Everglades

The Everglades and the Ten Thousand Islands are the two rare and beautiful places. It is one of North America's unsung wild places - a beautiful, rugged, subtropical landscape experienced by a relatively few adventurous souls each year. Many of them appreciate the unique qualities of this wilderness which makes them argue that it is a place better kept as secret. Perhaps, in my quest for solitude and a deeply personal communion with nature, who might ordinarily agree . But it makes one to feel that it is a resource important not only for its natural heritage and spiritually enriching powers, but also for its commercial and recreational values as well.

The Florida Everglades is a subtropical marshland located in the southern portion of the U.S. State of Florida, counties. Although much is modified by agricultural development in central and southern Florida, the Everglades is the southern half of a large watershed arising in the vicinity of Orlando known as the Kissimmee River system. The Kissimmee flows from Taylor Creek, Nubbin Slough, and Fisheating Creek, and empties towards Lake Okeechobee which is a very large (730 mi² or 1,890 km²) , shallow (10 ft or 3 m) fresh water lake. Water leaving Lake Okeechobee in the wet season forms the Everglades, an annual shallow, slow-moving flood one time 40 miles wide to over 100 miles long moving towards south across nearly flat limestone shelf to Florida Bay at the southern end of the state.

Overview

The Everglades routes from Lake Okeechobee on the north to Florida Bay on the south and was once bordered by Big Cypress Swamp on the west and the Atlantic Coastal Ridge on the east. It has been called the River of Grass (Douglas, 1947) because of the slow flow of water from Okeechobee southward and the predominance of sedge known as sawgrass. Slightly elevated points in this extremely flat area are covered with trees, usually cypress.

Some 50 percent of the original Everglades have been lost to agriculture. The rest is now protected as a national park, national wildlife refuge, and water conservation areas. Water from the Everglades is used as a water supply for major cities in the area, such as Miami. The Everglades is crossed from west to east by a toll road called "Alligator Alley", now part of Interstate 75.

There are numerous other small outlets, such as the Miami River and the New River on the east and the Shark River on the southwest. There is a general south to southwesterly movement of surface water.

Everglades National Park

Everglades National Park preserves the southern portion of the Everglades (all south of Tamiami Trail), but represents only 20 percent of the original wetland area. The Park comprises of 1.5 million acres (6,000km²) and is a World Heritage Site. The only highway access is the State Road 9336, running 38 miles (61km) from Florida City to the coast at Flamingo. Excluding the main visitor center and some smaller park facilities, there is no other development seen in the park.

Also See:

Vacations
Disney Land
Busch Gardens
Universal Studios Florida
Islands Of Adventure
Sea World
Florida Beaches
Wet and Wild Water