Current Human Impact

Everglades is one of the ecosystems that have been damaged the most due to human activities. The covered 11,000 sq mi of Florida. Since around 1900, people began to drain the Everglades to convert the wetlands into agricultural land. Also, flood-prevent projects such as the “Central and South Florida Project” built canals to transport water from the Everglades into the ocean. Currently, this project’s canals divert nearly 2 billion gallons of water daily from the Everglades into the ocean. As the water quantity decreased significantly, the ecosystem was deteriorated, suppressed the growth of native plants, and promoted growth of algae. Most importantly, due to lack of water, more than half of its original wetland became dry land. Also, as the freshwater is diverted directly into the ocean from the lake, the process of hypersalinity (natural water filtering system) is suppressed, promoting occurrence of soil fires and saltwater backflow from the ocean. This resulted in decrease in number of mangroves, seagrass beds, fish and other native organisms.

Conversion of everglades into residential land and agricultural land is still an ongoing problem as the population of Florida is rapidly growing. Increase in residential and agricultural land destroyed wildlife habitat. In addition, as the number of residents increase, more freshwater is needed. To fulfill the needs, the ground water and surface water are diverted, consequently draining out Everglade ecosystem. The water flowing from agricultural land and urban areas into the Everglades has been polluted with pesticides and fertilizers- mostly nitrogen and phosphorus.