Everglades

Alligators, pictured in the Everglades, Florida, USA. The Everglades is a swampy area at the southern end of the state, and was made a national park in 1947. The alligator is related to the crocodile, but is smaller and less likely to attack people.

Subtropical area of swamps, marsh, and lakes in southern Florida, USA; area 7,000 sq km/2,700 sq mi. Formed by the overflow of Lake Okeechobee after heavy rains, it is one of the wildest areas in the USA, with distinctive plant and animal life, including alligators. The natural vegetation of the swamplands is sawgrass and rushes, with trees such as cypress, palm, and hardwoods where the conditions are slightly drier. Several hundred Seminole, an American Indian people, live here. A national park (established in 1947) covers the southern tip of the Everglades, making up about one-fifth of the Everglades' original area. The Everglades were declared an International Biosphere Reserve in 1976, a World Heritage site in 1979, and a Wetland of International Importance in 1987.

Large drainage programmes have reduced the flow of water from the lake southwards, threatening the region's ecological balance, while pesticide and fertilizer run-off from sugar-cane farms has left the water heavily contaminated. In 1996 the US government announced a $1.5 billion investment plan to rescue the Everglades and measures were put in place to reduce environmental damage. The Everglades Restoration Plan, costing an estimated US$7.8 million spread over 20 years, aimed to return the Everglades to how it was in the 1940s, before the intervention by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The army built canals and levees and drained marshland for agriculture and building, but they now plan to try reverse these changes. The project will affect 28,000 sq km/72,520 sq mi of land from Orlando to the Florida Keys.

A species protection plan for the Everglades was approved in May 1999 by the US Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. The plan provides protection for 68 species, including the Florida panther.