How the U.S. Government Broke the Everglades | Everglades National Park

Fantastic video! Very informative. I'll be looking forward to your next one.

As a Floridian, I always noticed that the everglades didn't really start in the national park. I always noticed that even Miami was once a major part of the everglades ecosystem before we drained it all.

"You can't build houses on land that's always flooded." Apparently, no one thought to inform New Orleans.

I’m an old hydrologist and it’s believe a shame how we’ve tampered with the Everglades and isolated other wetlands throughout the US with levies. They seek to control something that nature has already controlled in a far more elegant manner. Thanks for bringing this to your audience.

Being a 60 year old resident of South Louisiana, I can tell you it’s only going to get worse. The Mississippi River was diked after the great flood of 1927. That was the beginning of the end of South La. By stopping the river from overflowing it’s banks and carrying sediment to rebuild land, erosion became an issue. Like the glades, the fresh water then began to fall. Then came the oil companies. They dredged canals and introduced even more salt water, further destroying the the beautiful fresh water swamps. Big oil equals big money, and although ignorance may have started the problem when the river was diked, greed is now the biggest threat. What pisses me off is that it can be fixed; but you’d have to stop development and get politicians to spend the money! Good luck.

Having been raised in Miami since the 60's I have heard this my whole life. We know what should be done, but big sugar, big money development is stronger. Having watch the Amazon rainforest being reduced by 30-40% in my lifetime makes one want to give up hope, yet there are people of conscience who still fight for righteousness, and that gives me hope!...save the Everglades....we know how.

I work for the Florida Coastal & Everglades Long Term Restoration Effort (FCELTER) and I sample once a month at sites SRS 1 - SRS 6 on the Shark River Slough. I had no idea about how important the work I am doing was. Thank you for telling this story!

I live in part of the Everglades on the Naples side. Not only has it permanently been damaged it’s shrinking. The other areas this affects is the gulf coast from a flow through the Colssahatchee river and out to 30miles off shore down to Everglades city is pretty much a dead zone. Prior to them screwing it up the water on this coast looked like the Florida keys my mom has family pictures waterskiing in punta gorda and it looked like key largo

As a child growing up in Wellington, which is close to lake okeechobee, we used to have a field trip that would take us to the sugar processors. I distinctly remember even as an 8-year-old questioning the health aspects and benifits of the sugar plantations that would burn the sugar cane in massive fires every winter and into spring which produced the other type of Florida "snow" which would rain down upon our houses and cars. If you have ever seen the oil field fires of the Persian gulf war it's similar to that when they burn sugar cane. The amount of phosphorus, nitrogen and random chemicals pumped out still to this day are serious cause for concern. It's kind of interesting to see how they try to indoctrinate children into the false ideological belief that sugar processors are good for the environment, 🤣. What a tragic condition for the everglades, ugh

The everglades were destroyed long ago. Once Lake Okeechobee was diked, the system stopped functioning as it had. Also the Tamiami Trail cut off water flow to Florida bay and various canals diverted the water to the Gulf or the Atlantic. More recently invasive species (both plant and animal) have taken over the ecosystem and wiped out much of the native wildlife. So, what is left is just some managed park areas with little diversity or vibrancy. Once the decision was made to make the landscape suit our needs, the everglades was done.

I'm a native. I don't think the everglades will ever be restored to even close to full glory. We refuse to build up, so cities constantly expand. I'm not that old, yet I have seen an entire planed development turn swamp and cow pasture into golf courses and strip malls for thousands of acres. Expansion of more mcmansions never seems to stop. Until everything blends into one mega city, built right up to the edge of the everglades. Only then will people figure out what we destroyed. Then I would guess what's left would be destroyed to build another parking lot cause "why not, we already killed the everglades, let's just finish it off with another subdivision". Even right down the street from me, I watched a development be built against all scientific advice and assessments. Now surrounding communities experience flooding. Everyone knows bribes made this happen. Benderson development owns this town now, and they always get their way.

I'm not even 2 seconds in and I just want to say THANK YOU for featuring the everglades. Its always forgotten by National Park clothing stores or influencers and its such a unique ecosystem. The Everglades used to go all the way up to the northern border of Orange county (Orlando!) and its at constant risk of disappearing. Only the fact that a lot of it is on federally recognized native land is stopping a lot of it. But between destroying the ecosystem, construction, invasive species from legal and illegal animal trades, etc, this one of a kind place is just....a wreck. its so sad. The same can be said for Lake Okeechobee and the red algae blooms in the west and east coasts. More people need to talk about the Everglades.

Unfortunately with invasive species, I don’t think the Everglades will ever be what it once was. The python issue alone devastated the Everglades showing overwhelming evidence of native species being all but wiped out.

Awesome video. I'm a Florida native and I have to say that the everglades are destroyed! between all the people who continue to move here ,and the exotic wild life that has ruined the park. The pythons have wiped out the deer, raccoons, bobcats, rabbits and much more. It is ashamed to see this happening. Algie blooms now take over lake Okeechobee and run off from the lake flows into the gulf of Mexico and red tide begins almost every summer. Hopefully something will be done but unfortunately it's a sad situation

The restoration project, the most expensive government funded ecological project in all of history, is mostly done and has worked wonders. Water flow has been mostly been restored back to their seasonal flows. I've been visiting and studying the everglades for about 50 years and it's amazing how far it's come. The biggest problem now is the destructive and non-indiginous species of python that have been released in Southern Florida. Small.mamals have basically disappeared because ignorant "pet" owners got tired of their "cool" pets.

As a Lifelong Floridian & retired Science teacher, 25yrs, this video is well done and needed. Kudos

“And progress came and took its toll And in the name of flood control They made their plans and they drained the land Now the glades are going dry And the last time I walked in the swamp I sat upon a Cypress stump I listened close and I heard the ghost of Osceola cry” -John Anderson Seminole Wind, 1998

Great job! Maybe it's just me, but anytime the corps of army engineers gets involved in Florida, I know it's going to get messed up! Truly a great video, keep up the great work!

As a lifetime South Floridian I have seen and studied this my whole life and I think this is a great video. One thing to add to this video is how the water flow out the south Everglades, or lack of, effects Florida Bay. The original flow from the glades created a huge brackish area that is now much saltier and has killed/displaced much of the native plants and animals. I have also hypothesized that less water has effected the corals of the Keys by taking away nutrients and cover in the summer rain season. Another idea is that the government could rotate the agriculture zones between flow and agriculture, replenishing the soil.

I lived in Florida years back and the everglades always attracted my attention. I had a friend that worked for one of the "Large" farming corporations down there and I got a first hand look at the farms around Immokalee and other areas and you can see how much modification had to be down just for water management. Just like the saying goes "Give an Inch take a mile" big corporations own that land and all the damage by proposed good intentions 60+years ago fixing it will be slow and just like back then the tax payer will be footing the bill