Poaching in the Everglades

The plants provide food for the herbivores. The herbivores provide food for the carnivores. Dead organic matter composts itself back into a nutrient-dense foundation that sustains new plant life. It is, in its absolute purest form, a circle of life. Susan Reese, former supervisory park ranger at Everglades National Park, wrote, Mangroves start the whole food web by dropping leaves into the water, and then the leaves are fed on by algae and bacteria.

Eventually the leaves break down, fall apart, become this nice detritus soup that's fed on by the smaller organisms, working their way up to the little crabs and shrimp, and then the fish, who feed the birds and dolphins, sharks, everything else. The biodiversity of the Everglades is astounding. This is the basis of the protection of the area as a national park. Not its breathtaking scenery, but its ecological diversity. The scenery is, of course, spectacular, covering a broad range of land and waterscapes, but it is a park dedicated to conservation, to the unique flora and fauna found in the Everglades and the symbiosis between them.

The specific collection of plants and animals are only found in this one place, comprised of nine distinct habitats, hardwood hammock, pineland, freshwater, marl, prairie, freshwater slough, cypress, coastal, lowland, mangrove, marine, and estuary. The balance of such an intertwined set of ecosystems is incredibly fragile. Every living thing depends on something else, and the relationships are not always fully evident at first. glance. The essential conditions that maintain a habitat can be disrupted by forces of nature like fire, storms, and invasive species.

But it is more than just nature that changes the ecosystem. People and their behaviors can cause a shift, either subtle or blatant, in this world of gators and seabirds and coral.

I'm Jason Epperson, and this is the America's National Parks Podcast.

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Let's digress a moment and talk about fashion. It might seem like a funny topic for a National Park Podcast. We don't think of the parks as places for high fashion. A suitcase or a backpack for a trip to the Everglades is probably filled with cargo pants and rugged shirts, a tough pair of hiking boots, and a hat with a wide brim and a neck flap. But the apparel and textile sector is one of the largest industries in the world, and has recently been at the center of emerging headlines about the environmental impact of creating clothing.

But this isn't news in the truest sense of the word. Long before the Everglades were designated as a National Park in 1947, clothing was a game-changing influence on the park and its wild inhabitants. The fashion industry is a powerful driver of poaching, and the history of poaching in the Everglades is inexorably tied to fashion.

Poaching means catching or carrying off game or fish illegally, capturing by illicit or underhanded methods. But it's not simply a few people killing or capturing alligators. It's the systemic harvesting of so many alligator eggs that an entire local population can be decimated. The road to endangerment or even extinction can be very short, and it can be misinformed. Not all poachers are big-time, purposeful criminals.

Many poachers live beneath the poverty line and do it simply to eat and to live. Others feel that what is on public lands rightfully belongs to the public and can and should be taken at will by the populace. This complicated combination of justifications still leads to a sharp decline in wildlife and consequently a shift in the plant life and all aspects of the ecosystem in the affected environment. Long before alligator hunting became illegal, it became popular. Nothing was wasted.

The flesh was used as meat, the teeth and claws as spiritual talisman, and the skin provided an alternative to leather. As long ago as the early 1800s, alligator hide was used for boots, belts, and saddles. In the mid-1800s, the volume of alligator skin processing increased, notably. By 1900, commercial tanning of alligator skins began. The Everglades were home to a seemingly endless supply of alligators.

And by the mid-1900s—here comes the fashion aspect—alligator shoes and alligator pocketbooks were all the rage for women's wardrobes. Coveted for its supple texture, durability, and ease of cleaning, alligator fashion went mainstream with ads and such publications as Harper's Bazaar, Wear So Well, So Long, So Smartly With Everything. The Everglades was viewed by many as a marshy wasteland, and in the early 1900s, major draining and dredging efforts were underway to turn the wetlands into agricultural land, prompting a series of south-floor land booms. By the mid-1900s, an intricate system of roads, canals, and levees changed the landscape even further. Homes were built on the former marshland, and water control structures were constructed to provide fresh water to residences and agricultural operations, as well as a water supply for Everglades National Park, in preservation of the ecosystems there and to provide resources for park visitors.

The combination of habitat loss and voracious appetite for fashion products, featuring the distinctive pattern of alligator skin, began to take its toll. In the 1950s and 1960s, the population of American alligators declined significantly, and in 1973, alligators became protected under the Endangered Species Act. Under this legislation, alligator hunting was prohibited and their habitats were protected. In just over a decade, in 1987,, the population had grown sufficiently enough for alligators to be then removed from the endangered list. But even during this period of heightened protection, poaching continued, even within the confines of Everglades National Park.

One of the most notorious alligator poachers at this time was a man named Clarence Melvin Brown, known as Peg, who poached in the park and then schmoozed with the rangers. Legend says he was never caught and arrested, but told his own folktales about his escapades – none to the rangers, of course. And still, limits are imposed. today, long after the alligators have emerged from endangerment. It's not prudent to wait until alligators are once again hunted to near extinction to protect them.

