Discovery channel orientation video to the park.
- Credit / Author:
- Discovery Channel
- Date created:
- 2008-01-01
Narrator: Where there is water, there is life.
And nowhere is this more true than right here in South Florida's national parks.
Everglades. Biscayne. Dry Tortugas. Big Cypress.
Four spectacular natural and cultural treasures.
All created by water, all linked by water, and all in every South Floridian's backyard.
These water wonderlands offer places to explore and to have fun.
And at the heart of this vast, interconnected ecosystem is the Everglades: The largest of Florida's national parks.
A one and a half million acre wilderness harboring a wide array of plants and animals.
From the microscopic to the menacing. And slowly drifting over it all is the engine that drives the Everglades.
Wherever you go, you are witnessing life-giving water flow through a great sea of grass.
This is a river of life.
In its variety and abundance, the Everglades has few rivals.
Almost four hundred species of birds. Fifty kinds of reptiles.
Dozens of mammals. And countless fish and insects find refuge in these life-giving waters.
South Florida sits on the edge of both temperate and tropical environments making it the largest subtropical ecosystem in America.
This means plants and animals from much farther North live side by side with creatures from the Tropics.
The Everglades delicate ecosystem supports a wondrously complex web of life.
Completely in tune with the seasonal fluctuations of water.
But over the last hundred years, the Everglades were dammed, diked, and drained.
Diverting water to feed thirsty farms and cities.
As less water entered the ecosystem, the Everglades shrank reducing it to less than one-third of its original size.
For life to return to the way it was, we must turn back the clock to replicate the water's original plan.
Nature will hopefully do the rest.
The future will be a balancing act.
As South Florida's population grows, so will the need for open space and a slice of nature.
This will only happen if the Everglades and all of South Florida's national parks continue to be restored and preserved. They are all one vast, interconnected ecosystem. All linked together by water.
