Everglades

Everglades National Park is located in the state of Florida. It stretches over three counties; Miami, Monroe and Collier, and an area of 6104 km2.

In 1916, Royal Palm State Park was formed; this was an initiative which involved building and creating multiple paths and a visitor’s center within the area which today is Everglades National Park. In 1923 this area was proposed to become a national park, this led to the making of the Tropical Everglades National Park Commission. This commission was set to evaluate if the area should be protected or not. The leader of the group was Ernest Coe; this man has later been referred to as The Father of the national park. In 1947 Everglades National Park finally became a reality, when it was unveiled by President Harry Truman. 

Everglades consists of wetlands which contains a very fragile ecosystem. The reason why they formed a national park here was to preserve this extraordinary natural environment. The special wetlands in Everglades are created by rivers floating through the area. Because of this rare natural environment, Everglades is home to several endangered species, for example the American crocodile and the Florida panther. The park is also famous for the large number of alligators living here.

Everglades National Park is a very popular attraction for tourists, with an average of over one million visitors per year. If you’re visiting the park there are multiple opportunities to see and get to know the area: Visitor centers, sightseeing by boat, guided tours and many more.

The park was listed among the UNESCO world heritage sites in 1979, and eight years later in 1978, it was listed as a Wetland of International Importance.

Written by Jonas Ødegård.