Photos: 35 images from the Everglades — shrinking and threatened
Formed roughly 5,000 years ago, during a time of sea level rise, the Everglades once comprised an area twice the size of New Jersey. But over the course of just the last century, about half of the Everglades' original footprint has been lost — plowed under or paved over, never to be recovered, so long as South Florida's 8 million human inhabitants claim it for their homes, livelihoods and recreation.
Here are 35 photos from the Everglades:
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Friday, Oct. 18, 2019 photo, a great egret is seen on top of a tree at dawn in Everglades National Park, near Flamingo, Fla. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019 photo, an alligator prowls the waters in the Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida. Formed roughly 5,000 years ago _ ironically enough, during a time of sea-level rise _ the glades once comprised an area twice the size of New Jersey. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Friday, Nov. 1, 2019 photo, an endangered snail kite flies with an apple snail at Lake Kissimmee in Kenansville, Fla. Water level control and the resulting loss of wetlands has caused the population to drop to about 400 breeding pairs. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019 photo, visitors view the scenery and wildlife in the swamp at the Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Friday, Oct. 18, 2019 photo, a Florida red-bellied turtle moves in to eat the flower of a lily pad in Everglades National Park, near Flamingo, Fla. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, photo, a 14-foot, 95-pound, female Burmese python is held tightly by wildlife biologist Ian Bartoszek after he captured it in Naples, Fla. The snake was in the process of shedding a layer of skin, making handling the creature especially challenging. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Monday, Oct. 21, 2019 photo a cypress tree is seen at dawn in Everglades National Park. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Monday, Oct. 28 2019, photo, a farm is watered in Florida City, Fla, just east of the main entrance to Everglades National Park. Early settlers and developers dredged and drained much of the ecosystem for agriculture. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019, photo, a housing development built in Everglades wetlands is seen from the air near Naples, Florida. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019 photo, Austin Pezoldt carries gear through mucky water while assisting in a study of peat collapse in a coastal saw grass marsh at Everglades National Park, Fla. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Friday, Oct. 18, 2019 photo, a green heron hunts for small fish in Everglades National Park, near Flamingo, Fla. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Monday, Oct. 28, 2019 photo, water is discharged from a flood control station along the Tamiami Trail in Miami, Fla., into a canal that drains into Everglades National Park. Heavy rains that often flood a conservation area north of the station trigger flushing of the canal, raising environmental worries about the quality of water flowing into the park. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019 photo, the first rays of sunlight color clouds over Everglades National Park, near Flamingo, Fla. The park receives nearly 60 inches of rain annually. “Here are no lofty peaks seeking the sky, no mighty glaciers or rushing streams wearing away the uplifted land,” President Harry S. Truman said in a Dec. 6, 1947, address dedicating the Everglades National Park. “Here is land, tranquil in its quiet beauty, serving not as the source of water, but as the last receiver of it. To its natural abundance we owe the spectacular plant and animal life that distinguishes this place from all others in our country." (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Friday, Nov. 1, 2019 photo a great egret takes flight at Lake Okeechobee in Clewiston, Fla. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Monday, Oct. 21, 2019 photo, Tiffany Troxler, research scientist and professor at Florida International University walks on a boardwalk at a wetlands research site at Everglades National Park near Flamingo, Fla. She's studying wetlands ecosystem ands its relation to sea-level rise. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, photo, Ian Bartoszek, right, and Ian Easterling carry a 14-foot, 95-pound, female Burmese python out of an upland habitat in Naples, Fla. A male python fitted with a radio transmitter implant led them to the female a couple yards from an upscale housing development. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Friday, Oct. 25, 2019 photo, a yellow faced budgie, rests in a tree at the Wild Turkey Preserve Strand near Fort Myers, Fla. The non-native bird is one several species now living in the wild after being released by pet owners. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Friday, Oct. 25, 2019, photo, sugar cane is harvested, attracting cattle egrets in search of insects, near South Bay, Fla. Much the original Everglades wetlands have been drained to create agricultural land, depriving the ecosystem of its natural water flow. