How the U.S. Government Broke the Everglades | Everglades National Park
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- Опубліковано 26 лип 2021
- After a devastating hurricane and chronic flooding issues, the US Government, along with the State of Florida, embarked on a project which would change the face of the Everglades forever.
This is the story of how the Everglades were drained.
An ecosystem which once spread from Central Florida to Florida Bay was reduced to what is now Everglades National Park. An area that was crucial for filtering pollutants and providing habitat, and as a source of freshwater, became a series of agricultural fields and reservoirs.
Even Everglades National Park wasn’t spared. Because, the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, and the water that moved through it, was highly interconnected. Draining the upper Everglades had catastrophic consequences for the ecology of the lower Everglades because it severed a thousand-year-old hydrological connection.
Efforts have been made since to restore the unique hydrology of this area, including one of the largest ecological restoration efforts in US History, but the Everglades have seen irreparable damage.
The draining of the Everglades is a lesson in the interconnectedness of ecological systems, and how these systems rarely fit within the political boundaries we set for them. Human disturbances often have impacts far beyond their immediate areas, and the more we learn about these impacts, the more we can begin to stop them from happening in the first place.
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Sources and Resources:
edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication...
www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature...
jacquithurlowlippisch.com/201...
www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature...
npshistory.com/publications/ev...
npshistory.com/publications/ev...
Fantastic video! Very informative. I'll be looking forward to your next one.
Thanks so much! I've got some videos coming up I'm pretty excited about, I hope you enjoy!
@@NationalParkDiaries enq qqqqqqqq
I heard about slavery going on in them sugar canes too (South American immigrants)
i knewed florida man dint do it
He should of pointed out more clearly the cognitive dissonance between taking out nature's natural water plant filtration system with replacing it with city and farming contentment run off and water consumers. A oxymoron mistake.
Kinda like, rewarding the passive income people avoiding work.
As a Floridian, I always noticed that the everglades didn't really start in the national park. I always noticed that even Miami was once a major part of the everglades ecosystem before we drained it all.
Absolutely. The Everglades Ecosystem as a whole covers a large portion of Southern Florida.
keep the fascists out
@@Masaru_kun yea blame fascist yet historically they where some of the biggest environmentalists to ever exist. 💀😂 not the “own” you think it is buddy
@@Masaru_kun So the Biden admin and Biden supporters need to be banned from the Everglades. Got it. How is that possible? And what does fascism have to do with the Everglades? That's a leap.
@@retracted3383 You must understand that eco fascist like Madison Grant hated minorities more than they liked the environment. Indigenous groups were perfect caretakers of the land before people of his like started railing lines of manifest destiny straight to the dome.
Being a 60 year old resident of South Louisiana, I can tell you it’s only going to get worse. The Mississippi River was diked after the great flood of 1927. That was the beginning of the end of South La. By stopping the river from overflowing it’s banks and carrying sediment to rebuild land, erosion became an issue. Like the glades, the fresh water then began to fall. Then came the oil companies. They dredged canals and introduced even more salt water, further destroying the the beautiful fresh water swamps. Big oil equals big money, and although ignorance may have started the problem when the river was diked, greed is now the biggest threat. What pisses me off is that it can be fixed; but you’d have to stop development and get politicians to spend the money! Good luck.
dont forget all the chemical manfactuaries with no regulation or oversight! LA has really been screwed by its leaders
Fresh water swamps? All of em?
It's brackish water here dude in southern LA always has been its like you're acting like the gulf of Mexico isn't right there or something.
@@Samuraid77 You do not understand. Historically, the Pearl, Mississippi, Atchafalaya, Teche, Vermillion, Mermentau, Calcasieu, Trinity, Buffalo, and Brazos Rivers flooded annually spilling and depositing silt and nutrients in giant fan patterns across these huge compost beds that we call the coastal marshes. Once levees were built, the overflowing stopped, but the natural organic decay in the marsh continued. Decomposition causes land subsidence. Subsidence slowly drops the elevation, allowing saltwater intrusion to further kill marsh vegetation compounding the problem. We use the term “coastal erosion”, but that is not accurate. It’s coastal marsh subsidence from lack of annual river silt replenishment. But people want to control the annual flooding because people do stupid things like build cities in low-lying annual flood areas.
@@blackhawk7r221 New Orleans should never have been built and definitely should not have been rebuilt.
@@terryrose6208 The original New Orleans settlement known as the French Quarter is high enough not to flood. Developing out into the marshes was just stupid, but hey, humans are stupid. They will purchase a nice house in a nice subdivision and never once look at an elevation map.
I’m an old hydrologist and it’s believe a shame how we’ve tampered with the Everglades and isolated other wetlands throughout the US with levies. They seek to control something that nature has already controlled in a far more elegant manner. Thanks for bringing this to your audience.
I agree. And thanks for watching!
Bro we need to get rid of the damn Everglades. There is so much space to be used.
