By: David H.
Submitted: 2011-11-10 00:23:09 | Word Count: 560
Miami Beach is one of the more popular vacation destinations since the last one century. It is located in the Florida State of the United States. The city is situated on a barrier island between the Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The Bay demarcates the boundaries of the Miami Beach from the city of the same name.
There are many places of tourist significance which attracts the visitors and hence given it a proud position of being one of the busiest resort cities. The tourists love to enjoy the surf, sun and the sand at the various locations on the long stretch of the beach. Apart from this, there are also other places worth giving a thought.
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One of them is the Everglades National Park. It is the largest sub-tropical wilderness in the United States which is home to some of very rare and endangered species of flora and fauna. The Park has been designated as a World Heritage Site. It has also attained the position of International Biosphere Reserve and Wetland of International Importance making it very significant across the globe.
The National Park covers an area of 1,509,000 acres (6110 square kilometers) spread out through Dade, Broward, Monroe and Collier Counties in Florida. The Park elevation ranges from 0 to 8 feet above sea level. It also preserves one of the largest stands of pine rock land in the world. Everglades National Park was created to protect a fragile ecosystem which is considered to be one of the most biologically diverse in the South Florida area.
The Everglades has been formed as a result of a slow moving river which originates from the Lake Okeechobee and is fed by the Kissimmee River. It flows south west at about .25 miles per day into the Florida Bay. This has resulted in the formation of the unique wetlands in the Everglades. Interconnected networks of marshland and forest ecosystem are protected in the park which is maintained by the natural forces.
The Everglades National Park protects only the southern one-fifth part of the Park which houses a historic eco-system. The Everglades used to stretch from the Lake Okeechobee all the way down to Florida. But due to consistent human intervention, this area has been reduced to only one-quarters of the original which is being protected by the National Park. The whole wetland provides shelter to a unique assemblage of wildlife.
Due to the increase in the human connection with this place, the natural habitat of some of the rare species was being affected which led to the formation of the National Park. It serves some other purposes too. The National Park offers an ideal environment for the scientific studies related to the flora and fauna and also the impact of man on the natural world.
The Everglades National Park was set up in 1928 when Floridians began to get concerned over the depleting natural resources and the Legislature established the Tropical Everglades National Park Commission to study the formation of a protected area which was led by a land developer turned conservationist Ernest F. Coe who later became renowned as the Father of the Everglades National Park.
Thus, this unique bio-diversity zone became one of the most sought after tourist destination in Florida. People visiting Miami Beach generally plan a trip to the Everglades National Park which is one of its kinds in the whole country.
