Everglades National Park is a United States national park that protects the southern twenty percent of the original Everglades in Florida. The park is the biggest tropical wilderness area in the United States and the largest wilderness area east of the Mississippi River. About one million people visit the park each year. Everglades is the third-largest national park in the contiguous United States after Death Valley and Yellowstone. It was declared a national park in 1947. UNESCO created the Everglades & Dry Tortugas Biosphere Reserve in 1976 and added the park to its list of World Heritage Sites in 1979. The Ramsar Convention included the park on its list of Wetlands of International Importance in 1987. Everglades is one of only three places in the world listed on all three of these lists.
Most national parks protect special natural features; Everglades National Park was the first created to protect a delicate ecosystem. The Everglades are a network of wetlands and forests fed by a river that flows about 0.25 miles (0.40 kilometers) each day from Lake Okeechobee, southwest into Florida Bay. The park is the most important place in North America for tropical wading birds to breed and contains the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere. Thirty-six threatened or protected species live in the park, including the Florida panther, the American crocodile, and the West Indian manatee, along with 350 bird species, 300 fish species, 40 mammal species, and 50 reptile species. Most of South Florida’s fresh water, stored in the Biscayne Aquifer, is recharged in the park.
Humans have lived in or near the Everglades for thousands of years. Plans to drain the wetlands and use the land for farming and homes began in 1882. As the 20th century began, water from Lake Okeechobee was increasingly controlled and redirected to support the rapid growth of the Miami area. The park was created in 1934 to protect the quickly disappearing Everglades and officially dedicated in 1947 as major canal-building projects started across South Florida. The ecosystems in Everglades National Park have been greatly harmed by human activity, and restoring the Everglades is a topic that causes disagreement among people in South Florida.
Geography
Everglades National Park covers an area of 1,508,976 acres (2,357.8 sq mi; 6,106.6 km) and is located in Dade, Monroe, and Collier counties in Florida, at the southern end of the Atlantic coastal plain. The elevation usually ranges from 0 to 8 feet (2.4 m) above sea level, but a shell mound built by the Calusa people on the Gulf Coast rises 20 feet (6.1 m) above sea level.
Geology
The land in South Florida is mostly flat and even. The limestone beneath the Everglades is important for the different ecosystems in the park. Florida was once part of the African section of the supercontinent Gondwana. After it separated, conditions allowed a shallow ocean to deposit calcium carbonate in sand, shells, and coral, which turned into limestone over time. Tiny pieces of shell, sand, and bryozoans pressed together in layers formed structures in the limestone called ooids, creating spaces that allow water to pass through.
The Florida peninsula rose above sea level between 100,000 and 150,000 years ago. When sea levels increased at the end of the Wisconsin ice age, the water table came closer to the land surface. Lake Okeechobee began to flood, and thunderstorms formed. Large deposits of peat south of Lake Okeechobee show that regular flooding happened about 5,000 years ago. Plants started to move, with subtropical species coming from northern Florida and tropical plants brought by birds from Caribbean islands. The limestone shelf appears flat, but small rises called pinnacles and depressions formed because water with acidic properties eroded the limestone.
The amount of time water stays in a place in the Everglades determines the type of soil. There are only two types of soil in the Everglades: peat, made from years of decaying plant material, and marl, which forms from dried periphyton—chunks of algae and microorganisms that create grayish mud. Areas in the Everglades that stay flooded for more than nine months of the year are usually covered by peat. Places that are flooded for six months or less are covered by marl. The types of plants in the Everglades depend on the soil and the amount of water present.
Climate
According to the Köppen climate classification system, Royal Palm at Everglades National Park has a tropical monsoon climate (Am). Summers are long, hot, and very wet, and winters are warm and dry. In recent years, scientists have observed that inland freshwater sites within Everglades National Park are experiencing water-level increases that match regional sea-level rise, highlighting how vulnerable the park’s low-elevation freshwater habitats are to climate change and saltwater intrusion.