@@jefeseason4990Did you really just disgrace this scientist's comment with what has to be the most moronic statement I've heard in ages? With sea levels rising and hurricane intensity constantly increasing you think we... ((checks notes))...need to build more in South Florida? You know who doesn't want that? People who actually live there. There's a lot more complexity and importance to nature and the world than developer profits.
We have to share the planet with people like this. @@UntetheredBanshee
"You can't build houses on land that's always flooded."
Apparently, no one thought to inform New Orleans.
Environmentally, they aren't in great shape either.
GOT ‘EEM
Funnily enough the oldest part of New Orleans, the French Quarter, was built above the level of Lake Pontchartrain and doesn't have as many problems as other parts of the city.
@@BlackHawkBallistic The French have many problems, but stupidity is not one. They knew some things about architecture.
@@BlackHawkBallistic Interesting. Does that help explain why the French Quarter has some of the oldest buildings in New Orleans?
Having been raised in Miami since the 60's I have heard this my whole life. We know what should be done, but big sugar, big money development is stronger. Having watch the Amazon rainforest being reduced by 30-40% in my lifetime makes one want to give up hope, yet there are people of conscience who still fight for righteousness, and that gives me hope!...save the Everglades....we know how.
Yup. Same here.
I grew up in LaBelle, on the edge of big cypress... My how things have changed!
I grew up in Clewiston and your wrong.
You aren't wrong about big sugar and development.
@@joshuacalhoun6167 yes he is.
@@joshuacalhoun6167 well, about sugar companies anyway. Developers are the real culprits.
The everglades were destroyed long ago. Once Lake Okeechobee was diked, the system stopped functioning as it had. Also the Tamiami Trail cut off water flow to Florida bay and various canals diverted the water to the Gulf or the Atlantic. More recently invasive species (both plant and animal) have taken over the ecosystem and wiped out much of the native wildlife. So, what is left is just some managed park areas with little diversity or vibrancy. Once the decision was made to make the landscape suit our needs, the everglades was done.
That's basically the reason I made this video - to show how the degradation of the Everglades is entirely the result of human actions. That being said, we (humans) have helped recover ecosystems before and my hope is that we can do it again with the Everglades.
Basically all the “wild areas” east of the Mississippi are the same story. We’ve dammed and rerouted all the waterways, cut every single tree down a few times, plowed it up or grazed it.
It’s hard to imagine how thoroughly we have changed things in the last 200 years, nature reclaims it quickly but returning things to the way they were is simply impossible… we don’t even know what it used to look like, it’s been so long that we really have no idea what it was like before we made massive changes
i heard somewhere that with the introduction of the (burmese?) python, large mammal populations dropped by well over 50%
They’ve tried to fix the problem with tamiami trail by making it more bridges but they let everything south grow too much and now water doesn’t flow south and just flows out one bridge and back through another, if they want it to flow they need to dig canals to let the water flow more south before letting it sheetflow
Humans are destroying our world
I work for the Florida Coastal & Everglades Long Term Restoration Effort (FCELTER) and I sample once a month at sites SRS 1 - SRS 6 on the Shark River Slough. I had no idea about how important the work I am doing was. Thank you for telling this story!
Thank you for helping to protect this special place! Keep up the good work!
Does the future look bright or bleak?
Kinda grinds my gears that you said that dude. How do you do your job if you don't know what your job is?
@@ARGDevilDog Because he's working on the field probably as a low-level employee. Most employees at companies don't really know or need to know the large scale effects of the company they work for. It sucks, but its typical and not some unique exception.
@@ARGDevilDogcry me a river, grinds your gears, what a joke
I live in part of the Everglades on the Naples side. Not only has it permanently been damaged it’s shrinking. The other areas this affects is the gulf coast from a flow through the Colssahatchee river and out to 30miles off shore down to Everglades city is pretty much a dead zone. Prior to them screwing it up the water on this coast looked like the Florida keys my mom has family pictures waterskiing in punta gorda and it looked like key largo
It is nothing short of criminal what the government has done to SWFL and the Everglades. The phosphate rich waters being dumped into the Caloosahatchee by the Army Corps of Engineers feeds the red tide, and causes die-off in Matlacha Pass and Pine Island Sound...not to mention the algae build up in the canals of Cape Coral and Fort Myers.
Explain this in texas terms
@@paydayfishingadventures7935 no oxygen for anything to live :) sometimes caused by large algae blooms + decomposers that are breaking down dead matter
Even since the late 90s
YES, AND THE GLADES CLEANED THE WATER, NOW THE INDIAN RIVER IS FULL OF TOXIC ALGIE
As a child growing up in Wellington, which is close to lake okeechobee, we used to have a field trip that would take us to the sugar processors. I distinctly remember even as an 8-year-old questioning the health aspects and benifits of the sugar plantations that would burn the sugar cane in massive fires every winter and into spring which produced the other type of Florida "snow" which would rain down upon our houses and cars. If you have ever seen the oil field fires of the Persian gulf war it's similar to that when they burn sugar cane. The amount of phosphorus, nitrogen and random chemicals pumped out still to this day are serious cause for concern. It's kind of interesting to see how they try to indoctrinate children into the false ideological belief that sugar processors are good for the environment, 🤣. What a tragic condition for the everglades, ugh
Industry in this country has long been really good at making bald-faced lies about their impact on the environment. That sounds just like them.
