9.1. Federal programs 
9.1.1. National Park Service 
The Everglades National Park is located on the southern tip of Florida and is part of the National 
Park Service (NPS). The park was authorized in 1934 and established in 1947. An excellent 
description of the Park can be found in the official guidebook (George, 1988). The Everglades is 
a low, flat region, mostly under water, which sustains a variety of habitats. The Everglades is 
also a river, about 6 in. deep, which originally flowed from Lake Okeechobee, more than 100 
miles north in central Florida, into Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Drainage canals 
constructed after the turn of the century changed both the rate and direction of freshwater 
outflow. The coastal ecosystem of the Everglades is composed of a variety of habitats: Florida 
Bay; the coastal prairie; the vast mangrove forest and its waterways; cypress swamps; the 
true everglades, the extensive freshwater marsh dotted with tree islands and occasional 
ponds; and the driest zone, the pine-and-hammock rockland. Underlying the entire Park is 
porous limestone covered by a thin mantle of marl and peat which provides soil for rooting 
plants. The Everglades fauna and flora are a blend of tropical species, most of which migrated 
from the Caribbean islands, and species from the Temperate Zone, which embraces all of 
Florida. These species have adapted to the region's peculiar cycles of flood, drought, and fire. 
The coastal mangrove forests, traversed by thousands of estuarine channels and containing 
numerous bays and sounds, are extremely productive biologically. On the west side of the Park 
is the Flamingo Visitor Center, located on Cape Sable. Whitewater Bay is located between Cape 
Sable and the mainland Everglades. An ecological study of the Cape Sable-Whitewater Bay 
ecosystem can be found in Tabb and Dubrow (1962) and Tabb and Manning (1962). The Park was 
designated an International Biosphere Reserve in 1976; World Heritage Site in 1979; National 
Trails Designation in 1981; and a Wetland of International Significance in 1987. The Everglades 
Expansion Act added 107,600 acres to the Park in 1989. Chekika was added to the Park in 
1991. Currently its total acreage is approximately 1,500,000 acres, including land and water. 
Robblee et al. (1989) compiled quantitative observations on salinity within Florida Bay since 
1936 from 29 published and unpublished studies and analyzed these data to characterize typical 
salinity conditions and determine long-term temporal and spatial changes that may occur within 
this estuary. Multiple spatially distributed observations within a given year were not available 
until 1957. A total of 6,231 records were available for this analysis. During all but unusually 
high rainfall years, evaporation exceeds upland runoff into Florida Bay and hypersaline 
conditions (>35 °/oo) prevail throughout most of the main body of the Bay. Annual monthly 
average salinity observations exceeded 35 °/oo within one or more areas of the Bay 12 out of 
the 17 yrs for which data was available since 1956. One or more areas of the Bay have 
exceeded 35 °/oo during at least one month every year for which sufficient spatial and 
temporal data were available. The highest salinity conditions consistently occurred within the 
central basins lying between the Whipray-Buttonwood Keys on the west and Captains, Russell 
and Black Betsy Keys to the east. Lowest salinities consistently occurred within the upper 
northeast reaches including Little Madeira and Joe Bays. An increasing salinity gradient 
consistently occurred from the upper Nest Key basin eastward into Blackwater Sound 
suggesting the major region of upland runoff lies between Little Madeira and Joe Bays. Seasonal 
dynamics of salinity conditions within the Bay were tied to the distinct seasonal rainfall 
conditions of south Florida although considerable annual variability has occurred in the specific 
month of maximum and minimum salinity. Lowest concentrations have typically occurred during 
the late summer or fall months while highest salinities occur during late spring. Seasonal and 
annual variability in concentrations were greatest within the northeastern region of the Bay. 
Within year ranges of monthly mean values as great as 52 %x> have been recorded within Little 
Madeira Bay. High concentrations occurring in late spring were often rapidly diluted following 
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