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 Although part of
the Everglades was declared a national park in 1947, the drainage and
diversion of the water continued at a ruinous pace.
Water was diverted to support
farmlands. Coastal cities, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and Palm Beach expanded
westward, replacing miles of the Everglades with huge housing communities,
freeways, shopping centers, and golf courses.
Water holes where alligators
lived began to dry up in the droughts. When the rains came and areas were
flooded, their nests and eggs were washed away.
Exotic wading birds that once
numbered more than a million were reduced to thousands. The beautiful
roseate spoonbills that once darkened the skies when returning to their
rookeries dwindled to endangered levels. Since the 1960's, the number
of wood storks has declined from 6,000 nesting birds to just 500, endangering
the species.
Also threatened are the rich
Florida Bay nurseries for the state's shellfish industry. The population
of all other animals, from deer to turtles, has decreased 75 percent to
95 percent, reported one source.
With the steady encroachment
of agriculture and other human activities came pollutants from fertilizer
and pesticide runoffs that slowly contaminated the land and the water.
High levels of mercury have been identified in all levels of the food
chain, from fish in the marshes up through raccoon and alligators and
turtles. Fishermen are advised not to eat bass and catfish caught in certain
waters that are laced with mercury leached from the soil.
Panthers have also been victims
of man's invasion, killed not only by mercury poisoning but also by poachers.
So endangered is this animal that it is believed to number fewer than
30 in the entire state and 10 in the park.
A number of the Everglade's
native plants are also on the brink of extinction.
Environmentalists now agree
that draining the Everglades, and spending millions of dollars to do it,
was a huge blunder. Few understood that disrupting the flow of the water
would have such a devastating impact on the life in the Everglades. It
took decades for the damage to show.
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Florida and federal
officials and politicians including the president and the vice president
of the United States are now giving this fragile environment the attention
it deserves.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
have a new vision. Their goal is to save the Everglades and the life in
it, rather than drain it, dam it, and divert it.
The issue is water. "The base
line for success is cleaner water-and plenty of it," wrote U.S.News &
World Report, and "that can come only at the expense of agriculture or
urban areas. South Florida's sugar plantations and vegetable farms are
the likeliest targets." "Slicing the water pie will be tough, but we've
given enough, and we can't give any more," declared Everglades Park superintendent
Robert Chandler. "There has to be serious conservation by others," he
said. Proponents of the Everglades reclamation proposal fear that their
greatest fight against the project will come from the Florida sugarcane
growers and farmers who have large landholdings in the Everglades. At
the expense of life in the Glades, huge amounts of water are being siphoned
off to support their needs.
Some observers and environmentalists
believe that the Everglades may have reached the point of no return. Government
and park officials and many environmentalists believe, however, that with
funding and swift action on the part of state and federal agencies, the
Everglades can be saved. "No one really knows when something this big
and complex reaches the point of no return," said one official. "It may
already have happened." Biologist John Ogden admits that the possibility
of reclaiming the Everglades is not a rosy one, but he is optimistic.
"I have to be," he said. "The alternative is a biological desert, with
a remnant of park containing a few alligators here, a few bird nests there
and a nice museum with a stuffed panther as the centerpiece."
Presidential candidate Gore
appealed for cooperation. "By working together," he said, "we can heal
this division and ensure a healthy environment and a vibrant economy.
But the time to act is now. There is no other Everglades in the world."
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