Steven Holt: “Marjory Stoneman Douglass, grand matron of the Everglades immortalized the sprawling South Florida wetlands in her…”

“Marjory Stoneman Douglass, grand matron of the Everglades immortalized the sprawling South Florida wetlands in her classic book, Everglades: River of Grass. "Nothing anywhere else is like them," she wrote. "They are, they have always been, one of the unique regions of the earth, remote, never wholly known." I am not sure that there is any better way to describe what is one of our nation's greatest natural wonders. But, I can tell you that even though we will never fully know or understand the Everglades, we do know a few things. The Everglades is home to a wide and rich bird population, particularly large wading birds, such as the roseate spoonbill, wood stork, great blue heron and a variety of egrets. It contains both temperate and tropical plant communities, including sawgrass prairies, mangrove and cypress swamps, pinelands and hardwood hammocks, as well as marine and estuarine environments. It is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles exist side by side. However, man has also lived in and around the Everglades for the past 2,000 years, sometimes with disastrous consequences. Starting in the 1880's, man began diverting water from the Everglades to make it more a hospitable place for people. Over the last century canals were dug and impoundments were created to provide drinking water, protection from floods and land for houses. As a result of man's habitation and engineering, the Everglades are dying.”