Everglades National Park

Lore & Background

Humans have lived for thousands of years in or around the Everglades. Plans arose in 1882 to drain the wetlands for agricultural and residential use. As the 20th century progressed, water flow from Lake Okeechobee was increasingly controlled and diverted to enable explosive growth of the Miami metropolitan area. The park was established in 1934 to protect the quickly vanishing Everglades and dedicated in 1947, as major canal-building projects were initiated across South Florida. The ecosystems in the park have suffered significantly from human activity, and restoration is a politically charged issue in South Florida.

The Everglades are a network of wetlands and forests fed by a river flowing 0.25 miles per day out of Lake Okeechobee southwest into Florida Bay. The park is the most significant breeding ground for tropical wading birds in North America and contains the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere. Thirty-six threatened or protected species inhabit the park, including the Florida panther, the American crocodile, and the West Indian manatee. The majority of South Florida's fresh water, stored in the Biscayne Aquifer, is recharged in the park.

The terrain is relatively flat, with elevation typically ranging from 0 to 8 feet above sea level. The limestone underlying the Everglades is integral to its diverse ecosystems. The park covers 1,508,976 acres across Dade, Monroe, and Collier counties. The National Park Service recognizes nine distinct interdependent ecosystems within the park that constantly shift in size due to water and environmental factors.

Reader's Guide

Everglades National Park is notable as the first U.S. national park created to protect a fragile ecosystem rather than geologic scenery. At the turn of the 20th century, common concepts of what should be protected in national parks invariably included formidable features like mountains, geysers, or canyons. Proponents of the park faced difficulty persuading the federal government and people of Florida that the subtle and constantly shifting ecosystems were worthy of protection. When established in 1947, it became the first area within the U.S. to protect flora and fauna native to a region as opposed to geologic scenery.

The park is one of only three locations in the world to appear on all three lists: UNESCO World Heritage Site (1979), Biosphere Reserve (1976), and Ramsar Wetland of International Importance (1987). It is the largest tropical wilderness in the United States and the third-largest national park in the contiguous United States after Death Valley and Yellowstone. The park's ecosystems have suffered significantly from human activity, including water diversion for the Miami metropolitan area. In recent years, scientists have observed that inland freshwater sites within the park are experiencing water-level increases matching regional sea-level rise, highlighting vulnerability to climate change and saltwater intrusion. The park's legacy includes its role in protecting the 'River of Grass'—a term popularized by Marjory Stoneman Douglas's 1947 book—and its critical function as the recharge zone for the Biscayne Aquifer, which supplies most of South Florida's fresh water.

World Heritage Recognition

Everglades National Park holds its place among the 27 World Heritage Sites recognized within the United States, a distinction that places it in a select group of locations deemed to possess outstanding universal value. As one of the 13 natural heritage sites on the American register, it is recognized for the qualities that define natural heritage under the UNESCO framework—physical and biological formations, geological and physiographical features, and sites of significance for science, conservation, or natural beauty. Florida, where the park resides, is home to multiple World Heritage designations, making it one of several states alongside Arizona, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, New York, and Pennsylvania that boast more than one entry. The United States itself ratified the World Heritage Convention on December 7, 1973, and the first American sites—Mesa Verde and Yellowstone—were inscribed at the 1978 session held in Washington, D.C. Everglades stands as a testament to the natural heritage category, meeting at least one of the criteria (vii through x) that UNESCO established for recognizing sites of exceptional natural importance.

Endangered Status and Aquatic Ecosystems

Everglades National Park has faced the most serious designation a World Heritage Site can receive: listing as endangered. The park was first placed on the endangered list in 1993, and that status persisted until 2007—a span of fourteen years during which the site's condition raised alarm among international conservation bodies. The designation was renewed in 2010, this time specifically citing the deterioration of the park's aquatic ecosystems as the driving concern. This makes Everglades one of only two American sites to have carried the endangered label, the other being Yellowstone National Park, which was listed between 1995 and 2003 over planned mining operations. The repeated endangered status underscores a persistent vulnerability in the park's water-dependent habitats. Under the UNESCO framework, natural heritage encompasses habitats of threatened species of animals and plants, as well as sites important for conservation—categories that place the health of Everglades' aquatic systems squarely at the center of its international significance. The repeated listings signal that the threats to these ecosystems have proven difficult to reverse across multiple decades.

The Path to Inscription

Before any site can be inscribed on the World Heritage List, it must first appear on its nation's tentative list—a prerequisite that the United States maintains with 16 properties currently awaiting potential nomination. Everglades National Park, like all 27 inscribed American sites, would have had to pass through this preliminary stage before earning its place on the official register. The inscription process requires that a site satisfy at least one of ten criteria established by UNESCO: criteria i through vi address cultural heritage, while criteria vii through x pertain to natural heritage. As a natural site, Everglades would have been evaluated against the latter set, which encompasses physical and biological formations, geological and physiographical features, and locations of importance for science, conservation, or natural beauty. The United States has also served as a member of the World Heritage Committee on five separate occasions—1976 through 1983, 1987 through 1993, 1993 through 1999, 1999 through 2001, and 2005 through 2009—giving the country direct involvement in the deliberations that shape the global list.

Florida's Place in the Global Heritage Landscape

Florida's inclusion of multiple World Heritage Sites among the 27 recognized in the United States positions the state as a significant contributor to the nation's cultural and natural legacy. Alongside Arizona, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, New York, and Pennsylvania, Florida is one of the states that hosts more than one inscribed property. The 27 sites are distributed across 23 states and two territories, with two transboundary sites shared with Canada. Within this broader landscape, Everglades National Park represents the natural heritage strand of Florida's contributions, complementing any cultural designations the state may hold. The convention that governs all these listings was established in 1972, and the United States accepted it on December 7, 1973. The first American inscriptions—Mesa Verde and Yellowstone—occurred at the second session of the World Heritage Committee in 1978 in Washington, D.C., setting a precedent that would eventually encompass a site like Everglades. The most recent addition to the American list, as of the available records, is the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, inscribed in 2026, continuing the slow but steady expansion of recognized heritage across the country.