The Everglades

Osvaldo Santos

devry University

The Everglades

Instructor’s Name: Renie Thano

Date: 4/01/2012

Abstract

The Everglades National Park is in the southern half of the state of Florida. The Everglades is the third of the three largest national parks in the contiguous United States (Park Vision, 2011). The park is the tenth largest in the continental United States, and is on the top 10 endangered national parks list (University Miami, 2007). The first and second largest nation parks in the contiguous United States are Death Valley of California and Nevada, and Yellow Stone National Park of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. The other seven of the top 10 largest national parks are in Alaska. All the parks on the endangered list share some of the same common problems: Deforestation, land encroachment, and air pollution all leading to the endangerment of the local species. The biggest problem unique to the Everglades is the water quality which was altered in the 1950s. The Central and South Florida Project was supposed to accommodate an anticipated population of two million in their future (nps.gov, 2010). Today the population of Florida is close to seven million and is stressing the water system beyond its design. Contaminated water and the lack of flowing water plus the loss of natural resources like trees and plants are placing stress on the existing of dependent animal in the Everglades.

The Everglades

The Everglades are a collection of Marshes, Hammocks, prairie, and Cypress forest interdependent on one another (wikianswers.com, 2011). Hammocks are described as a strand of broad leaf trees that grow on naturally elevated land. The elevation may only be a couple of inches and the flow of water shapes it like a tear drop (NPS.gov, 2010). Here visitors will find mahogany, live oak, and red maple. The large areas of fresh water prairie host a variety of low growing vegetation (nps.gov, 2010)....