I grew up in Richmond, Va. As an elementary school field trip they took us to the Phillip Morris cigarette factory...talk about indoctrinating children.
There was a time when they said cigarette is good for health. There was a time when they said radioactivity is good for your heatlh. They gonna lie because they can buy the media so there will be lies till they can buy the media.
@@kevin3434343434 I see I'm not the only one who make this comparison, in my country there was a chewing-gum shaped like a cigarette. Talking about indoctriantion. :)
Oh and it was packed like a cigarette and the individual chewing-gum was covered with a paper looked like a cigarette.
no 8 year old is thinking about that gtfo.
I'm not even 2 seconds in and I just want to say THANK YOU for featuring the everglades. Its always forgotten by National Park clothing stores or influencers and its such a unique ecosystem. The Everglades used to go all the way up to the northern border of Orange county (Orlando!) and its at constant risk of disappearing. Only the fact that a lot of it is on federally recognized native land is stopping a lot of it. But between destroying the ecosystem, construction, invasive species from legal and illegal animal trades, etc, this one of a kind place is just....a wreck. its so sad. The same can be said for Lake Okeechobee and the red algae blooms in the west and east coasts. More people need to talk about the Everglades.
Thanks for watching! I'm always looking to bring awareness to these types of issues and Everglades is such a special and important ecosystem so I'm glad I could do my small part to help them.
@@NationalParkDiariesyour small part is so much more than others are doing, it means the world!
Americans never seem to appreciate nature as it exists. We let corporations control SO much with barely a whimper & even when we express our concerns, we're ignored. It will be our downfall. Sadly, the rest of the world has done much the same.
is because this land was not inherited from ancestors, it was "god given". We will never respect the land if there aren't generational fables and legends to convince us to protect our land.
The restoration project, the most expensive government funded ecological project in all of history, is mostly done and has worked wonders. Water flow has been mostly been restored back to their seasonal flows.
I've been visiting and studying the everglades for about 50 years and it's amazing how far it's come. The biggest problem now is the destructive and non-indiginous species of python that have been released in Southern Florida. Small.mamals have basically disappeared because ignorant "pet" owners got tired of their "cool" pets.
They need to start a bounty program if they haven't already ... Anyone who brings in a dead python gets paid I don't know bout y'all down in southern Florida but up here where I'm at right above Tallahassee Florida we got a lot of folks who would be all over it we do rattlesnake roundups where you get paid to bring in living rattlesnakes so they can extract the venom and it's a big thing lots of people make good money doing that
@@ddcs0s that wont work. Instead of going out to hunt pythons, people will begin breeding them in their homes to turn them in. This shit has happened before.
@@ddcs0s they have just the rules about it are kinda specific and if you don’t follow it you get no money
@@ddcs0s they do have a bounty program and have recently authorized the sale of python meat at restaurants and some retail markets to some extent. Being that they're invasive apex predators they tend to bioaccumulate a lot of mercury and other toxins which has to be monitored prior to sale, but despite that they're often used for leather so theres an income stream incentive either way.
@@100GTAGUY yeah man I just didn't know if they were doing it like that with pythons down in Florida ... Where I'm at we're a little bit more country we eat everything and a lot of guys take pride in being able to do things like catching snakes
I'm a native. I don't think the everglades will ever be restored to even close to full glory. We refuse to build up, so cities constantly expand. I'm not that old, yet I have seen an entire planed development turn swamp and cow pasture into golf courses and strip malls for thousands of acres. Expansion of more mcmansions never seems to stop. Until everything blends into one mega city, built right up to the edge of the everglades. Only then will people figure out what we destroyed. Then I would guess what's left would be destroyed to build another parking lot cause "why not, we already killed the everglades, let's just finish it off with another subdivision".
Even right down the street from me, I watched a development be built against all scientific advice and assessments. Now surrounding communities experience flooding. Everyone knows bribes made this happen. Benderson development owns this town now, and they always get their way.
I'm right there with you on density. For me, as a planner and as a conservationist, good land use policy and good conservation go hand in hand.
yeah Florida is a land limited peninsula that now has 20 million people, you cannot sprawl in a place like Florida like you can in say Arizona, it does not work that way
Lennar owns most of Miami now, it’s brutal. They’ll never stop pushing west and taking away the wetlands
@@SoFloCamejo Them and DR Horton are just speed running on who can destroy the rest of Florida's natural habitats the fastest. Our farmers can't resist selling them the land because of the massive profits it's unfortunately over for Florida at this point.
