Effects on the Florida Everglades
The unique natural wealth of lower Florida has excited the curiosity and imagination and has served the needs of man for at least twenty centuries. Its geographic setting still lures residents and tourists. Everglades National Park is at once a limited and a vast sampling of a region full of contrast. It is made up of adjacent, interrelated areas descriptively called the Florida Everglades, the Big Cypress country, the mangrove coast, the Ten Thousand Islands, the Cape, and Florida Bay. The region has nourished, though sometimes harshly, both exotic and familiar flora and fauna. Its people, from the earliest aboriginal Indians to its present day inhabitants, provide clues and records from which the historian can trace the story of its human history. The Park itself consists of over a million acres of land and water, and is our third largest national park. It is an area without any single point of powerful impact. Many other national parks that are chiefly of geological interest exhibit great peaks, deep gorges, or spectacular scenes of one kind or another. The Everglades, which is chiefly of biological interest, requires a different perspective on the part of the visitor. The creation of the Everglades we see today w
as caused by the fractious interplay of rock and water, acted out in the distant and recent past. The park is located on the southern Florida peninsula, which is very low and flat because it was once an ancient sea bottom. The highest point in the Everglades is just ten feet above sea level. The bedrock of the area is limestone, which is made up of marine sedimentary rock. The contraction and expansion of continental glaciers have altered the landscape. The Florida peninsula has been inundated by and later emerged from the surrounding seas at least four times in recent geologic history. As glaciers expanded, they consumed bodies of water, including the shallow tropical seas covering Florida, causing the land to emerge. Then, as they melted, the seas returned, submerging the Florida peninsula. Each time the glaciers melted and the seas returned, the water level was lowered because much of the land mass was slowly rising. The lower areas of Florida, however, still held water, creating inland lakes such as enormous Lake Okeechobee. Everglades National Park is the largest remaining sub-tropical wilderness in the continental United States and has extensive fresh and saltwater areas, open Everglades prairies, and mangrove forests. Abundant wildlife includes rare and colorful birds, and this is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles exist side by side. The park is 1,506,539 acres in size. It is a World Heritage Site, an International Biosphere Reserve, and a Wetland of International Significance. Visitation at the park is highest from December through April and lowest from May through November. Everglades National Park has an annual visitation of 1,141,443 people per year. The park is open daily, 24 hours a day. The Everglades is mild and pleasant from December through April, though rare cold fronts may create near freezing conditions. Summers are hot and humid, with temperatures around 90 degrees and humidity over 90. Afternoon thunderstorms are common and mosquitoes are abundant. If you were to visit the park you should wear comfortable sportswear in the winter, and loose fitting, long-sleeved shirts and pants, and insect repellent in the summer. The Everglades can be explored by personal vehicles, commercial tour buses, bicycle, motorboat, or canoe. There is no public transportation in the park. Admission fees are ten dollars per car or five dollars per pedestrian/cyclist at the main entrance; eight dollars per car or four dollars per pedestrian or cyclist at Shark Valley and Chekika. An Annual Pass may be purchased for Everglades National Park for twenty dollars, and a Golden Eagle pass, good for entrance to any U.S. National Park for one year, may be purchased for fifty dollars. Golden Age and Golden Access Passes are also available. Entrance is free at the Gulf Coast. Visitor centers are located at the main entrance, Royal Palm, Flamingo, Shark Valley, and Gulf Coast. The Everglades offer a variety of programs and activities for the people. Ranger led walks and talks are offered year-ro
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Approximate Word count = 2063
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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