Hydrography
Underground springs do not supply water to the Everglades, even though they are common in northern Florida. Instead, an underground water storage system called the Floridan aquifer is located about 1,000 feet (300 m) below the surface of South Florida. The Everglades can hold large amounts of water because of the porous limestone beneath the land. Most water enters the Everglades through rainfall, and much of it is stored in the limestone. Water that evaporates from the Everglades later falls as rain over nearby cities, providing fresh water for those areas. Water also flows into the Everglades after rain falls north of the region. This water comes from the watersheds of the Kissimmee River and other sources of Lake Okeechobee, and reaches the Everglades within days. Water from Lake Okeechobee overflows into a river that is 40 to 70 miles (64 to 113 km) wide. This river moves very slowly.
Ecosystems
At the start of the 20th century, people usually believed that national parks should protect large geologic features like mountains, geysers, or canyons. As Florida’s population grew and cities near the Everglades expanded, those who wanted to create a park faced challenges convincing the federal government and Florida residents that the Everglades’ gentle and constantly changing ecosystems were also important to protect. When the park was created in 1947, it became the first area in the United States to focus on protecting plants and animals native to a region rather than geologic features. The National Park Service identifies nine different ecosystems within the park that change in size based on water levels and other environmental conditions.
Freshwater sloughs are the most common ecosystem in the Everglades. These are low-lying areas covered in fresh water that move very slowly, about 100 feet (30 meters) per day. These slow-moving water channels are not just part of the landscape but are central to a unique pattern of ridges and sloughs. In the past, water flowing from Lake Okeechobee provided the energy to shape these ridges and sloughs by deepening the sloughs and building up peat ridges with sediment and organic material. Shark River Slough and Taylor Slough are major parts of the park. Sawgrass, which can grow up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall, and broad-leafed marsh plants are so common in this area that the Everglades became known as the “River of Grass.” This nickname came from a book written by Marjory Stoneman Douglas in 1947, which highlighted the importance of the Everglades as an ecosystem. Sloughs are important feeding areas for birds like herons, egrets, roseate spoonbills, ibises, brown pelicans, limpkins, and snail kites that eat apple snails. These snails feed on sawgrass. The availability of fish, amphibians, and young birds in sloughs also attracts freshwater turtles, American alligators, Florida cottonmouths, and eastern diamondback rattlesnakes.
Freshwater marl prairies are similar to sloughs but have no surface water movement. Instead, water seeps through a type of calcitic mud called marl. Algae and microscopic organisms form periphyton, which attaches to limestone. When this dries, it turns into gray mud. Sawgrass and other water plants grow shorter in marl prairies than in peat, the other soil type in the Everglades, which holds water longer. Marl prairies are usually underwater for three to seven months, while sloughs may stay submerged for more than nine months or even all year. Sawgrass often dominates sloughs, creating a monoculture. Other grasses, like muhly grass and broad-leafed water plants, are found in marl prairies. Animals that live in sloughs also live in marl prairies. During dry seasons, parts of marl prairies may dry up, and alligators help sustain life by digging burrows that hold water, allowing fish and amphibians to survive. These burrows also attract other animals that feed on smaller prey. When the area floods again during wet seasons, fish and amphibians return to repopulate marl prairies.
Hammocks are the only dry land in the park. They rise slightly above the grass-covered river and are covered with a mix of subtropical and tropical trees, such as southern live oaks. Trees form canopies where animals live among scrub bushes of wild coffee, white indigoberry, poisonwood, and saw palmetto. The park has thousands of these tree islands, which often appear teardrop-shaped when viewed from above because of the slow-moving water around them. They can also be found in pinelands and mangroves. Trees in the Everglades, like wild tamarind and gumbo-limbo, rarely grow taller than 50 feet (15 meters) due to wind, fire, and climate.
The dense plant growth around hammocks makes it hard to move through. Under the tree canopies, hammocks provide a good habitat for animals. Reptiles like snakes and anoles, and amphibians like the American green tree frog, live in hardwood hammocks. Birds such as barred owls, woodpeckers, northern cardinals, and southern bald eagles nest in hammock trees. Mammals like Florida black bears, red foxes, minks, marsh rabbits, gray foxes, white-tailed deer, and the critically endangered Florida panther also live in these areas.
