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The Everglades marsh, or river of grass as it came to be known, once covered over 4,000 square miles foot note1. For over 5,000 years, water flowed southward in a slow moving sheet up to three feet deep and 50 miles wide stretching from Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico. Decades of drainage projects for flood control and agricultural purposes, together with encroaching urban development, reduced the marsh's original extension by half. These changes disrupted and diverted the seasonal flow, distribution, and quantity of the water which historically made its way through the watershed and which was critical for its survival. Everglades National Park (ENP) was created in 1934 by an act of Congress foot note 2 in response to public pressure to preserve "an untouched example of the Everglades of Florida...as a national park." foot note 3. President Truman dedicated the Park in 1947.
The largest federal wilderness area in the east, ENP is also of international significance, having been designated as a World Biosphere Reserve (1976) , a World Heritage Site (1979) , and a Wetland of International Importance. foot note 6 It is the only wetland in the western hemisphere to receive these multiple designations.
1. First Draft SWIM Plan, Vol. III, at A-11, Technical Report (November 8, 1989). Cited in Motion of the United States for Partial Summary Judgment on Liability at 21, U.S. v. SFWMD, No. 88-1886 (S.D. Fla. filed Nov., 1990). (Kahn refers to 9,000 square miles for the Kissimmee River-Lake Okeechobee-Everglades watershed, cited in Jamieson, Protection of the Everglades Ecosystem: a Legal Analysis, 6 Pace Environmental Law Review 24 (1988)). 2. Everglades National Park Authorization Act, 16 U.S.C. sec 410 (1988) (enacted 1934). 3. M. Frome, The Everglades, in Rand McNally National Park Guide 30 (16th ed. 1982), cited in Jamieson at 28. 4. Jamieson at 24. 5. H.R. Rep. No. 1455, 91st Cong., cited in Erwin, at 165. 6. Motion of the United States for Partial Summary Judgment on Liability at 11-12, U.S. v. SFWMD, No. 88-1886 (S.D. Fla. filed Nov., 1990).
The Ramsar Information Sheet on Wetlands of International Importance Directory of Wetlands of International Importance: an Update (Ramsar, 1996) Directory of Wetlands of International Importance: an Update (Ramsar, 1993)
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03/25/03
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Everglades
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