Friends of the Everglades

Friends strives to protect and restore the Greater Kissimmee-Okeechobee-Everglades Ecosystem.  Our primary tools are education, outreach and advocacy.

In this site, you will find information on the Florida Everglades and on how you can help us all win the fight to protect one of the world's unique natural treasures.

Stretching south from the vast 700 square mile Lake Okeechobee, nourished by the rain soaked Kissimmee River Basin, the Everglades is a wide slow moving river of marsh and sawgrass covering some 4,500 square miles, flowing quietly, peacefully, towards the mangrove estuaries of the Gulf of Mexico.

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Along the way, water nourishes plants and animal life, evaporates providing cooling, clouds, winds and rain, soaks deep into the shallow limestone crusted underground aquifers and rivers and pushes back the brackish coastal waters of Florida bay.

The Everglades knows no seasons but its own. The rainy season is primed by vernal Atlantic storms sweeping in off the African coast. Its cycle is maintained by evaporation, rising air cooling and more rain falling. This cycle continues for half the year until the steady Atlantic winds begin to calm. The cycle then slows, the rains falter and the dry season begins.

The Everglades was formed over thousands of years by this seasonal cycle of pulsing water. Fish, moving freely, flourishing in the vast wet summer marshes are herded into deeper pools as the water recedes in the dry season. Birds, alligators, raccoons, and other mammals gather to these pools to feed on fish and frogs and other reptiles. The shallowing water provides cover and food for the many colonies of nesting wading birds that have migrated from their northern enclaves - Wood storks, Herons, Sandhill Cranes, Great White Egrets and Ibis gather, feed and raise their young.

Thousands of species of plants, birds, animals, fish and reptiles make their home in the Everglades. That home is under siege. Fifty years of draining and diking, digging and building have destroyed over half of the historic Everglades. The remnants are in peril despite a much heralded 8 billion dollar restoration plan. Shortcuts are being taken and compromises are being made. Delay and apathy are becoming its enemies. The result is that none of the dozens of threatened and endangered species have, or are likely to, make any progress soon - or soon enough.

Friends of the Everglades is a nonprofit grassroots organization dedicated to preserve, protect and restore the Everglades through education, outreach and advocacy. Become a member and lend your voice to that mission. We need your help 

A Few Details about Friends of the Everglades

The organization has approximately 4,000 members.

Friends of the Everglades is led by a volunteer Board of Directors and assisted by two part-time employees.

We follow all legislative and developmental projects which impact the Everglades.  We participate in all activities through which the public is involved in the legal decision-making processes.

When necessary, we legally challenge govermental and other practices which threaten the survival of the Everglades

We work to educate the public about Everglades Issues. Email us at eglades@bellsouth.net to join our email alert network and receive timely Everglades related information.

Our Founder: Marjory Stoneman Douglas

A famous author and writer, Marjory Stoneman Douglas died in 1998 a the age of 108.    She wrote "The Everglades: River of Grass" in 1947.  Her father, Frank Stoneman, founded the Miami Herald.  Ms. Douglas was awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1993 by President Clinton for her work on behalf of the Florida Everglades.  The Medal of Freedom is our nation's highest civilian award.