A Big Day for Everglades National Park

Photo Credit: National Park Service.

Everglades National Park has released the new general management plan which will protect the park for the next 20+ years (the last revision was in 1978). These changes have been in the works for the last twelve years, and are an attempt to balance the need to protect the delicate ecological systems of the Everglades with access for visitors and protection of the livelihoods of "Gladesmen" who have utilized the park for generations.

The new rules will restrict usage in some areas. They call for phasing out the use of private airboats in the park, and will limit the number of commercial airboat operations. They will also create more areas where motorized vessels are forbidden in Florida Bay (average depth: 3 feet) in an effort to protect seagrass beds from damaging boat strikes. The new rules open up areas which were previously closed to the public (to promote crocodile recovery) to recreational catch-and-release fishing, and propose the addition of 85,300 acres to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness.

The new plan will formally go into effect after the required 30 day waiting period. Interested folks can follow the Miami Herald's coverage, read the National Park Service press release, or download and read the full plan here.