Miami-Dade County once had 186,000 acres (290.6 square miles) of pine rockland forests, but most were cut down for lumber. Pineland ecosystems, also called pine rocklands, have shallow, dry sandy soil over limestone and are covered almost entirely by slash pines. Trees grow in solution holes, where limestone has worn away and filled with soil. Pinelands need regular fires to survive. Slash pines drop dried needles and shed bark to promote fires, and their cones open only when heated. Their trunks and roots are fire-resistant. Prescribed burns happen every three to seven years to maintain pinelands. Without fires, hardwood trees may grow, and pinelands could become mixed swamp forests. Most plants in pinelands bloom about 16 weeks after a fire. These areas also have palm shrubs and wild herbs in the understory.
Pine rocklands are among the most threatened habitats in Florida. Less than 4,000 acres (6.3 square miles) of pineland exist outside the park, while 20,000 acres (31.3 square miles) are protected within it. Many animals find food, shelter, and nesting areas in pine rocklands. Woodpeckers, eastern meadowlarks, loggerhead shrikes, grackles, and northern mockingbirds live here. Black bears and Florida panthers also inhabit this habitat.
Cypress trees are conifers that grow in fresh water. They form compact structures called cypress domes and long strands over limestone. Water levels near cypress domes and strands can change a lot, so cypresses grow "knees" above water to help their roots get oxygen. Dwarf cypress trees grow in drier areas with poor soil. Epiphytes like bromeliads, Spanish moss, and orchids grow on cypress trees.
Human history
Humans likely first lived in the South Florida region 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. Two Native American tribes lived on the southern tip of the peninsula: the Tequesta on the eastern side and the Calusa, who had more people, on the western side. The Everglades acted as a natural boundary between them. The Tequesta lived in one large community near the mouth of the Miami River, while the Calusa lived in 30 villages. Both groups traveled through the Everglades but rarely lived there, staying mostly along the coast.
The diets of both groups included mostly shellfish and fish, small mammals, game, and wild plants. Because they had only soft limestone to work with, most tools made by Native Americans in the area were made of shell, bone, wood, and animal teeth. Shark teeth were used as cutting blades, and sharpened reeds became arrows and spears. Shell mounds still exist today in the park, showing scientists the materials available to the Native people for making tools. Spanish explorers estimated the Tequesta population at first contact to be about 800, and the Calusa to be about 2,000. The National Park Service reports that there were likely about 20,000 Native people living in or near the Everglades when the Spanish arrived in the late 1600s. The Calusa lived in social levels and built canals, earthworks, and shell structures. The Calusa also resisted Spanish attempts to conquer them.
The Spanish made contact with these societies and built missions further north, near Lake Okeechobee. In the 1700s, the Creeks took in the remaining Tequesta people. By 1800, neither the Tequesta nor the Calusa tribes existed anymore. Disease, war, and capture for slavery caused their disappearance. The only evidence of their existence within the park is a series of shell mounds built by the Calusa.
In the first half of the 1800s, groups called Spanish Indians and Muspas lived in southern Florida. At the same time, Creeks, escaped African slaves, and other Native people from northern Florida formed the Seminole nation. After the Seminole Wars ended in 1842, the Seminoles were forced to move to Indian Territory near Oklahoma. A few hundred Seminole hunters and scouts settled in what is now Big Cypress National Preserve to avoid being moved west. Some Spanish Indians were also sent to Indian Territory with the Seminoles. From 1859 to about 1930, the Seminoles and Miccosukee lived in isolation, making a living through trading. In 1928, construction began on the Tamiami Trail, a road along the northern border of Everglades National Park. The road divided the Everglades, bringing more white settlers into the area.
Some members of the Miccosukee and Seminole tribes still live within the park. Park management includes letting tribal representatives help create new rules that do not conflict with the park’s purpose.
After the Seminole Wars, Americans began settling in small groups along the coast, from the Ten Thousand Islands to Cape Sable. Communities formed on two large dry areas, Chokoloskee Island and Flamingo on Cape Sable, both of which had post offices in the early 1890s. Chokoloskee Island is a shell mound, a midden built over thousands of years by the Calusa. The settlements in Chokoloskee and Flamingo became trading centers for farmers, fishermen, and charcoal burners living in the Ten Thousand Islands. These areas could only be reached by boat until the early 20th century. Everglades City, near Chokoloskee, became prosperous in the 1920s when it was the headquarters for building the Tamiami Trail. A dirt road reached Flamingo in 1922, and a causeway connected Chokoloskee to Everglades City in 1956.
