In the early 1970s, there were ambitious plans to build a big airport in the middle of the Big Cypress Wetlands—next to the Everglades national park and one of the various Seminole Reservations in Florida. Public reaction was swift, a massive environmentalist effort was launched to oppose it, and in the end, the environmentalists won. An area about the size of Rhode Island was set aside and legally protected. Rather than incorporating it into the existing Everglades National park, the national Park Service incorporated the area as the Big Cypress National Preserve, which would allow more public access than a National Park would. Today the Preserve protects habitat for a wide variety of wildlife including endangered Florida Panthers and Florida Black Bears. And it’s a birder’s paradise.
Some photos from a day in the Preserve.