Everglades National Park

Everglades is a redirect to this article. For the city, see Everglades (Florida) .

Everglades National Park
Tropical marshland in the park
Coordinates: 25 ° 8 ′ 21.6 "  N , 80 ° 55 ′ 41.3"  W.
Location:	Florida , United States
Next city:	Homestead (Florida)
Surface:	5,667.78 km²
Founding:	December 6, 1947
Visitors:	597,124 (2018)
Address:	Everglades National Park 40001 State Road 9336 Homestead, FL 33034-6733 Tel. [phone]

Everglades National Park
UNESCO world heritage
National territory:	United States
Type:	nature
Criteria :	(viii) (ix) (x)
Surface:	567,017 ha
Reference No .:	76
UNESCO region :	Europe and North America
History of enrollment
Enrollment:	1979  ( session 3 )
Red list :	1993–2007, since 2010

The Everglades [ ˈɛvɚgleɪdz ] are a tropical marshland in the south of the US state Florida . Part of the Everglades is protected as an Everglades National Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site . The park has been on the red list of World Heritage in Danger since 2010 , as increasing environmental pollution and interventions in the water balance threatened the park. The park was on the red list from 1993 to 2007 for almost the same reasons.

Location and landscape

Everglades

Swamp in Everglades National Park

White ibis in flight

The Everglades stretch from Lake Okeechobee in the north to the extreme southern tip of the Florida Peninsula . They are also called the grass river . This river cannot be recognized as such at first glance, as it rarely appears as an open water surface. Rather, this up to 60 km wide water vein is often only a few centimeters deep, so that almost the entire area is overgrown with grass, but it still flows at 1 meter per hour. Only in the slightly elevated areas do trees occasionally grow, for example bald cypresses , gumbo limbo trees, royal palms and mahogany trees . The Everglades should not only be seen as a wetland, but rather a prairie that floods most of the year and is only dry in winter.

The highest natural point in the national park is just 2.4 meters above sea level, and the Everglades is the lowest point in the state of Florida, both geographically and topographically.

Around half of the original area of ​​the Everglades is used for agriculture today, the other half is largely under the protection of the national park and adjacent nature reserves. Some of the water from the Everglades is used to produce drinking water for neighboring cities, such as Miami . This deprives the Everglades of their vital foundation. The intervention in the nature of the Everglades began in 1905 by the then governor of Florida. Since then, the Caloosahatchee River has been diverted and numerous canals have been laid down to the coast.

Everglades National Park

The national park protects the southern part of the Everglades, but it only covers about 20 percent of the area of ​​the original wetlands . The only road connection into the park leads from Florida City near Homestead on State Road SR 9336 about 60 km southwest to Flamingo . Apart from the visitor center and some other smaller park facilities, the area has been preserved in its original state. You can camp in Flamingo and at more than 40 other designated places. However, mosquito repellent is advisable at any time of the year.

There are a number of developed paths in the park where you can observe nature and animals. The Shark Valley - branches off Highway 41 approx. 35 km south from Miami - and the Anhinga Trail , 1 km left after the park entrance on State Road 9336 - named after the bird of the same name, Anhinga, are particularly famous for their abundance of animals . Alligators , cormorants , herons , anhingas, large fish and turtles can be seen up close from this trail .

The Everglades and Dry Tortugas UNESCO-MAB Biosphere Reserve has existed since 1976 . In 1978, most of the national park was also designated as a wilderness area under the name Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness , the strictest class of nature reserves in the USA. Since 1979, the Everglades are part of the World Heritage of UNESCO . However, they were classified as endangered in 1993 due to increasing pollution from fertilizers and mercury , the drainage of the area, and the devastating effects of Hurricane Andrew , and are therefore listed on the Red List of World Heritage in Danger. The ongoing pollution is still a serious issue. The fish are contaminated with mercury and pregnant women and children are advised not to eat fish from the Everglades. The number of nesting birds has fallen sharply since 1930, and many animal species are considered threatened or endangered. Between 2007 and 2010, this classification was briefly lifted on the political initiative of the US government at the time , and the Everglades have been classified as endangered again since mid-2010.

Due to the severe destruction of the 2005 hurricane season , especially near Flamingo, not all facilities in the south-west of the park are open again. In Flamingo, only the campsite is available for overnight stays. On July 23, 2008, the management plan for the new infrastructure was presented.