After the park was created, private land in the Flamingo area was taken by the government and became part of the park as a visitor center.
Several attempts to drain and develop the Everglades began in the 1880s. Early canals had little effect on the ecosystem. Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, who ran for governor in 1904, promised that draining the Everglades would create "The Empire of the Everglades." He ordered drainage projects from 1905 to 1910, which were successful enough that land developers sold tracts for $30 per acre. This led to the town of Davie and development in Lee and Dade counties. The canals also allowed sugarcane fields to grow.
In the 1920s, a population boom in South Florida led to the Florida land boom, described by author Michael Grunwald as "insanity." Land was sold before homes or plans for buildings were made. New landowners quickly built homes and towns on recently drained land. Mangrove trees were cut down for better views and replaced with shallow-rooted palm trees. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built larger canals to control water levels. However, Lake Okeechobee continued to rise and fall, and city planners struggled with water management. The 1926 Miami Hurricane caused levees around Lake Okeechobee to fail, drowning hundreds of people. Two years later, the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane killed 2,500 people when
Park history
Floridians who wanted to protect part of the Everglades started showing concern about decreasing resources in the early 1900s. Royal Palm State Park was created in 1916 to protect Paradise Key. It had trails and a visitor center near Homestead. In 1923, naturalists from Miami suggested making the area a national park. Five years later, the Florida state legislature formed the Tropical Everglades National Park Commission to study creating a protected area. Ernest F. Coe, a land developer who later became a conservationist, led the commission. He was called the "Father of Everglades National Park." Coe’s original plan included over 2,000,000 acres, such as Key Largo and Big Cypress. His refusal to compromise nearly stopped the park from being created. Other groups, like land developers and hunters, wanted the park to be smaller.
The commission also needed to find money to buy land. This happened during the Great Depression, when money was hard to find. The U.S. House of Representatives approved the park on May 30, 1934, but the law passed only with a rule that no money would be given for the project for five years. Coe’s work and Senator Spessard Holland’s efforts helped create the park. Holland negotiated 1,300,000 acres, leaving out areas like Big Cypress, Key Largo, the Turner River, and a 22,000-acre area called "The Hole in the Donut." Miami Herald editor John Pennekamp pushed the Florida Legislature to raise $2 million to buy private land inside the park. President Harry Truman dedicated the park on December 6, 1947, one month after Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s book The Everglades: River of Grass was published. That same year, tropical storms hit South Florida, leading to the construction of 1,400 miles of canals to move water away from farms and homes.
The Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project (C&SF) was created by Congress to build over 1,000 miles of canals and flood control structures. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built an agricultural area south of Lake Okeechobee and three water conservation areas, all connected by canals that redirected water to cities or into the ocean, Gulf of Mexico, or Florida Bay. Everglades National Park was cut off from its water supply. By the 1960s, the park was clearly suffering. The C&SF was supposed to provide water for the park but did not. A proposed airport that would harm the park became a major environmental issue, helping start the environmental movement. The airport plan was later canceled. In 1972, a law was passed to limit development in South Florida and ensure the park got enough water. Efforts focused on fixing damage from years of poor management, with the Army Corps of Engineers shifting its focus in 1990 from building dams and canals to environmental projects.
Areas originally included in Ernest Coe’s vision for the park were added over time to the park or other protected areas, such as Biscayne National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Everglades National Park became an International Biosphere Reserve in 1976. In 1978, 1,296,500 acres (about 86% of the park) was declared a wilderness area, later renamed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness in 1997. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 and a Wetland of International Importance in 1987. The park was on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger from 1993 to 2007 and again in 2010 due to environmental damage like algal blooms.
President George H. W. Bush signed the Everglades National Park Protection and Expansion Act on December 13, 1989, adding 109,506 acres to the park, banning airboats, and directing water restoration to improve ecosystems. He said the law would help restore the Everglades’ natural water flow. In 2000, Congress approved the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), a major effort to restore the Everglades while meeting water needs in South Florida. However, CERP faces challenges from competing interests, including federal and state agencies, farmers, developers, and environmental groups. Critics say the plan relies on unproven technology and ignores water quality, while supporters, like the National Audubon Society, have been accused of favoring agriculture and business. CERP aims to fix water management practices that harmed the park, such as protecting fish populations in Florida Bay, which depend on natural freshwater flow. Projects in the western Everglades have improved water quality, but balancing water flow and nutrient levels remains a challenge.
