Douglas Everglades

“There are no other Everglades in the world”(Douglas 104)

In this world there are very few places in the United States that can relate. For Florida to hold such a vast piece of land is not only a place for future wildlife to thrive but also a National Park for our future generations to learn about and love. The natural environment plays a huge role in our world and without it we wouldn’t exist. The Everglades is a key asset to our Sunshine state and there is no other place like it.

“Only one force can concur it and that’s fire” (Douglas 111)

The initiation of controlled fires is a major part of keeping a balance in the ecosystem. Without fires there would be an overgrowth of old and dead plants causing a buildup of muck. Controlled fires are an effective way of dealing with this situation and it is a good option. I do feel that there is other ways out there though that the environment can be controlled other then fires.

Off and on for those four hundred years the region now called “The Everglades” was described as a series of vast, miasmic swamps, poisonous lagoons, huge dismal marshes without outlet, a rotting, shallow, inland sea, or labyrinths of dark tree’s hung and looped about with snakes and dripping mosses, malignant with tropical fevers and malarias, evil to the white men” (Douglas 105)

I would honestly think the same thing if I lived in the rural areas of the everglades back in those days. The swamps would be infested with creatures much larger and not startled by humans. The everglades muddy trenches would startle me as well. The glades to play an important role in the environment and even though people didn’t know this back in the day. the natural beauty of the everglades really is portrayed in this quote.