If alligators disappeared from the Everglades ecosystem, fish, turtles, and shorebirds that depend on the water, retention of gator holes could suffer a sharp decline in population. Other large predators could encroach on the region and take advantage of the mammals and birds no longer being eaten by the alligators, and could rise as new regional dangers. The food chain, and, in fact, the entire delicate ecosystem, would be impacted. Today, a formal hunting season is established, limiting the size and number of alligators that each permitted hunter is allowed. Harvesting alligator eggs also carries restrictions.

Still, alligator poaching continues, with violators harvesting all eggs from all nests in an area, harvesting hatchlings, and hunting above the quota. In 2017, a massive sting Operation Alligator Thief brought down a ring of alligator egg poachers in a major wildlife protection case near the Everglades. And alligators have not been the only big poaching story. in the Everglades. At the turn of the 20th century, snowy white egret feathers were highly coveted for women's hats.

No proper woman would leave her home without a hat, and plumed hats were high fashion. In the early 20th century, the feather industry profited handsomely from large hats festooned with feathers, so much so, in fact, that the industry became known as murderous millinery. The word murderous was meant to apply to the killing of the birds, but it took on a dark connotation. in the Everglades. Great egrets and other wading birds known as little snowies were perched from rookeries in great numbers.

By 1900, 95% of the shorebird population had been lost to plume hunting.

Guy Bradley was a game warden hired to enforce the laws against illegal bird hunting in the Flamingo area of the Everglades. His was not a popular position among the bird poachers, and during the course of his duties, he was shot at more than once. One particular family of poachers, the Smiths, had repeated run-ins with Bradley. He arrested the father, Walter, once, and the eldest son, Tom, twice for poaching. Walter Smith reportedly told Bradley, Seriously, you ever arrest one of my boys again, I'll kill you.

Serious words with serious consequences. On July 8, 1905, Guy Bradley discovered the Smiths loading their stash of dead plume birds onto their boat. Walter Smith opened fire, and Bradley's body was found the next day.

Today, the claim to the wildlife of the Everglades is complicated. By law, there are lots of regulations regarding restrictions on hunting and harvesting both the flora and the fauna of the area, and technically, within the confines of the park, just like with all national parks, you cannot take out anything, just your photos and your memories. No coral, no snails, no wildflowers, no pinecones, no seashells, no lobsters that hide in the mangrove roots to protect their young while they're small, certainly no alligators or egrets, dead or alive, fashion demands notwithstanding.

Everglades National Park stretches across both the land and water of southern Florida. The park preserves 1.5 million acres, including a sizable portion of Florida Bay. It's the country's largest subtropical wilderness. The Greater Everglades is essentially a large, shallow freshwater marsh that sits at the confluence of temperate and subtropical climates. The biodiversity is astounding.

It's named for the tremendous expanse of sawgrass, the glades, but the vast array of plants and animals boggles the mind. More than 360 types of birds, 300 species of fish, 40 types of mammals, and 50 types of reptiles make their home in the Everglades, including 36 species of endangered or threatened animals and some endemic species that are not found anywhere else in the world. For non-nature lovers, the practical value of the Everglades to the general population cannot be overlooked or overstated. The Everglades supplies the drinking water for one-third of all Floridians, and the vast majority of Florida's agriculture relies on water from the Everglades for irrigation. The park is open 365 days a year, although, to be honest, it's much more pleasant to visit during the cooler, dry season from December through April.

Three separate entrances provide access to distinct areas of the park. The main entrance is in Homestead. This area, between the Ernest Cove Visitor Center and the Flamingo Visitor Center, provides a variety of trails, some of which are boardwalks over the marsh. At Flamingo, manatees swim up to the marina and are visible from the dock. The Shark Valley area is home to many alligators and offers a tram tour through the northern section of the park, but visitors can also explore Shark Valley via paved and boardwalk trails.

The Gulf Coast area is a gateway to the Ten Thousand Islands, a collection of mangrove islands and their connecting waterways. Native plants include bromeliads, or air plants, cacti and succulents, grasses, lichens, algae, orchids, wildflowers, and trees ranging from mangroves to gumbo, limbo, often covered in strangler, fig, vines, on to slash pines, to tamarind, to royal palm, and many others. The animals include both alligators and crocodiles, it's the only place in the world you can find alligators and crocodiles in the same place, frogs and toads, the elusive Florida panther, as well as river otters, pilot whales, and bottlenose dolphins. Sixteen species of wading birds live in the park, including the wood stork, rosate, spoonbill, and several varieties of heron, ibis, and egret. The park offers many opportunities for hiking, boating, paddling, birdwatching, camping, fishing, and stargazing.

A trip to Everglades National Park can be easily paired with Biscayne National Park. Both have primary entrances in Homestead, Florida. Big Cypress National Preserve is a short drive away. For a longer adventure, drive down to Key West and take a boat or seaplane to Dry Tortugas National Park.

This episode of America's National Parks was written by Lauren Eisenberg Davis, and I'm your host, Jason Epperson. If you enjoyed the show, please consider leaving us a rating and a review, and if you're new here, make sure to subscribe to the podcast to get new episodes delivered to your feed. If you're looking for photos and tips about visiting national parks, check out our America's National Parks Facebook group, and if you're interested in RV travel, we hope you'll also check out our RV Miles podcast and YouTube channel. Today's show was sponsored by L.L. Bean.

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