Everglades

"A team searching under dense vegetation in the pine flatwoods of the Everglades late last year came upon a slithering sight, the likes of which no one had found before in those parts: 215 pounds of snake . . . Burmese pythons, originally a species from Southeast Asia, actively threaten the native flora and fauna of the Florida ecosystem, where they have thrived . . . The snake has become a predator to many other animals, particularly the white-tailed deer found in wooded areas throughout the United States. Dwindling deer populations have also increased the threat to the Florida panther, which feeds on the deer, he said. This subspecies of cougar, also Florida’s state animal, is now endangered."

"The Administration is making the largest single investment in the Everglades in U.S. history. The iconic American landscape provides drinking water supply for over 8 million Floridians, supports the state’s $90 billion tourism economy, and is home to dozens of endangered or threatened species. However, rising sea levels and other climate change impacts are endangering this vital ecosystem and the people, businesses, and habitats it supports. Through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Army Corps will invest $1.1 billion to restore, protect, and preserve the South Florida ecosystem and increase its resilience to the impacts of climate change. These funds will support improvements to the Everglades by capturing and storing excess surface water runoff, reducing excess water releases to water conservation areas, and minimizing seepage losses during dry periods."

"There are times that we can’t use those islands for ceremony. So, that impacts the culture of the Miccosukee. There are times that the deer don’t have a place to seek refuge because the islands can be up to three feet underwater . . . And the islands itself start dying. The tree roots are start dying. And when the trees start dying on the island the roots of those trees is what holds the islands together. So, the islands will start shrinking . . . We have tribal members today that remember living on tree islands and have seen the changes to this area. Even in my short lifetime I’ve seen the changes. Our people were taught that in our time of need, the Everglades was here for us. So now that it’s her time of need we have to stand up and protect."

“Over a seven year period, especially, most in the last four years, we’ve seen an acceleration and a decline of animals . . . And animals in the grand scheme of things were important because that tells you the health of [the Everglades] ecosystem. But also those animals give life to a system.”

"At first pass, there seems little amiss in the idyll of Florida Bay. A wedge-shaped expanse of water between the Everglades and the Florida Keys, it is a clean, sun-dappled 1,000 sq mile playground for reddening tourists, grizzled fishermen and loud-shirted locals. But the consequences of Florida’s century-long attempt to bend the environment to its will aren’t hard to find. Starved of fresh water from a reworking of its natural plumbing further north and menaced by seas rising due to climate change, the Everglades and its adjoining bay are teetering at the edge of existential crisis."

"Hurricane Irma turned the vast mangrove forests of the Everglades into a tree graveyard . . . The mass tree casualties were revealed by light detection and ranging (lidar) surveys of the iconic swampland both before and after the massive storm. Irma shaved several feet off the average height of the canopy, and 60 percent of the mangrove forests had been badly damaged . . . Hurricane Irma's wind speeds of more than 140 mph (225 km/h) ripped trees out of the ground and sheared limbs off trees across the Everglades"

“There’s nowhere left for them to go . . . They are done. The sea will continue to rise and the question now is whether they will be replaced by open water. I think they will . . . The outlook is pretty grim. What’s mind boggling is that we are facing the inundation of south Florida this century . . . You can restore the plumbing of the Everglades but the question is whether that will be enough . . . If you have a healthy patient, it will have a higher probability of survival if they are exposed to a virus. The Everglades isn’t a healthy patient, it faces a lot of threats . . . We are at a tipping point. Sea level rise could be more than 20mm [o.79in] a year by the end of the century and there’s no way our coastal habitats will keep pace with anything more than 10mm a year.”

"When it comes to storing carbon, scientists have put a price tag on the value of mangroves in South Florida's Everglades – and it's in the billions. Mangrove forests absorb carbon dioxide, and much of that carbon remains trapped in the trees' biomass. Based on a scientific cost estimate, the stored carbon is worth between U.S. $2 billion and $3.4 billion. The billion-dollar price tag reflects the cost of restoring freshwater flow to areas that need it most, preserving the Everglades' mangroves."

"The shallow coastal waters of Florida Bay are famed for their crystal clear views of thick green seagrass – part of the largest stretch of these grasses in the world. But since mid-2015, a massive 40,000-acre die off here has clouded waters and at times coated shores with floating dead grasses . . The center of the bay . . . heated up last summer, saw considerable evaporation, and became quite salty – for some parts of the bay, twice as salty as normal sea water. In very salty conditions, waters hold little of the oxygen that seagrasses need to live. At the same time, other marine organisms turn to a different “anoxic” process – one that goes forward without oxygen – that has a nasty by-product: hydrogen sulfide. Once the seagrass dies off, it becomes a feedback – the water becomes filled with dead grasses that release nutrients, and those can stoke huge algal blooms (which happened the last time around, but so far have not appeared en masse). That clouds the water and prevents light from reaching remaining seagrasses, which then also die, because they need the light for photosynthesis."

". . . the alligators that inhabit the Everglades are showing signs of serious trouble. Their population has dropped, and the ones that are still around tend to look starved . . . They are an indicator of the overall health of the River of Grass. If they're not doing well . . . then neither is the Everglades . . . The problem is the water — not the pollution in it, but the quantity of it . . ."

“The C-111 Spreader Canal Western Component is a major restoration project designed to improve freshwater flows to Everglades National Park and Florida Bay . . . Now just one year after the ribbon-cutting of this important Everglades restoration project, Audubon Florida scientists are already documenting habitat improvements.”

“. . . The Everglades is now less than half its original size. 1,800 miles of canals and dams break it up, with water control points and pump stations diverting the natural flow of water to coastal towns and cities. Water must be released to estuaries to prevent flooding and Florida finds itself in a situation where there is often too much water in the wet years, and not enough in the dry. Sixty years ago, demographers predicted South Florida’s population would reach two million people by the 21st century. It’s already at seven million, and expected to double in the next 50 years . . . And with the people came pollution.”

After receiving protection in 1991 in the form of a fishing moratorium, the Atlantic Goliath Grouper is finally on the rebound. “Today, Florida is the only place in the world where goliath groupers can be found on a regular basis throughout the year . . . The curious nature of goliath groupers, unafraid of divers and very friendly, made them an extremely easy target for spearfishing . . . From overfishing to conservation, the story of the goliath grouper in Florida is one of hope for the many species of marine megafauna (the ocean giants) under threat today.”

“The number of nests deposited by green turtles this summer in Florida shattered all previous records. Nesting in the Carr Refuge alone has more than doubled the previous record high, which was set just two years ago . . . ‘It’s just a miracle,’ said Dr. Llew Ehrhart in a recent interview with the Miami Herald. ‘This is one of the greatest positive stories in the history of wildlife conservation in America, mostly because they were decimated so badly.’ . . . What we are seeing is most likely the result of over 30 years of conservation efforts on behalf of U.S. sea turtle populations really starting to pay off.”