Water is the heart’s blood of South Florida and the Everglades. With water comes life, creating an ongoing cycle of life: birds, mammals, and reptiles mating, nesting, nurturing babies, surviving. All take place in mystical landscapes inhabited by some form of life: human, bird, animal, or reptile. Every day is a National Geographic special. We want to stun people with Everglades’ beauty and win their hearts. During the Seminole Wars, rather than be forced west, some Seminoles and Miccosukee found refuge in the Everglades. Initially the white man viewed the Everglades more as a liquid wasteland that needed to be “reclaimed” for agriculture and development rather than a rich biological treasure. Marjory Stoneman Douglas’ River of Grass flowing south was diverted by canals, dikes, and dams, subduing nature but creating a future ecological nightmare. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, feathers were worth more than gold, and plumers killed 95% of the wading birds. Today, due to the appetite for development and farming, Everglades National Park is less than half its original size and is desperate for water. Known for its alligators, America’s largest concentration of wading birds also live in the Everglades. Meanwhile, the Park soldiers on and is home to more than 300 species of birds, alligators and crocodiles, turtles, mammals, and fish, including 20 endangered species and 10 threatened species.