@@lubo1358 I’ve been saying this forever! Lennar and Horton offer the local property owners insane prices for their properties, anyone would be stupid not to take their offers. Just for these homebuilders to dive in and eradicate whatever little open areas we had left
I grew up in Florida and I remember hearing that when the farming villages near Lake Okeechobee would flood, many of the deaths would be from poisonous snakes like water moccasins as all creatures would be seeking the same areas above the waters.
but why were they eating the moccasins. Asking for it really.
@@fooferutter3001 You need to eat a moccasin.
@@fooferutter3001 who said anything about eating?
@@nxsgt It's because OP wrote poisonous instead of venomous
@@fooferutter3001 Maybe they were from China (I don ' t wanna offend, just saying).
I lived in Florida years back and the everglades always attracted my attention. I had a friend that worked for one of the "Large" farming corporations down there and I got a first hand look at the farms around Immokalee and other areas and you can see how much modification had to be down just for water management. Just like the saying goes "Give an Inch take a mile" big corporations own that land and all the damage by proposed good intentions 60+years ago fixing it will be slow and just like back then the tax payer will be footing the bill
We have explored some treacherous dirt roads around there. One guy had trucked in his own infill from city deconstruction, covering an acre for sheets of used carpeting ripped out of schools, 3 story pole barns of scrap metal roofing, and 4 half gutted and patched travel trailers. Piles of infill rubble lined his lane and a sign read Nudist Park. I would revise that name to SPUN Ranch.
As a Lifelong Floridian & retired Science teacher, 25yrs, this video is well done and needed. Kudos
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
I’m so sick of people beginning their comments with, “As a…” We don’t care!
Clearly you’re not a grammar teacher. Lord!
Unfortunately with invasive species, I don’t think the Everglades will ever be what it once was. The python issue alone devastated the Everglades showing overwhelming evidence of native species being all but wiped out.
Can we kill them in mass? Like the emu war
@@happydogg312 yep.
Yep. The city is paying people to hunt them down (python cowboy) but it's still not enough. Rip everglades
Unfortunately with invasive species, i dont think Earth will ever be what it once was, the human issue has devastated the ecosystem with thousands of native species being wiped out
They need to ban pet snake and fish from being sold at pet shops then
Awesome video.
I'm a Florida native and I have to say that the everglades are destroyed! between all the people who continue to move here ,and the exotic wild life that has ruined the park.
The pythons have wiped out the deer, raccoons, bobcats, rabbits and much more.
It is ashamed to see this happening.
Algie blooms now take over lake Okeechobee and run off from the lake flows into the gulf of Mexico and red tide begins almost every summer.
Hopefully something will be done but unfortunately it's a sad situation
Thank you! I agree that it's really sad to see, especially to a place as unique and wonderful as the Everglades. I have to hold out hope that the restoration efforts will be successful.
I grew up in SE FL in the early 70s and lived in the Lee county area 94 to 09 and totally agree with you. It is way to crowded for me anymore.
the everglades run over an old bird shit bank.
as the water moves over the fertilizer it gets released into the water.
red tide has always been and will always be.
this is all a ploy to tax you into owning nothing
I did as well and left in the late 80s for the military. Every time I go back it seems to double in population. The same people that ride around in their 4 x 4s with the overhead SA Army tents vote for the people that want to sell ALL of our public lands. "Look at my off road vehicle with no place to use it!"
And yet you aren't allowed to kill the pythons.
As a lifetime South Floridian I have seen and studied this my whole life and I think this is a great video. One thing to add to this video is how the water flow out the south Everglades, or lack of, effects Florida Bay. The original flow from the glades created a huge brackish area that is now much saltier and has killed/displaced much of the native plants and animals. I have also hypothesized that less water has effected the corals of the Keys by taking away nutrients and cover in the summer rain season. Another idea is that the government could rotate the agriculture zones between flow and agriculture, replenishing the soil.
Round up runs off too. The water in keys used to look different. Seemed bluer to me 20 years ago
My wife and I lived at the resort called Flamingo. It was a paradise for us. We went back twenty years later and it was devastating. Birds gone! Service, non functioning. A paradise destroyed. We weapt and left. Too sad what we leave behind.
Up near Orlando right? I used to live in Orlando, and lived in collier county (SWFL) for a very long time… if you’re talking about the one South of Orlando, I agree, 100%. That area is just another concrete jungle now… Everything special about it has been cemented over.
Flamingo camp site down south is still a good spot
Great job! Maybe it's just me, but anytime the corps of army engineers gets involved in Florida, I know it's going to get messed up!
Truly a great video, keep up the great work!
Thank you, will do!
I agree about the corps of engineers screwing up whatever they get their hands on. Which is ironic because in Newport Beach California they built a breakwater that was supposed to be exactly perpendicular to the shoreline. They screwed in up, hence the world famous Wedge body surfing spot.