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Friday, Oct. 25, 2019 photo, feral pigs roam near LaBelle, Fla. The state is second only to Texas in the number of non-native wild pigs living in the state. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Monday, Oct. 21, 2019 photo, Tiffany Troxler, research scientist and professor at Florida International University walks on a boardwalk at a wetlands research site at Everglades National Park near Flamingo, Fla. She's studying wetlands ecosystem and its relation to sea-level rise. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Friday, Nov. 1, 2019 photo, a subsidence post marks more than 6 feet of peat soil loss since the post was driven into the ground in 1924 at the University of Florida Everglades Research Center, in Belle Glade, Fla. The amount of peat lost has had ongoing implications for restoration and habitat recovery for the Everglades. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Friday, Nov. 1, 2019 photo, the Sugar Cane Cooperative's mill processes sugar cane at dawn in Belle Glade, Fla. The mill operates 24-hours a day during the harvest season, grinding as much as 26,000 tons of sugarcane per day. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019 photo, tour guide Gianni Magrini pilots an airboat across a sawgrass marsh in Everglades National Park. Margrini, whose livelihood depends on tourism, has been guiding in the park for 25 years. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Friday, Oct. 25, 2019, photo, workers use heavy equipment to strengthen the 1930s-era Herbert Hoover Dike ringing Lake Okeechobee, at South Bay, Fla. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019 photo, an alligator prowls Everglades National Park in search of a meal. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Friday, Nov. 1, 2019 photo, a worker arrives to hoe a vegetable farm near Belle Glade, Fla. Much of the original everglades ecosystem has been drained to create farm land. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Friday, Oct. 25, 2019, photo, a sailboat starts down the St. Lucie Canal after leaving Lake Okeechobee, background, through the Port Mayaca, Fla., lock north of Belle Glade, Fla. The lock and dam was built in 1977 to raise the water level in the lake and provide flood control. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Monday, Oct. 21, 2019 photo, the sun rises behind saw grass in a marsh at Everglades National Park near Flamingo, Fla. “Here are no lofty peaks seeking the sky, no mighty glaciers or rushing streams wearing away the uplifted land,” President Harry S. Truman said in a Dec. 6, 1947, address dedicating the Everglades National Park. “Here is land, tranquil in its quiet beauty, serving not as the source of water, but as the last receiver of it. To its natural abundance we owe the spectacular plant and animal life that distinguishes this place from all others in our country." (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019, photo, a housing development built in Everglades wetlands is seen from the air near Naples, Florida. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
This Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019 photo shows a raised portion of the Tamiami Trail, west of Miami, Fla. The 2.6-mile bridge, along with another 1-mile span, has helped move more water into Everglades National Park. Prior to 2013, the Tamiami Trail effectively served as a dike, cutting off the natural flow of water into the park. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Monday, Oct. 21, 2019 photo, a barred owl rests at dawn in Everglades National Park near Flamingo, Fla. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019 photo, a baby alligator rests atop an adult in a swamp at the Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019, photo, the Marsh Trail bisects a section of the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge in the western Everglades near Naples, Fla. Clusters of mangroves form islands in a shallow estuary. A healthy mangrove forest is important for protecting coasts during storms. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Friday, Nov. 1, 2019 photo, rehabilitation work takes place on top of the Herbert Hoover Dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee, just a few feet from a home in Pahokee, Fla. Hurricane tides overtopped the original dike in 1926 and 1928, washed away houses and caused over 2,500 deaths. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
What Can Be Saved Everglades
In this Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019 photo, Lucas Lamb-Wooten, a PhD student at Florida International University, measures a blade of sawgrass during a research outing at Everglades National Park, near Flamingo, Fla. Lamb-Wooten is studying peat collapse in a coastal saw grass marshes. Research assistant Laura Bauman records data at left. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
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Over the course of just the last century, about half of the Everglades' original footprint has been lost — plowed under or paved over, never to be recovered, so long as South Florida's 8 million human inhabitants claim it for their homes, livelihoods and recreation.
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