Wildlife

The darter ( anhinga )

Sounds of a darter in Everglades National Park

The park is home to the only wild flamingos in the United States. There are also a number of waders as well as ibises , pelicans , cormorants and storks . Raccoons , black bears , snakes , alligators , American crocodiles , manatees , spider species , pumas , some turtles and other animal species also live in the Everglades . The Everglades are the only region on earth that is home to both alligators and crocodiles. Alligators are common throughout the area, but avoid the salt water . They usually avoid people unless they feel hemmed in or threatened. It is forbidden to feed the alligators and there are heavy fines. Unlike alligators, crocodiles live near the coast and in salt water. The larger animals are also much more aggressive than the alligators and must therefore be avoided. The population of the prehistoric animals is negligible and they are therefore considered endangered throughout the USA. The well-known Florida puma is threatened with extinction and can hardly be seen in the Everglades, the population is 80 to 100 animals. Most of the heraldic animal of Florida lives in the Big Cypress National Preserve .

A total of 350 different bird, 300 fresh and saltwater fish, 40 mammal and 50 reptile species have been identified.

Restoration of the water catchment area

The flow conditions in the Everglades have been severely disturbed since hydraulic engineering work by the US Army Corps of Engineers between the 1920s and 1960s. Only around half of the water from Lake Okeechobee to the north reaches the Everglades, the rest is drained into canals for irrigation of agricultural areas or for land reclamation or is held back by road dams with a damming effect and diverted in other directions. The negative impact of the measures on the Everglades has been criticized since the 1940s. Since the 1990s, plans to restore the flow conditions have been taking shape; they have been brought together in an overall plan that has been revised several times. In June 2008, the state of Florida bought land south of the lake for $ 1.75 billion that is to be rewetted and used as water retention areas. This renaturation project to restore and preserve the Everglades is the largest in all of US history. This includes restoring the flow of water from the Kissimmee, ensuring drinking water and protecting against the development of building land.

Another measure to improve the water balance is the construction of bridges on US Highway 41 , which forms the northern boundary of the national park and is referred to in this section as the Tamiami Trail . When the first east-west connection between Miami and Naples was built in 1928, the road in the Everglades marshland was built on a heaped dam. This dam largely prevents the surface water from flowing south from Lake Okeechobee. The serious ecological consequences for the national park did not raise any concern. However, the damming effect of the dam leads to an increased water level in the lake and its surroundings. As early as 1931, the US Army Corps of Engineers built a dam around the lake to control the water masses. After heavy rainfall, the water is drained into the rivers Caloosahatchee River and St. Lucie River , where it disrupts the water balance and the local fishing and oyster farming at the respective estuary. To improve the water balance in the entire region, several sections of US Highway 41 will be elevated on bridges. The first 1.6 km section was completed in 2013, with more to follow in the next few years. Bridges with a total length of around 22.5 km are planned by mid-2013. The federal government and Florida state share the funding.

Dangers from the Tiger Python and other Neozoa

Dark Tiger Python fighting an alligator in Everglades National Park.

Various alien animal species have been introduced into the Everglades, have spread there and in some cases pose a threat to the ecosystem. Biologists see the ecosystem of the Everglades National Park being threatened by the dark tiger python , which was introduced from Asia in the 1980s . Its population has increased sharply, especially since 2000. Their number is now estimated at over 10,000. Over 90% of the raccoons , possums or bobcats have already disappeared, which is attributed to the tiger python. The consequences of the disappearance of smaller predators are difficult to predict, but can be very far-reaching. Turtles could reproduce vigorously once their eggs are no longer threatened by raccoons. However, larger predators such as alligators and the native Florida panther are also threatened by the python . Park guards and biologists are currently trying to eradicate the tiger python in the park, but are not overly optimistic about this.

Another animal species that was not originally native to the Everglades is the Nile crocodile . In 2009, 2011 and 2014 one specimen was caught or shot and other animals are suspected. How this animal species got there is unclear. The Nile crocodile, which is up to 6 meters long, poses a significantly greater danger to humans than the much smaller alligator, which is only up to 4 meters long.

Web links

Commons : Everglades National Park  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

• National Park Service: Everglades National Park (official site; English)
• US National Parks Net: Everglades National Park (English)
• Friends of the Everglades (English)
• The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP )
• Photographic impressions from the Everglades National Park
• Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ World Heritage Committee inscribes Everglades National Park on List of World Heritage in Danger July 30, 2010 (English)
2. ↑ wilderness.net: Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness
3. ↑ evergladesplan.org: Facts Info ( Memento of the original from October 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ Big Land Purchase Triggers Review Of Plans to Restore Everglades. In: Science . July 4, 2008, Vol 321, p. 22.
5. ↑ National Park Traveler : State Of Florida Pledges $ 90 Million To Help Fund A Bridge To Somewhere In Everglades National Park , September 15, 2013.
6. ↑ Snakes have a stranglehold on the Everglades . t-online homepage. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
7. ↑ Tiger pythons cause damage . n-tv homepage. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
8. ↑ Florida crocodiles: Man-eating Nile beasts confirmed in swamps. BBC News, May 21, 2016, accessed May 21, 2016 .