Friends of the Everglades
| Formation | 1969 |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-profit organization |
| Purpose | Conservation of the Florida Everglades |
| Headquarters | Miami, Florida |
| Coordinates | 25°47′16″N 80°13′27″W / 25.78778°N 80.22417°W |
|
Region served
|
South Florida |
|
President
|
Alan Farago |
|
Main organ
|
Board of Directors |
| Website | http://everglades.org |
Friends of the Everglades is a conservationist and activist organization in the United States whose mission is to "preserve, protect, and restore the only Everglades in the world." The book Biosphere 2000: Protecting Our Global Environment refers to Friends of the Everglades as an organization that has fought to preserve North America's only subtropical wetland.
The organization was created in 1969-1970 by journalist, author, and environmental activist Marjory Stoneman Douglas who wrote the book The Everglades: River of Grass in 1947, about the Florida Everglades. When the organization was first founded, it soon had 500 members, eventually reaching 6,000 members. Douglas was 79 when she founded the organization. Current membership is approximately 5,000.
It outlines its goals as being to:
The organization 1000 Friends of Florida describes Friends of the Everglades as a "non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the Everglades." It "strives to protect and restore the Greater Kissimmee-Okeechobee-Everglades Ecosystem." The "primary tools" of Friends of the Everglades are legal advocacy and education.
Environmental activist Joe Browder and Browder's office manager Judy Wilson, were influential in persuading Marjory Stoneman Douglas to start an organization to protect the Everglades. The organization was started with a one-dollar membership contribution from Marjory Douglas as its first member. Governor Reubin Askew, who was Governor of Florida from 1971 to 1979 was supportive of Friends of the Everglades according to Douglas in her book, Voice of the River. While membership is now thirty-five dollars, Friends maintains its one-dollar contribution membership fee for the school-based Young Friends of the Everglades.
What is now Everglades National Park was created in 1947, and is recently as 1998, has been referred to as "the most endangered national park in America." Some of the environmental issues facing the Everglades are, disrupted water flow, a drastic decline in the wading bird population, invasion of exotic species and the survival challenges facing the Florida panther, of which there are only 160 left in the wild, an increase from 20 wild Florida panthers in the 1970s. Additionally, species such as the wood stork, the Cape Sable seaside sparrow and the manatee have an uncertain future in the Everglades as a result of environmental issues. Former Secretary of Friends of the Everglades, Sharyn Richardson said that she got started with the organization, attracted by its philosophical ideals, stating, "when you see an injustice and you become aware of that injustice, you have to take responsibility for it."
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