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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
EVER_050121_056.JPG: Alligators play a crucial role in the natural water management of the Everglades. During the dry season, gators take refuge in water-filled holes in the bedrock that they clear of muck and vegetation. Gator holes serve as an oasis for a myriad of life. Fish, turtles, and birds, along with the alligators, find food and water for sustenance while the glades are parched. When summer rains return, life moves from the gator holes to repopulate the open glades.
EVER_050121_257.JPG: Got water?
This is not a simple question in Florida. Rainfall is generally abundant. Yet every day, canals now flush to sea about 1.7 billion gallons of fresh water. The Everglades, one of America's foremost treasures, has been shattered by this interruption. Only half of the historic wetlands remain.
Water must start to flow as nearly as nature intended again or the Everglades will not survive. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan defines a 36-year strategy to rescue and protect the ecosystem while provided for other water-related needs: (1) provide flood control, (2) store water for future use, and (3) provide water to the natural system.
Historic Flow: An uninterrupted network of interconnected rivers, lakes and wetlands watered southern Florida 100 years ago. The feeding and breeding strategies of birds, fish, reptiles, and other wildlife utterly depend on the seasonal rhythms of this free-flowing water supply.
Today's Flow: Less than one-half of the Everglades remains. Drainage and flood control projects begun in the 1940's have destroyed the ecosystem's ability to nurture plants and animals and to filter pollution from the water. Many species are in decline or endangered.
The Plan Flow: The restoration plan gives 20 percent of retained water to cities and farms and 80 percent to the natural environment. It hopes to correct some problems of the quantity, quality, timing, and distribution of nature's finite water supply.
Precious Drops: Earth's water supply is finite, yet out demand keeps increasing as our population grows. How can we balance the water needs of people and the environment? In the end, conservation of our wetlands and water resources is the only answer.
(The sign ends with: This exhibit was funded through private donations by the employees of the Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice, in honor of Attorney General Janet Reno, who served from 1993 to 2001.)
EVER_050121_433.JPG: The hole in the limestone is described by a sign: The limestone here was deposited beneath the ocean as it covered the Florida peninsula approximately 100,000 years ago. Colonies of bryozoans and consolidated grains of calcium carbonate, called oolite, form the rock. Raised areas of limestone are necessary for the development of a hammock. The porous limestone acts like a sponge, allowing water to flow beneath the Everglades to meet the needs of the entire south Florida ecosystem -- people as well as wildlife.