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Everglades to be put back on U.N. endangered list?
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is meeting with a task force charged with overseeing the restoration of the Florida Everglades this week. He intends to tell them that the Obama administration will ask the United Nations World Heritage Committee to put the national park back on its endangered list when the committee meet in Spain this week. Two years ago, in what has been viewed as a controversial decision, the Bush administration requested that the U.N. remove the Everglades from the list. At the time, the Department of the Interior defended the decision by citing progress being made in protecting the region and the species that lived there, despite the fact that the restoration program had failed to meet milestones, and was billions over budget.
Despite the issues effecting the park, the Everglades remains a popular tourist destination. There are more than 156 miles of canoe/kayak and hiking trails, with 47 designated campsites, inside the 2500 square miles of subtropical forest that define the parks boundaries. The Park Service reports that over one million visitors experience the Everglades each year.
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Filed under: Activism, Hiking, Learning, Paddling, North America, United States, Camping, Ecotourism
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
rotaggator Jul 4th 2009 12:49AM
If the everglades goes on the endangered list add humans. In ten years or so there will be so many alligators in the glades the humans will not be able to go there.
Totally agree with Carol Lowery, non-native species should be eliminated. Laws should be passed that makes it illegal for folks to have pets that grow to be dangerous to native species.
Pinky Jul 4th 2009 2:21AM
I just don't understand where all the hatred for each other is coming from in this country. What ever happened to civility, kindness, fair and open debate without calling names and insulting anyone with a different opinion? Come on folks, life is too short to waste it hating and insulting. Can't we just talk, even if we differ?
ME Jul 4th 2009 1:00AM
I think a lot of you that commented need to do some research before you start to debate an issue. You are correct, the Everglades do not run North of the lake and that is because humans made it so. They originally covered approximately 3/4 of Florida's land from Orlando to the southern tip. This is Florida's primary source of drinking water and should be protected and defended by anyone that will listen, including the UN. Putting it on the list could help to stop the overbuilding and overpopulation of areas that are detrimental to it's survival. It is the only place of it's kind on Earth and needs to survive for Humans to survive just like the rainforests. Do not alter Mother Earth's delicate balance or we all will pay the price. And yes, I would say the 1 million visitor number is pretty accurate.
ZAK Jul 4th 2009 1:02AM
New Orleans should be placed on the list. It will be permanently underwater in the near future. The UN should spearhead initiatives to implement an international language and international standard of weights & measures. Both would go far to improve worldwide communications and trade.
Lucy Jul 4th 2009 1:20AM
Move the U.N. to France or Saudi Arabia.
The Everglades MUST be saved.
Rethuglicanssuckmynads Jul 4th 2009 1:24AM
I think we should feed all bible thumping republicans to the gators. this country would be a far better place. Next we should give back Texas to Mexico that would take care of most of the repukes in the country. We can always shoot the rest.
Ed Jul 4th 2009 1:54AM
The UN thinks the Everglades is endangered; the EPA thinks that carbon dioxide (what humans exhale) is a pollutant (tell that tho the trees that use it every minute of their lives to create the oxygen we breathe); Obama gives the banks 700 BAZILLION dollars that they don't want; Obama bails out GM then makes their emission requirements more strict (therefore making it harder for them to build cars that will make a profit & a step towards putting them out of business); the Democraps (yes, "CRAPS") pass cap & trade legislation so that you must pass an environmental test to resell your house, further destroying the home resale market; Obama is a Democrap but supports the unconstitutional and un-democratic attempt by the Honduran president to stay in office; he will push nationalized health care that no one wants that will put private health care out of business and will give the government free rein to charge whatever they want; and my company has filed bankruptcy but I don't see "The Prez" bailing us out. I hate what he is doing to my country. He is killing free enterprise. HEIL OBAMA!
BRiTNEY Jul 4th 2009 1:55AM
Like we need alligators, they should get the military in there killin' those biotchs. Sharks next, drive 'em off our planet.
GB Jul 4th 2009 2:26AM
I live in FL. Stop developing, we cannot sell what we have. If the UNITED Nations Commitee has anything to do with the Everglades and Nature - they should think twice about Turtle bridges for millions and foreign snakes killing people.
Miriam Jul 6th 2009 3:41AM
TO ALL YOULEFT WINDS, MENTAL DISORDER, DRUG ADDICTIVE, i WILL SAID THIS TO ALL OF YOU. IN RUSSIA, IN THE STALIN TIMES THERE WERE USELESS IDIOTS LIKE YOU ARE NOW IN AMERICA, AFTER A WHILE HAVING HIS FUN, HE SENT THEM TO THE TAIGA TO DIE. THE UNITED NATIONS ARE NOW FULL OF THIRD COUNTRIES IN A GREAT POWERTY, AND WITH IDEALS OF COMMUNISM OR TEOCHRATIC DICTATORSHIPS MUSLIMS, THEY ARE GOING TO BE ALWAYS AGAINST OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, UNTIL A GROUP OF REAL AMERICANS WITH BIG COJONES, ARMED WITHPINCH AND FORKS ARE GOING TO FAIGHT BACK AGAINST THE DESTRUCTIVE MENTALITY OF THE LEFT AND PUSH THEM BACK TO WHERE THEY BELONG, TO HELL!!!!! GLOBAL WARMING MY ASS, THE SUN FLARES ARE THE ONES CREATING THE PROBLEMS THAT WE HAVE IN OUR PLANET, DON'T BE SUCH BRAIN WASH IDIOTS, DON'T BE SUCH SOB ENVIOUS FOR PEOPLE WHO SUCCESS IN THIS COUNTRY, WHILE YOU ARE A MEDIOCRE ONE MAJORITY. I AM ALWAYS BEING POOR, IN A BUDGET, I NEVER DESIRE THE GOODS OF THE HARDWORKING PEOPLE AND I LIFE HAPPY TO HAVE "FREEDOM TO SAID WHATEVER I WANT WITHOUT RETALIATION" .WE THE RIGHT CAN'T TALK AND EXPOSE OUR POINTS OF VIEWS, BUT YOU EVEN MAKE A MOVIE IN HOW TO KILL PRESIDENT BUSH, YOU ARE THE MURDERERS, THE ENVIOUS, FOR BEING A SIMPLE MEDIOCRE EMPLOYEE WHO WILL NEVER ACCOMPLISH NOTHING ONLY RAGE AND HATE. LEEEEAAAVVEE THIS COUNTRY GO TO THE COMMUNIST ONES , AND WILL RUN BACK ASKING FORGIVNESS BUNCH OF COWARDS...
Al Schrader Jul 4th 2009 5:43AM
I grew - up in the glades. I was there back in the day before any of it was endangered & ALL of the aligators still roamed. If you are interested & like true stories I'll take a minute and tell you what it was really like....alfredschrader@aol.com
LupineBD Jul 9th 2009 9:08AM
When people refer to the Everglades there are actually one of three things that they may be referring to. 1) The actual "river of grass" that runs from Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico, the true Everglades. 2) The national park that encompasses 1.5 million acres of the southern portion of the true Everglades, along with the mangrove estuaries and a large portion of Florida Bay. 3) The Everglades watershed, also known as the Greater Everglades Ecosystem that includes water from the Orlando Chain of Lakes area, the Kissimmee River, lake Okeechobee, the River of Grass, Big Cypress Swamp, the 10,000 Islands, the mangrove estuaries, Florida Bay, the Florida Keys and the Florida reef tract - all areas that are impacted by water within the watershed.