I grew up in south Florida in the 50s. We were poor and loved the water and warm, free environment [my parents had been raised in Minnesota and we were glad they left there!]. We were somewhat isolated and did not realize what was happening when air conditioning became widely used [we never had it], and developers started "improving" the "useless" swamps and wilderness. I believe the developers and politicians knew what they were destroying and hurried to get their money before average citizens realized the loss. I have been distressed at the loss of wetlands and waterbirds and am glad to hear of restoration progress. I am retired and planning to move back to FL. I hope to be involved in helping to"save" the environment. I have lived near the Chesapeake Bay for 20 years; in a small way I have been involved in preservation and restoration of the Bay. The Bay also needs your help. Recently, President Obama declared moated Fort Monroe, on the Bay, a national monument -- however, only the Fort and a short stretch of beach. The surrounding land, a former Army post closed by BRAC, beautiful, surrounded by water, and full of history, is in danger of development. The vultures of planning and development are circling, ready to destroy the historical integrity, take it away from the public, and further pollute the Chesapeake Bay. Please look up Fort Monroe, VA, and write/text/twitter/facebook the President, National Park Service, and legislators!

Thank you earthjustice for the tireless work. Everyone try to visit the Everglades,( what is left) this is a great time of year to go. And keep on your legislators about this.

I've been to the Everglades several times when visiting my brother in Miami, and it is a truly magnificent area. Kudos to Earthjustice for working so hard to protect this natural wonder.

As the harvesting of alligators for their meat and skins opened up a local ecofriendly industry, I may make a modest proposal...to harvest and create a cottage industry based on Burmese Pythons...They are damaging the ecosystem by upsetting the natural balance between predator and prey, By hunting them (since they have no natural enemies in this area (Theirs are rodents and other animals in their native habitat who eat their eggs...and introduction of THOSE creatures (unchecked) would be disastrous. Python bags, shoes, steaks, etc. would be a boon for the local economy..Let's hear for it.

Thank you for speaking up and protecting all of God's creatures who call the Everglades home that have no voice in human courtrooms that decide their fate.

Protecting the everglades must go on. They are a vital part of the ecosystem. We must consider the whole of nature and not make finance the sole ruler of our lives.

As a member of The Cleveland Orchestra, I spend three weeks in Miami every winter as part of our now seven-year Miami residency. Each week we are there, I look for a free day so I can rent a car and go to either Shark Valley, Flamingo (yes, I've been to "Robert Is Here" and it is indeed wonderful! Key lime everything!), and other access points. The totally unique beauty and the concentration of wildlife are unbelievable. Where else can you see alligators, many types of wading birds (wood storks, an endangered species, are my favorite), cottonmouths, turtles, and even owls, sometimes all in one day?
For anyone interested in the natural and human history of the Everglades, I highly recommend Marjorie Stoneman Douglas' book "River of Grass." She was instrumental in the fight to preserve the Everglades.
Thank you, Earthjustice, for all you have done and continue to do to restore and preserve this incredible ecosystem!

Living down here and hiking and camping in the Everglades and Big Cypress, I appreciate the work that is done to protect this ecosystem that is chock-full of wonderful wildlife.

As an environmental Texan, yes there are environmental Texans, I applaud Earthjustice and all those individuals who did not give up and who refused to let developers have there way. The Everglades is a unique ecosystem alive with birds, mammals and 'gators'. I will never forget driving through 'Alligator Alley' with my husband many years ago and was delighted to see so many birds and a really different landscape. Healing, saving, and fighting for not only our own state, but our country and indeed the whole earth is ongoing and we must never give up. We can win!

I was born (1944) and raised in South Florida, and have watched with dismay and sorrow as the Everglades has been drained, polluted, and desecrated. Thank you for your great work on behalf of this precious place!

Another huge threat to the Everglades has been the encroachment of invasive species of flora and fauna. Brazilian pepper, eucalyptus, hydrilla, etc. etc. I'm afraid that these are far beyond control at this point, but I suspect that proper management and support of the natural ecology would help with this problem.

