The fabled River of Grass has been greatly diminished in size and productivity due to decades of harmful land conversion and water management. FWF supports moving sufficient clean water south from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades.
Everglades’ Restoration
Let’s Protect the Everglades
The fabled Everglades ecosystem once stretched from the Orlando southward to Florida Bay. This fabulous and unique combination of land and water was once home to extraordinary populations of birdlife and special creatures, such as the Florida panther. Since 1900, development, agriculture, and the construction of the Hoover Dike around Lake Okeechobee has now shrunk the Everglades and water flow has been drastically altered to the detriment of the ‘Glades and its inhabitants. Many years and tax dollars have been expended to try and “fix” the ‘Glades. The overarching goal is to move adequate and clean freshwater south to Everglades National Park and into long-suffering Florida Bay.
FWF has been involved in the fight for the Everglades for many years through advocacy and litigation against polluters. As environmentalist Marjorie Stoneman Douglas famously stated, “The Everglades is a test. If we pass it, we may get to keep the planet.”