Why Everglades National Park
Everglades National Park protects the southern portion of Florida's original wetland wilderness across Dade, Monroe, and Collier counties at the tip of the Atlantic coastal plain. As the largest tropical wilderness in the United States and the third-largest national park in the contiguous states, the area receives roughly one million visitors annually. First established in 1934 and dedicated in 1947, it was the country's first national park created specifically to safeguard a fragile ecosystem rather than notable geological scenery. Its international ecological importance is highlighted by its triple designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a Biosphere Reserve, and a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance.
Spanning over 1.5 million acres, the park consists of flat terrain underlain by porous limestone that helps store South Florida's fresh water and recharge the Biscayne Aquifer. The hydrologic system relies heavily on rainfall and a vast, slow-moving river that flows southwest out of Lake Okeechobee toward Florida Bay. Elevations generally range between sea level and eight feet, though ancient Calusa shell mounds on the Gulf Coast rise up to twenty feet. The local climate is classified as tropical monsoon, featuring long, hot, wet summers and warm, dry winters.
Nine interdependent ecosystems shift within the park based on water levels and environmental conditions. Broad freshwater sloughs, such as Shark River Slough and Taylor Slough, host extensive expanses of tall sawgrass that gave rise to the nickname "River of Grass." Shorter grasses grow in freshwater marl prairies, where algae forms a calcitic mud called marl. Slightly elevated teardrop-shaped islands called tropical hardwood hammocks provide rare dry ground for trees like southern live oaks and gumbo-limbo. Other distinctive zones include fire-dependent pine rocklands dominated by slash pines, cypress domes submerged in standing fresh water, and the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere.
These diverse habitats support a vast array of wildlife, including thirty-six threatened or protected species. The park serves as North America's most significant breeding ground for tropical wading birds, housing herons, egrets, roseate spoonbills, and ibises, alongside raptors like snail kites and bald eagles. Visitors can observe hundreds of species of fish, birds, reptiles, and mammals, notably the American alligator, the American crocodile, the West Indian manatee, the Florida panther, and the Florida black bear.
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