May I make a suggestion to anyone who visits that corner of the world: near the entrance road to the Everglades National Park is a remarkable fruit & vegetable stand, called "Robert Is Here." Don't miss it! And don't miss having one of their mixed tropical fruit milk shakes - yum!

Gator lover

Thank you for your work in preserving such an important and magical ecosystem.

Thanks, Earth Justice!

As a resident of Naples, Fl in the mid-seventies, I saw thousands of acres of Everglades in Collier County that had been drained for gigantic housing developments and speculation. Hundreds of miles of arrow-straight roads paralleled the drainage ditches and flanked thousands of derelict empty lots; the recession had taken its toll on these developers and the only traffic on these roads was the DC- 3s who landed on them late at night to unload marijuana and other illegal drugs.

I understand some efforts have been made more recently to return such areas to their original state, but have not seen it myself.

We can be grateful that we have inherited from an earlier generation legislation like the Clean Water Act. But we have a Republic if we can keep it, and in the last thirty or so years, monied interests like the Koch Brothers, Big Oil, Big Coal, Wall Street, etc. have been leading a massive, progressive, and determined assault on the Federal government in general and on its environmental regulation in particular. This campaign has managed to capture for the Far Right a large percentage of the people being most hurt by the new Radical Right laissez-faire capitalism.

Too many people focus their attention solely on the Office of the President. It is crucial to focus on the Congress as well. The President proposes; the Congress disposes legislation. For anyone who cares about the environment (as well as the gross inequity and inequality that has developed), please know what your Congressperson is voting for and working for. Too many people do not pay attention to much more than the ads that show up before each election and vote on the basis of manipulation of their emotions, not their real interests.

Secondly, pay attention to your state primaries and legislators. These folks gerrymander districts every ten years so that the most extreme member of their party can stand and win regardless of what the great moderate middle might need and want. Congressional Districts should be determined by non-partisan commissions.

I just visited the Everglades for the first time two weeks ago. Although apparently only a shadow of what it once was, the bird life was spectacular, and we saw enough alligators to satisfy anyone, plus a few crocodiles. The diversity of habitats was impressive, mosquitos were scarce, and considering it was prime tourist season, just after New Years, it was quite uncrowded.

Well worth the visit, and I am very greatful to the many people who have devoted themselves to saving this icon of southern Florida for visitors today and hopefully, future generations- Earthjustice far from least among them.

My fear, however, is that a two meter sea level rise will put the Everglades under the ocean. The focus now must be air rather than water pollution if we are to protect coastal habitats such as the Everglades.

My family has been in Florida for 4 generations, my grandfather was born in Miami back in 1931. The changes to Florida are unreal and disturbing and I can only save with the utmost thanks and gratitude to everyone who has worked so hard to preserve what little we have left. The big industries that pollute and kill anything and everything worth saving has never made any sense to me. Why would you sh** where you eat? To ruin the earth that has sustained your companies??? That never made any sense to me. Again my praise to all who have the sense and wherewithal to make such a HUGE difference. May the ignorant choke on their money!

I lived in South Florida for over 40 years and well remember the fight against "Big Sugar." If it were not for this litigation and the efforts of a past state's attorney general, Dexter Lehtinen, the Everglades would have been swimming in nitrates and other fertilizer ingredients, killing everything in it. Florida is the richer for the efforts of these people.

Positive. Money-power interests will destroy Earth if allowed to do so. They believe money is god; then they eliminate you when you are no longer useful to them. Money has to be a tool of life not the other way around. Power to you who work for life-giving power enrichments! Earth has everything here. Stop desecreting it. Start honoring it.

Thank you, attorneys, for all your good work.
I am from Illinois and suddenly they want to ruin the Shawnee National Forest in southwest Illinois, an area that could not be cleared by the early settlers and has remained an everglades in miniature, when compared to the one in Florida. Why are these despoilers allowed to target the most beautiful or most iconic areas and proceed with plans to destroy and pillage? Imagine an everglades in the middle of the corn fields of the midwest! It has huge cypresses and moss and snakes, etc. It is amazing. and they want to kill it.
Please, attorneys, do some research on this area and send to the authorities in this region your best arguments, etc. on keeping this area pristine. The particular area is called the Cache River.
Thank you for all your good work. ;You should be proud.