Most of the area of South
Florida south of
Lake Okeechobee. An environmentally sensitive swampland, also known as the "
River of Grass," where the waters from Lake Okeechobee are slowly filtered through a shallow, slow, and very wide river on its way to the
Florida Bay. The area is lush with
wildlife including many colorful
birds and of course
alligators.
In the early 1900s, settlers made attempts to drain the land for agriculture. In the late 1940s, the U.S.
Army Corp of Engineers decided to drain the area and reroute water into canals. This resulted in a widespread drying of the swamp. The
National Park Service estimates that 50% of the wetland no longer exists.
About 1.5 million acres are protected by
Everglades National Park. It's an unusual arrangement as most parks protect the sources of rivers and streams, but this one protects the end. They must deal with the
pollutants dumped into the water by everyone upstream.