The Everglades is the only ecological province of its kind in the world. The United Nations and other international organizations have recognized the Everglades as being a World Heritage Site, an International Biosphere Reserve, and a Wetland of International Importance. Information on these designations The Everglades Village exists to save the remaining Everglades from man-made devastation.

The Everglades remained an untamed wilderness into the early 1900s. In 1905, conservation officer Guy Bradley was murdered by poachers seeking plumage for women's hats. He was the first of many to die tragically has they worked to protect the Everglades and its wildlife from the worst effects of development. Memorials for those who have died while performing conservation work in the Everglades

The Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida remain in the region today in part due to the inability of the U.S. Army to penetrate the Everglades wilderness in its pursuit of the Tribe from the 1820s through the 1850s. Further Information: The Seminole Indian Tribe , The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida

In 1906, Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, a newly elected Florida governor pledged to drain the wilderness and the construction of large drainage canals got underway. By the 1930s, with the depression, development slowed, but never creased. After hurricanes in 1947, Congress directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to design and build an extensive drainage and flood control system called the Central and Southern Florida (C&SF) Project. Information on the development of the C&SF Project: Information on the serious peril of the Everglades In addition, highlights on some of the major restoration-related issues are at: The South Florida Restoration Science Forum, and a number of restoration web sites are available on our Restoration Links page.

Although the environmental movement in Florida began to gain strength in the 1970s, and the 1980s fostered continuing environmental legislation, it was not until the 1990s that environmental activists and their lawsuits created a "political will" to undo man's stranglehold on the Everglades.

In 1993, a taskforce of representatives from six federal Departments was created by an interagency agreement. In 1996, the taskforce was given statutory authority and its membership expanded to include representatives from Florida State and local governments and from the sovereign Miccosukee and Seminole Indian Tribes of Florida. Information on the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Taskforce

In addition, the Taskforce has prepared two summaries on the restoration efforts: Maintaining the Momentum and Success in the Making. The Miccosukee Tribe has prepared a supplement to the Maintaining the Momentum which is entitled: Facing Up to Problems in Everglades Restoration (An Additional View).

In 1994, Governor Lawton Chides created the Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida. In 1999, Governor Jeb Bush created the Governor's Commission for the Everglades to serve as an advisory body to the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force and as s a forum for improving decision-making and public participation in Everglades Restoration and South Florida economic and community sustainability and to fulfill other specified needs.

In July 1999, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers submitted a Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) expected to cost nearly $8 billion to modify the massive principal drainage system in the Everglades over a 20-year construction period. The plan is the result of a Restoration Study-Restudy that was authorized by Congress in 1992. Information on CERP

Modification of the main drainage system is only one of the many restoration efforts that are vital to the Everglades' survival. Please visit the above web sites and other sites within Everglades Village to learn more and to join us in the largest effort by mankind to save a unique and irreplaceable part of this planet.