Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the Everglades are forever intertwined. In fact, the National Park Service refers to her as the “Defender of the Everglades.”
She nicknamed the Everglades the River of Grass in 1947 to reflect the area’s slow movement of shallow sheet flow through the marshes.
In 1947, she wrote the book, The Everglades: River of Grass, which is the same year the Everglades National Park was established. She fought hard to protect the Everglades. After several reprints, there was a revised edition was published in 1987, to draw attention to the continuing unresolved threats to the Everglades.
She was one of the first people to bring attention to the Everglades and the south Florida ecosystem being in trouble due to construction programs in the 1950s by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She felt this organization was destroying the wetland, eliminating the sheet flow of water, and disturbing/changing the natural cycles of the ecosystem.
She knew the Everglades depended on the flow of water from Lake Okeechobee into the Park and upon the Kissimmee River that feeds into the lake.
In 1970, she formed the Friends of the Everglades and was actively involved. She was against the Everglades being drained and developed.
Douglas was an American journalist, author, and women’s suffrage advocate.
In her book, she spent five years researching the Park and south Florida. The book sold out in a month.
The Christian Science Monitor wrote of the book, “Today her book is not only a classic of environmental literature, it also reads like a blueprint for what conservationists are hailing as the most extensive environmental restoration project ever undertaken anywhere in the world.”
Come down and explore this beautiful wetland that Douglas loved and fought to protect.
At Captain Mitch’s Airboat Tours, we love this Park, and we are lucky to show people its beauty and importance daily.
Come on down to the Everglades and ride with us on an Everglades airboat tour to truly experience this wetland. An airboat ride is a great way to get around the Everglades.
For a private, guided tour through Everglades, book an airboat tour with Captain Mitch’s Airboat Tours.
To book an airboat ride, call 800-368-0065 or visit our Private Everglades Airboat Tours page. We are open seven days a week 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. If paying by cash, adults cost $40 (plus tax) and children 12 and under cost $20 (plus tax. If paying by credit card, adults cost $45 (plus tax) and children cost $25 (plus tax).
Want to safely explore the Everglades? There’s so many different ways to explore it, including an airboat tour. A ride on an airboat gives you an up-close-and-personal view of the Everglades; it’s a trip you’ll never forget.
To book an airboat trip, call 800-368-0065 or visit our Everglades Airboat Tours page. We are open seven days a week 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. If paying by cash, adults cost $40 (plus tax) and children 12 and under cost $20 (plus tax. If paying by credit card, adults cost $45 (plus tax) and children cost $25 (plus tax).
