The Everglades are definitely unique and one of a kind. I have on many occasions driven on Alligator Alley and look from right to left seeing only an endless expanse of water and saw grass. I have always wonder how the Seminoles faired in such hostile lands but after reading Marjory Stoneman Douglas’ “The Nature of the Everglades” I realized the immense diversity of plant and animal life that the Everglades have to offer. Right here in our back yard is the only Everglade of its type that connects to the second greatest body of fresh water in the United States. 750 square miles of water that eventual filters into the river of saw grass. I think that the Indian name Pa-hay-okee (Grassy Water) is appropriate and best describes the Everglades; a grassy water that expands south by over a hundred miles and east to west by over 70 miles. Water, saw grass, and muck over a well-worn sponge like limestone rock. Not only are the Everglades about water and vegetation but also home to great many types of trees, birds, fish, insects and other larger animals such as alligators, crocodiles, bear, turtles, and panthers . What the Everglades lack in hospitality, it has in the diversity life. From Lake Okeechobee in the north to the mangroves in the south, the Everglades dominate over South Florida and still have areas yet to be explored. For after 400 years of its discovery by European explorers, Everglades still holds mysteries within its endless sea of grass.
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