. E

2. C

3. D

4. A

5. B

THINK ABOUT IT

1. How have human actions, even if well-intentioned, upset the natural balance of the Everglades?

2. Do you think that a limit should be set on the number of people allowed to live in certain areas? Why or why not?

STANDARDS

SOCIAL STUDIES, GRADES 5-8

* People, places, and environments: How the Everglades ecosystem once functioned, and the results of imbalances created by changes humans have made to the environment.

RESOURCES

PRINT

* Bryant, Jennifer Fisher, Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the Everglades (Earth Keepers Series, Lerner Publishing Group, 1992). Grades 6-8.

* Wade, Linda R., Everglades National Park (ABDO Publishing Co., 2005). Grades 6-8.

WEB SITES

* Aza's Web wildlife site azasweb.com

(click on AZA link for manatees & crocodiles)

* Florida ecosystems

sofia.usgs.gov/virtual_tour/kids/ecosys.html

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Match the person or phrase in the left column with the correct description in the right column.

--6. canals to the sea          A. created to protect
                                   part of the Everglades
                                   ecosystem
--7. Marjorie Stoneman          B. an endangered
     Douglas                       species native to
                                   the Everglades
--8. exotic                     C. main source of water
                                   flowing through the
                                   Everglades
--9. Fish and Wildlife          D. president of the
     Service                       Everglades
                                   Foundation
--10. Florida Bay               E. a plant or animal
                                   species not native to
                                   the Everglades
--11. Bob Graham                F. where the historic
                                   Everglades' original
                                   flow of water ends
--12. hammocks                  G. built to drain part of
                                   the Everglades for
                                   farmland
--13. Lake Okeechobee           H. lists endangered
                                   and threatened
                                   species
--14. conservation area         I. low humps of land
                                   rich in plant and
                                   animal life
--15. wood stork                J. the Everglades'
                                   most well-known
                                   defender

ANSWERS

6. G

7. J

8. E

9. H

10. F

11. D

12. I

13. C

14. A

15. B