Anytime the government touches anything it's fucd
@@Truth10120 The Most terrifying Sentence in the English Language: "Hello, I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help."
What’s funny is the Army core of engineers manage a ton of lakes in CA. And look at how many dam issues and breaks we have had in past years. Not to mention the destruction of Steelhead habitat.
I am a 16 year old who has grown up in Ocala, Florida (central), where we have the silver springs everglades park. My whole childhood, it was well taken care of; having tons of cool creatures, animals, and of course alligators. We even had a water park that was also part of the same company that took care of the springs park. The park use to thrive, having many visitors year round to see the unique agriculture, gators, monkeys, fish, giraffes, birds, and even ride the glass floor boats that would take you through the springs. Unfortunately they closed down the waterpark and I'm not to sure if they do tours through the springs anymore. You can also see old black and white movies filmed in the springs, a classic old movie you've probably heard of is "creature from the black lagoon" that was filmed in the clear water springs in 1954.
This analysis reminds one of south Louisiana (south of I-10 to the Gulf). Certainly, the feds should not be allowed to drain, and destroy, the glades. Great vid, Ty.
i appreciate you bringing light to this issue.
I wish this video went more into the effect that the building of the levee had on the communities connected to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee showing how far stretching this issue is but fantastic info to shine light on a major issue in SWFL.
Hey James, thanks for your feedback. This is definitely a complex issue with wide-ranging impacts across the board. I tried to keep this particular video focused on Everglades National Park and its ecology since that's the main focus of my channel. But, no doubt the impacts stretched far beyond the park's borders and are no less deserving of recognition. Thanks for brining them to my attention.
I'm glad to see we are putting some effort to restoring the everglades. it's good we're doing it now rather than waiting for a monumental ecological disaster like the arial sea. It won't ever return to how it used to be but I'm confident we can get close.
This is the first video of yours ive seen I really enjoyed it! thanks for the time and effort you put into this.
Thanks for watching!
Great video. I recall other problems like sea water leeching into the aquifer as well as the chemicals that were mentioned. Plus sad but very informative to see others in Florida with their stories or people in other southern states fighting similar issues.
As we continue to drain the aquifer, more a more salt water intrudes into the aquifer.
Floridas natural sprin water is being pumped out by bottling company's and sold 'ALL OVER THE WORLD'. Mainly Coca Cola and foregn owned Nestles Corp.
People love sucking on plastic bottles instead of thermos bottles.
I lived in collier county Florida for decades and it was SO BEAUTIFUL living in the Everglades and among the ten thousand islands…. I go visit my family now and I am APPALLED by what has become of the beauty in that area. Naples is encroaching so far into the glades that it’s just like being in any other sprawling cement city. It is heartbreaking.
“And progress came and took its toll
And in the name of flood control
They made their plans and they drained the land
Now the glades are going dry
And the last time I walked in the swamp
I sat upon a Cypress stump
I listened close and I heard the ghost of Osceola cry”
-John Anderson
Seminole Wind, 1998
That was amazing you gave so much information while not giving enough information to actually let people understand this
Being a Florida native and growing up in the Glades it's so sad to how much of it was taken away. I understand people need a place to live and food to eat but I would have loved to see the entire Everglades before it came under human hands.
too many people on the planet, not enough resources.
You should have been born earlier then. Sorry.
I was able to visit the Everglades for tuis first time just a few days ago and it is like nothing I've ever seen. The biodiversity and the diversity of the landscape is incredible. Its clear that this area shouldn't be such a population hub. And yet the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area is ever expanding and developing. Disaster is looming.
I live in north Florida. It's not surprising to me that Miami is in the middle of ruining things.
Miami is falling into the ocean, as the draining of the groundwater is creating more sinkholes.
@@SonnyBubba The only sinkholes I'm seeing are on the East coast.
Miami has nothing to do with the problem lmao, has much has it does suck, even this video is explaining the problem. Bias is dangerous.
Miami isn't really in the historical Everglades.
Great information and memorial to a truly brave woman.
Thank you, she certainly was!
Thank you for making this film 🌎💜🙏🏼
Pretty good overview!
Kudos to those work to preserve and educate us on our Beautiful Everglades!
Thanks for watching!
Loved the video, as a native Floridian 6 generation. I have watched Florida be overrun with " progress". None of it good. Idiots building highrise condo's on the beach. Lord knows how money has been spent replacing sand. The wind tunnels between the condos has caused lots of minor accidents. I could go on and on. I would like to see a video on the St John's river and the management of this important river. Love your channel ❤️ new subscriber.
Welcome, thanks for being here!
As one who grew up in Naples, I too hate the damn condos. Everyone does. Someday, the entire coastline will just be stupid condos.
I'm impressed they even work in the first place. Imagine building heavy highrises several times the height of the trees in a tropical swamp that gets battered by hurricanes most years.
