VLT

The Everglades is a beautiful place filled with tall grass, marshes, and more! But we destroy the
Everglades by draining it has had a significant impact on the food and water supply of wildlife, I'm going
to tell you how we are influencing the environment, water supply, and how we can fix it.

First, how have we influenced the environment? Well, in 1905-1910 the settlers there converted the
land so that it could be used for crops like corn, carrots, and lettuce. The author states “From 1905-
1910, the settlers began to convert the land so that it could be used for agricultural purposes.” we been
draining the wetlands since 1900 and it has eroded 50% of the original Everglades. To support this the
author said “Since 1900, drainage of the Everglades for development and farming had eroded the
original wetlands by 50%. The environment has drastically changed because of humans and if we
continue to do this the Everglades won’t exist.

Secondly, how have we also influenced the water supply? To tell the truth, we have affected the water
supply far too much. The Army Corps of Engineering started a project called CEPP and this plan was to
make manmade canals to let the water flow to the Everglades. The author states “The U.S Army Corps of
Engineering began an initiative called the Central Everglades Planning Project. This new plan proposed
to the refill section of manmade canals to help redirect some of the water t flows through them to the
Everglades.” The construction and population increase has destroyed the flow of water. To support this
the text states that “The streams were dredged, and the Everglades was nearly drained entirely” The
water supply is going to keep decreasing unless we do something about it.

Finally, what steps can we take to help? Well, we can make sure that the water supply and environment
is clean and healthy, and changes have been made to make completely sure that the Everglades has
enough water and animals to stay stable and survive. To support this the author states “However,
changes have been implemented to ensure that the Everglades will soon have access to all of the clean
water that it and its millions of animal inhabitants need to survive.” This shows that we need to keep the
Everglades healthy and clean as possible for the environment and animals.

To conclude, you have learned how we affect the water and environment of the Everglades and how we
can help and take care of the Everglades to make sure it lasts as long as possible. We need to stop
draining the Everglades for resources and start filling the Everglades with plenty of water and general
resources for these inhabitants.