CERP plans include storing 1.7 billion gallons of freshwater daily in underground reservoirs and releasing it to 16 counties in South Florida. About 35,600 acres of man-made wetlands are part of the plan.
Activities
Everglades National Park has the most visitors from December to March, when it is coolest and mosquitoes are not active. The park has five visitor centers. The Shark Valley Visitor Center is on the Tamiami Trail, west of Miami. A 15-mile (24 km) round trip path leads from this center to a two-story observation tower. Tram tours are available during the busy season. The Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center is near Homestead on State Road 9336. A 38-mile (61 km) road begins here, passing through pine rockland, cypress, freshwater marl prairie, coastal prairie, and mangrove ecosystems. Hiking trails are accessible from this road, which connects to the Guy Bradley Visitor Center and marina at Flamingo, open during the busiest times. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Visitor Center is near Everglades City on State Road 29. This center gives canoers access to the Wilderness Waterway, a 99-mile (160 km) canoe trail that ends at Flamingo. The Royal Palm Visitor Center was the first in the park and is now part of the park. The western coast, Ten Thousand Islands, and key islands in Florida Bay can only be reached by boat.
Several walking trails in the park vary in difficulty on Pine Island, where visitors can walk through hardwood hammocks, pinelands, and freshwater sloughs. The Anhinga Trail, starting at the Royal Palm Visitor Center, is a half-mile self-guided path through a sawgrass marsh. Visitors may see alligators, birds, turtles, and bromeliads here. Its closeness to Homestead and ease of access make it one of the most visited spots. The nearby Gumbo Limbo Trail is also self-guided and half a mile long. It loops through a canopy of hardwood hammocks, including gumbo limbo, royal palms, strangler figs, and epiphytes.
Twenty-eight miles (45 km) of trails begin near the Long Pine Key campgrounds and pass through pine rocklands in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness. Two boardwalks allow visitors to walk through cypress forests at Pa-Hay-O-Kee, which has a two-story overlook, and at Mahogany Hammock, which leads through a dense forest in a freshwater marl prairie. Closer to Flamingo, rugged trails pass through mangrove swamps and Florida Bay. Trails like Christian Point, Snake Bight, Rowdy Bend, and Coastal Prairie allow viewing of shorebirds and wading birds among mangroves. Some trails may be hard to walk on depending on the season because of mosquitoes and water levels. Ranger-led tours happen only during the busiest season.
Camping is available all year in Everglades National Park. At Long Pine Key, near the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center, 108 campsites are accessible by car. Near Flamingo, 234 campsites are also available. Recreational vehicle camping is allowed at these sites, but not all services are provided. Permits are needed for back-country campsites along the Wilderness Waterway, Gulf Coast areas, and islands. Some back-country sites are chickees; others are beach or ground sites.
Low-powered motorboats are allowed in the park, but most saltwater areas are no-wake zones to protect manatees and other marine animals. Jet skis, airboats, and other motorized watercraft are not allowed. Kayaks and canoes are permitted on many trails. A state fishing license is required. Freshwater licenses are not sold in the park, but a saltwater license may be available. Swimming is not recommended because of dangerous animals like water moccasins, snapping turtles, alligators, and crocodiles in freshwater, and sharks, barracuda, and sharp coral in saltwater. Visibility is low in both freshwater and saltwater areas.
Everglades National Park is part of the Great Florida Birding Trail and has many bird species for watching and photography.
- The campground at Flamingo
- Black skimmers at Flamingo campground
Some areas of Everglades National Park are good for dark sky observations in South Florida. The best places are in remote southern and western areas, like Flamingo and the Ten Thousand Islands. The Milky Way is brightest when viewed south, toward the least light-polluted areas.
From 2006 to 2024, light pollution levels in parts of the Everglades changed very little. Sky Quality Meter (SQM) readings decreased slightly from 21.54 to 21.31, and the Bortle Scale shifted from 4.1 to 4.3, showing effective protection against light pollution.