Went on a hiking trip in the Everglades at 16 with a group of friends I’ve lived all over the world my father was SF and taught land navigation and lead a jungle training course I got separated and spent 3 days lost my father is who found me but only because he always told me take the highest ground when lost I leaned about my self and the land on them 3 days I’m 30 now and still think about that a lot
Jayzuz H! You should make a video of that harrowing experience
I never knew even half of this and I've lived in FL my whole life. So informative and heart breaking 😢💔🌴
Thank You so much for informing this onto the World!! Thank you for creating awareness. As a Native Floridian, I want to help conserve this beautiful wonder as it truly is amazing. It's the only natural of its kind and loosing it would truly be a sin against Mother Nature.
I live in SW Florida, on the outskirts of the Everglades in Collier county. The PTB have decided they're going to build right up to and most likely into the 'glades themselves. With the development of Ava Maria, construction has exploded.
Thanks for bringing this up I’ve been telling people about this for years
Thank you for the video, and all that you are trying to do is show awareness for the Everglades❤
Thanks for watching!
Take back the EAA land south of Lake Okeechobee necessary to restore the natural watershed to the south. Allow the lake to return to natural drainage from the southern berm year-round. At the average flow rate of the Everglades it would take over 18 years for a drop of water leaving Lake Okeechobee to reach Florida Bay. During this time sun light, air, percolation through soil and uptake by vegetation all contribute to decontamination and nutrient reduction. Hold back only enough to keep the lake at its natural level and navigable. Water flow to the everglades restored, freshwater to Florida bay restored, no damaging discharges east or west into the St. Lucie or Caloosahatchee rivers. Easy.....
Thanks for your comment! I absolutely agree with you about restoring Everglades' hydrology. The restoration plan (CERP) essentially says this needs to happen as well. Unfortunately, I think a lot of the barriers at this point aren't necessarily about understanding the ecology, but more about mustering the political will to implement the restoration plan.
You are so right.
This was really interresting, thank you!
No problem, thanks for watching!
Great information. I really hope we can figure the runoff’s situation due to over use of pesticides/farming. Hate seeing these beautiful beaches out here effected by this.
Fantastic! Thank you, so well done!
Thanks for watching!
Yes, the Everglades can be restored and should be!
Nature always wins.
How do you protect the Everglades from sea level rise??
@@MrBadjohn69 That hasn't been an issue yet. Most water comes from inland storms and there are plenty of canals right now that can pump excess water to the east but we need to send more water south!
@@BackpackandGear Sounds as if Florida should just force everyone out of Florida to protect the Everglades. I hear Washington DC is a lovely place to live.
@@MrBadjohn69 lol that’s hard when all the old people with money keep moving down and expect to live in the suburbs, pushing our horrible urban sprawl farther and farther.
Loved this video very well made but would you ever do any videos like this on Australian national parks or ecosystems a good one to research would be a rainforest called the big scrub that had been over 99% cleared
I have a general rule that I'll cover pretty much any story about protected lands, whether they're in the US or not. I'll look into this, thanks!
Australia is the place in the world where we have tried everything we can to destroy the environment and we're continuing to do so. Unfortunately most Aussies also live with their heads in the sand and think it's not that bad, which just isn't true
@@patrickwilliamson29 yeah mate I know what you mean but we should have hope with the up coming election we might finally get someone who might know how to run the country a tad bit better
@@bennybennerson7728 here's hoping mate, buy still even if labour win they don't have the best environmental record
Fantastic video and very informative . Thank you
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for this educational video. I learned more in your 14 minutes than all the news reports, books, and articles I've read over the years. I'd like to see similar drone videos of before and after views since the major improvements started in 2018.
Thanks for watching!
Fantastic video
Great job 👏
Thank you!
Great, but sad video. I grew up in South Florida, and remember our house in West Boca was less than a quarter mile from the what we considered part of the Everglades (not sure if it was officially part). Anyway I went back there a decade or so ago to visit family in Fort Lauderdale, while there I took a trip up to see the house I was raised in, and there was more development that went miles beyond my old home.
Yes sir .. same thing in Dade. I remember there was development on the West of SR 826 and reaching the Turnpike .. Now you have even More Development from the Turnpike and literally ending on Krome Ave (which is basically where the Everglades starts). Incredible
This video is so informative and heart breaking
Thank you for covering this topic
Thanks for watching!
Sadly, whatever our government touches, it destroys. Great video, I've seen the everglades change quite a bit in the 50 years of my life. None for the better for that ecosystem.
Well done, I have property down there and never fully understood this issue…
Thanks, glad I could help!
