From Swamp to Wetland: The Creation of Everglades National Park

The Everglades National Park chronicles the creation of the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, which was of central importance to the later emergence of modern environmentalism. Park advocates drew on new ideas concerning the value of biota and ecology, the importance of wilderness, and the need to protect habitats, marine ecosystems, and plant life to redefine the Everglades. Tourism and the economic desires of Floridas business and political elites also impacted the parks future, with conservative landowners successfully fighting to limit the park and seeing it as a threat to their own economic freedoms. Today, a series of levees on the parks eastern border marks the line between urban and protected areas, but development into these areas threatens the park system. Rising sea levels caused by global warming are another threat to the future of the park.

Format: Hardback
Length: 277 pages
Publication date: 01 August 2022
Publisher: University of Georgia Press

The Everglades National Park, the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, was created between 1928 and 1958. Prior to its creation, the Everglades was viewed as a reviled and useless swamp, unsuitable for recreational or development projects. However, park advocates redefined the Everglades as an ecologically valuable and fragile wetland, recognizing its importance for protecting habitats, marine ecosystems, and plant life. This redefinition led to the park's recognition as a national park. While the park's creation foreshadowed the later emergence of modern environmentalism, tourism and the economic desires of Florida's business and political elites also impacted its future. These groups saw the Everglades' unique biology and ecology as a foundation for a tourism empire, connecting it to Florida's modernization and commercialization. However, even after the park's creation, conservative landowners successfully fought to limit its size and saw it as a threat to their economic freedoms. Today, a series of levees on the park's eastern border marks the line between urban and protected areas, but development into these areas threatens the park's ecological integrity.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780820362380