Joonho Yoo mentioned World Wetland day in the prompt for this month’s report, and it iimmediately reminded me of the Everglades. According to the National Park Service, the Everglades are a World Heritage site, International Biosphere Reserve, a Wetland of International Importance, and a specially protected area under the Cartagena Treaty. It hosts 40 different mammal species, 50 unique reptiles, and more than 300 fish, many of which are rare and/or endangered. It also soaks up carbon dioxide from the air better than major rainforests around the world, researchers say. Despite this, most people in America, much less the world, know that the Everglades are slowly dying.

The Everglades is today less than half of what it used to be. Much of the damage has been caused by humans through water diversion, population pressures, and agricultural run-off. There are also more subtle forces at work, including the growing effects of climate change and sea level rise.  

Alligators are shrinking due to lack of food, a problem caused by the water shortages of the Everglades. The shrinking of the Everglades puts into danger not only the 67 endangered or threatened species that live in the Everglades (including alligators) but also 7 million Americans who live in Florida and get their water from the Everglades.

Fortunately, things are changing for the better. Farmers have implemented best management practices to reduce phosphorus before the water leaves the farm. The State and Federal governments have constructed about 57,000 acres of treatment wetlands (called Stormwater Treatment Areas, or STAs) that remove phosphorus before the water is discharged into the Everglades. This $1 billion effort to treat large volumes of water down to the very low phosphorus level (10 parts per billion) that is needed to protect all of the Everglades is an unprecedented restoration effort. Finally, the STAs have permits required under the Clean Water Act that limit how much phosphorus can be discharged. However, tour guide Steve Markley says that we certainly won’t much significant progress for a few generations. Despite this, we have to realize that something is better than nothing, and we should continue to work to save the Everglades and other wetlands suffering similar fates.