I always appreciate videos that inform us....but we equally need solutions to these problems. I'd enjoy hearing your solutions
Thank you for the last part, recognizing efforts made to help the everglades. Yes it's important to learn about how the Everglades were impacted, but nowadays, it's so easy for people to enter a pessimistic, negative mindset where they abandon natural ecosystems by accepting they are either broken or destroyed. It's vital for conservation to rely on hope and determination, as well as a positive mindset to overcome challenges and protect what land there is left, and fix what land has been destroyed. Amazing video, very well done all around and as Native Floridian, it's always nice to see people discussing my states strengths and weaknesses.
Thanks for watching! I hope to make a follow-up video on the Everglades restoration efforts at some point. Waiting to see how things play out, but I do want to cover it in more detail!
@@NationalParkDiaries I would love to see that. Awesome content
I think the solution is to make alligator alley into a giant raised bridge over the everglades to let the water flow naturally. Completely undo the way that alligator alley currently is and turn it into a road more like the one that leads to the keys, but on a massive scale. Would be a huge flex.
That would be a $1,000,000,000,000 project in all honesty.
Cool idea, but crazy expensive.
Would be a lot cheaper to just put a lot of pipes underneath the road to allow water to flow without having to redo everything.
Being from the panhandle we were always told we had one of the largest salt marshes in the world because the Everglades was completely it's own thing. But we've had our own battle with GA and the farm runoff, which eventually gets down south fl.
Yeah, huh!?!? Great video! 🤩🤩🤩 I listen all the way through on these ones. ❤️
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for talking about this!
You're very welcome!
As a Florida Native, we learn about all of this. It pains me how nothing changes, even with what we learn.
Since 1850 more than half of Michigan’s wetlands have been drained or filled to make room for agriculture and urban developments. It’s sad to see the Everglades are suffering the same fate.
Living in Michigan that number sounds low. Drive around and if you know what your looking at you can tell it was a wetland at one time
Same with Iowa, Iowa used to have clear rivers, now it’s chocolate milk
Same thing has happened to Eastern NC.First it was Dams and Canals to drain wetland and log out the old growth forest.Then it was paved high ways and overpasses.Now it's homes and businesses and flash floods.Always wanted to see the Everglades.Maybe I missed it.
@@johnwingate8799You haven't missed it; take old 41 southeast of Naples for an hour.
This channel is like City Beautiful from a parallel universe…and I love it!
Haha, City Beautiful was a big inspiration for this channel!
Very good video. I always wanted to go to the Everglades and did a few years ago. The place is even More beautiful then I thought. I look forward to seeing it again 👍
Thank you!
This is very much like what is happened if to our swamp lands and marshes in Louisiana. Control of the Mississippi River’s flow and trying to settle where man was not meant to settle causes the planet to remove the area. Entirely. It’s very sad.
Nature has a way of making things right over time - without the help of mankind. Change is the only thing that never changes. Mankind just needs to get out of the way.....
Thank you for making this video
Thanks for watching!
I’m a bit late to the party but I just found your channel and learned a lot about the Everglades. Subbed!
Thank you and welcome to the community!
You know we could really take care of a lot of the water problems that plague Miami Dade by establishing Mangrove forests to help reduce flooding. Dozens of small islets could be strung together to make a plant based storm barrier. Biscayne Bay is very shallow, perfect spot for little islets, as are the top of the keys.
This issue I think stems from policy and management plans. At the end of the day, The Everglades National Park is a landscape set aside so that all Americans can enjoy it, but it is the people of Florida who have to deal with it and it is the local Floridian who will want the everglades controlled over anyone else for the reasons you mentioned in the video. Coming off of my Natural Resources Policy class at the University of Montana, there are various political challenges as well as ecological challenges that the state of Florida will have to come to grips with, one major one being Climate Change and how that will affect not just the Everglades, but the surrounding communities as well.
Truthfully, I don't think we should have settled anywhere near the Everglades, but it is far too late for that. All we can do now is vote for policies that are backed by the best possible science and meet the ecological needs of the Everglades without risking unnecessary loss of property. It's a tricky line to walk and there's no true answer that will solve all the issues, but I think we have a moral duty to try and solve this conundrum, as the dominant species on the planet and as one that equally relies on the Everglades for our own survival.
SWFLA from Tampa to Marco Island will hsve @ a 100 year lifespan
Well done!! very underappreciated channel
Thanks so much!
Sensei wow great job thanks
Thank you for this informative video! I visited finally yesterday, and am amazed by this monumental beauty of nature. Thanks for explaining the issues caused and how the flow works.
Edit: To add, I think humans can enjoy nature as we are also part of the ecosystem.
But, we need to be as non-disruptive as possible. Building more bridges and other approaches to restore flow is essential. Anything to maintain the ecosystem. I don't think it'll ever be its former glory, and maybe that's ok. But we need to improve it and make sure future generations can enjoy a beautiful park.
Thanks for watching, I'm glad you enjoyed your visit! I agree completely with your thoughts on restoration as well. In my view, we are capable of living as part of these ecosystems, we just need to take care to respect them in the first place and reduce our impact as much as possible. We need to approach restoration/conservation with the mindset that we can coexist with nature.
