The Everglades

So, my family has a list of places all over the world that we want to travel to or visit and this past week we were able to check two from that list, The Everglades National Park and St Augustine, Florida. Oh the weather was glorious, the hiking was exhilarating and spending time with my most favorite people in the world was priceless. In total last week I covered 50 miles of hiking trails that included sections of the Everglades which was very exciting. Not so exciting was the thought in the back of my head that pythons are flourishing in the Everglades and hiking near the spot where a 10 foot python had been captured the day before was a bit of a heart thumper.

I'm not fond of snakes but even they have a place in our environment. These snakes, however, do not belong in the Everglades. The pythons that are flourishing in the Everglades are not a part of the natural habitat and their rapidly growing numbers coupled with a lack of natural predators are causing alarm among biologists, environmentalists and herpetologists. One guy who hunts them expressed their presence as being bio-pollution which I thought was a very interesting description. The Everglades have experienced not just the introduction and rise in python population but many other exotic species that may forever change the natural balance within that habitat.

Another surprising thing about the Everglades is that less than half of it remains. Less than half!!! It was incredible to think that so much of what had been no longer was. The remaining portions of the Everglades hang in the balance. It made me wonder, a hundred years from now how much would still exist. Will my great-grandchildren be able to experience what I was seeing, hearing and hiking through? There is a plan in action called the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan which is a plan that was crafted in an attempt to preserve and restore sections of the Everglades. It was very evident on my trip just how precious water was for the continuing survival of this habitat. The expansion in population and developed areas in Florida was achieved through controlled flooding using canals and drainage of portions of the Everglades. The result is that the Everglades have been forever changed and even with the restoration plan, the change in weather patterns and thus the availability of fresh water seems to be at a tipping point.

There was so much to see and experience but that will be another time.

This world of ours exist not just for us, but for everything that lives in it, both living and non-living. To ensure our survival, there has to be a place for everything.

Sawgrass is what made up portions of the Everglades that are gone , but sections of the fabled "River of Grass" still exists.

Oh my, there were so many alligators, breeding season is in full swing