How Humans Impact Everglades National Park: Water, Pollution, Invasives & Climate

The Everglades—a vast, slow-moving "River of Grass" in South Florida—faces four major human-driven threats:

1. Water Management Disruption

Canals, levees, and agricultural drainage have severed the natural sheet-flow of freshwater, starving the ecosystem and altering seasonal flooding patterns essential to its health.

2. Pollution

Runoff from farms (nitrogen, phosphorus), sewage, and industry fuels harmful algal blooms, degrades water quality, and smothers submerged vegetation.

3. Invasive Species

Non-native invaders—most notoriously the Burmese python—outcompete or prey on native wildlife (deer, rabbits, alligators, birds), unraveling food webs.

4. Climate Change

Rising seas push saltwater into freshwater marshes; altered rainfall and stronger hurricanes further stress habitats and species.

Addressing these intertwined challenges requires coordinated restoration (e.g., CERP), pollution controls, invasive-species management, and climate adaptation strategies.