@@NationalParkDiaries agreed! :)
Nothing ruins good things more efficiently than humanity
Excellent explanation of a complicated situation. I would like to see follow-ups completing the accurate picture. Pollution would fill an episode as would state politics and policies over the years.
As pristine as they look, pollution lies in the bottoms of the sloughs as they found out when they attempted to flush Taylor Slough years ago. Much of the sediment was toxic with a lot of bad stuff left over from World War 2. I hope I should have said, used to be polluted. There was a dredging clean-up program planned that I have not heard much about.
I love this channel, the quality of content is fantastic. You should have more subscribers!
Thanks so much, that means a lot! We've got a cool thing going here - just have to wait for the algorithm gods to smile upon us 😂
@@NationalParkDiaries your videos get consistent views, that's the important part!
Wow, I always knew Miami butted up right against the Everglades but I never considered the highway and upstream farmland to be an issue.
Thank you for helping bring awareness to something so critical to the planet's well being.
Learning the correct pronunciation of your topics will get your point much further.
This is such a great channel!
Thanks for being here!
MSD ALUMNI, thank you for this video
It's a shame to say but as humans we tend to destroy the things we love the most what really attracted people to South Florida was the Everglades and we've systematically destroyed them the last 100 years . Thank you for your information and I hope you keep us updated on any of the new water management things that can help our Everglades
I'd love to do a follow-up video on the CERP, but I want to give that one a little more time to see how things play out. Definitely something to keep our eye on for sure!
South Florida water management are not competent to try and control the everglades. I was born and raised in Broward county and was a surveyor employee for 30 years and have seen the destruction of the glades SFWM and developers to line their pockets. Good luck with this project to right a wrong.
Too much corruption and money sloshing around from pocket to pocket.
Excellent video. Very informative.
Thank you!
I grew up biking on the trailers in the water conversation area and have always appreciated the vast openness I would see and just take in the fact it went on for at least 50 miles in any direction.
Trails*
The Florida cross barge canal was a perfect example of human genius that failed.
I’ve lived in Western West Palm Beach my entire life, and going to some of the wildlife management areas, (JW Corbett and Grassy Waters) you can always tell that it feels shallow. I remember being a kid and seeing deer, but I don’t remember the last time Ive seen any. It’s a shame.
Loxahatchee is nothing like it used to be.
Went there about a year ago to off-road and it feels like nothing more than a campground... The everglades is beyond destroyed.
Really important stuff. Thank you for this. I hope we can reverse much of this very soon. We need to live with our ecosystems. We know that as humans, we are very bad at recreating ecosystems or creating new ones, even with modern technology. We need to restore the ones we have and harvest them sustainably for our economies.
I’m a Floridian that went to Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS, I was even there during the shooting. But I’m amazed that I learned almost nothing about her and what she did.
You did a great job on this video. Some light background music wouldn’t hurt here and there though. I live in Florida and I learned a lot from this piece you put together. I admire your work. Thank you
Thanks for watching!
I hope the Everglades can return somewhat, they took a big hit on account of alien reptiles and the difficulty of the surrounding communities to make the kind of good living that allows conservation to enter your list of priorities.
Mac Stone has done a great job speaking out on this issue, infact it was at one of his talks when I first understood how human centered this problem was and that there is still hope to recover the ecosystem. He used hurricane Irma as an example of what the glades could look like with the water it once had. With all the flooding caused by Irma, the wildlife populations skyrocketed, particularly of birds, in the Everglades. It just goes to show you that its not too late if we just fix our mistakes.
Thank you for this video. We citizens must stand together.
Thanks for watching!
I knew as a young child growing up in the 70's they were messing with the Everglades.. And realized in my teens that they were just getting worse..
And as far as the Tamiami Trail, you'd think they would have done a raised road aka a bridge in the first place..
But then again, Stupid is as stupid does..🤷♂️
You made an awesome video! No, I don’t think we can ever fix or restore the Everglades. I’ve lived in Florida for 60+ years and it’s wide swath from cape Canaveral all the way down to Sarasota Saint Pete. I think the Army Corps of Engineers and the federal government really made a massive mistake when they started to interfere with the Saint johns river, Kissimmee, river, and the Everglades. I also. Feel that the interference is going to come around and bite us in the butt.
Thanks for watching, and thanks for sharing your opinion. Personally, I have hope for the Everglades. I think with the ongoing restoration efforts, nature can begin to heal itself. It will tough of course, and might not get back to full capacity, but I have to believe in a better future for these places!
Watching the" masterminds" on PBS they sure don't seem too sure of themselves I wish them luck but I'll believe it when I see it
An EPIC video! watched the whole thing. I grew up there, kinda. so i miss it.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
I have absolutely no idea about the Everglades. ^ ^
But I hope you can restore them, particularly the peat areas. Because they are carbon sinks and are direly needed.