My first trip to Florida and I needed to take a few days to
explore. First stop the Everglades.The Everglades are a natural
region of subtropical wetlands in the southern of Florida,
comprising the southern half of a large watershed. The
Everglades are shaped by water and fire, experiencing frequent
flooding in the wet season and drought in the dry season. Writer
Marjory Stoneman Douglas popularized the term "River of Grass"
to describe the sawgrass marshes, part of a complex system of
interdependent ecosystems that include cypress swamps, the
estuarine mangrove forests of the Ten Thousand Islands, tropical
hardwood hammocks, pine rockland, and the marine environment of
Florida Bay. This seemingly endless sea of grass and "swamp" is
occupied by the American alligator and crocodile, otters, the
magnificent Florida panther, bobcats, roseate spoonbills,
ospreys, snowy egrets, great blue herons, dozens of species of
reptiles, and many mammal species. Hundreds of kinds of fish and
over three hundred varieties of b