Threats to the park and ecology
Less than half of the Everglades that were there before people tried to drain it still exist today. The number of wading birds, like herons and egrets, dropped by 90% between the 1940s and 2000s. The biggest threat to the Everglades National Park is the movement of water away from the park to support growing cities in South Florida. In the 1950s and 1960s, people built 1,400 miles of canals, levees, 150 gates and spillways, and 16 pumping stations to control water flow. When water levels are too low, fish become easy prey for reptiles and birds. Dried sawgrass can burn or die, which harms apple snails and other animals that wading birds eat. Bird populations change over time. In 2009, the South Florida Water Management District said wading bird numbers in South Florida had increased by 335%. However, the Miami Herald reported that in 2009, wading bird numbers in the park had dropped by 29% after three years of growth.
Cities on Florida’s west coast use desalinization to get fresh water because the land cannot supply enough. High levels of nitrates and mercury in underground water also harm the quality of water that reaches the park. In 1998, a Florida panther was found dead in Shark Water Slough with mercury levels high enough to be deadly to humans. More algal blooms and red tide events in Biscayne Bay and Florida Bay are linked to water released from Lake Okeechobee. A visitor brochure at Everglades National Park says, “Freshwater flowing into the park is engineered. With pumps, floodgates, and retention ponds, the Everglades is alive but weakened.” The park has a water monitoring program that tracks the health of freshwater, brackish, and saltwater systems to help restore the ecosystem.
Levees on the park’s eastern border separate urban areas from protected land, but continued development threatens the park. Florida gains nearly 1,000 new residents daily, and building homes, businesses, and industries near the park disrupts water balance and ecosystems. On the western side, cities like Fort Myers, Naples, and Cape Coral are growing, but no levees mark this boundary. National Geographic gave Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve the lowest scores in North America, at 32 out of 100, due to issues like housing and retail development harming the ecosystem. Experts said, “Encroachment by development has damaged the ecosystem, and if humans do not stop, this area will be lost.” More urban growth also harms the park’s clean views due to air pollution. Pollutants can harm plants, water life, and animals in the park.
Climate change, especially rising sea levels, is a long-term threat to the Everglades. The park’s low elevation makes it vulnerable to saltwater moving inland. When saltwater mixes with freshwater, it harms ecosystems like sawgrass marshes and coastal forests. This threatens species like wading birds, the endangered Everglades snail kite, and the Florida panther. As saltwater moves further inland, it becomes harder to manage freshwater flow to protect the park. Florida’s climate has unpredictable rainfall and frequent extreme weather, which affects water resources. Changes in rainfall, droughts, and storms can alter groundwater and surface water, making it harder to maintain the right amount of freshwater for the Everglades. This also speeds up saltwater intrusion into aquifers and coastal areas.
Thirty-six federally protected animals live in the park, some of which are in danger of disappearing. The American crocodile’s only habitat is in South Florida. Once hunted for their hides, they are now protected but still face threats like habitat loss and injuries from car accidents. About 2,000 crocodiles live in Florida, with around 100 nests in the Everglades and Biscayne National Parks. Crocodile numbers have increased, as have alligator numbers. In 2007, crocodiles were reclassified from “endangered” to “threatened” in the U.S.
The Florida panther is one of the most endangered mammals in the world. About 230 live in the wild, mostly in the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp. Threats include habitat loss, car accidents, inbreeding, parasites, diseases, and mercury poisoning.
Four sea turtle species in the Everglades are endangered: the Atlantic green sea turtle, Atlantic hawksbill, Atlantic loggerhead, and Atlantic ridley. The leatherback sea turtle is also threatened. It is hard to count these turtles because males and young do not return to where they were born, but females lay eggs in the same place each year. Habitat loss, illegal hunting, and harmful fishing practices are the main threats to these animals.
The Cape Sable seaside sparrow lives only in Everglades National Park and the Big Cypress Swamp. In 1981, 6,656 sparrows were counted in the park, but by 2002, numbers had dropped to about 2,624. Efforts to restore natural water levels have been controversial because rising water can harm sparrow nests and the endangered snail kite, which eats apple snails. The Everglades snail kite is an endangered bird that lives only in the Everglades. It depends on wetlands, and changes in water levels affect its habitat and movement patterns. Scientists say changes in water levels and how long water stays in wetlands impact the snail kite’s range and survival.