2026 Wildfire Season: Wildfires in Everglades in South Florida

Direct link to Aug 23rd video from WPLG Local 10 on YouTube The video that I share from WPLG in Miami Florida was on my newsfeed yesterday. As some of you know, I traveled to the Everglades once, about fifteen years ago. My friend and I spent a day traversing the Everglades from west to east and back to the hotel where I was staying. It was a day I will not forget. I am always saddened by wildfires anywhere, but the Everglades have a special place in my heart so I am especially saddened to hear of wildfires in the Everglades. The important thing is that as far as I know there were no injuries or deaths from these wildfires. I am also sharing a report on these wildfires from the Everglades National Park that may be found here. WGCU News has an August 23rd report on these wildfires that may be found here. As I write this Shark Valley remains closed.

Conserving the Everglades

Wow.


Speaking of conserving the Everglades, yes there is plan to the restore the Everglades, known as the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). There is a website that you can go to for information on the CERP, here.

And the site referenced in the above link, Everglades Plan, has a wonderful exposition on why we should restore the Everglades. It is a nicely written, multi-part piece that is easy to read. Please go and check it out.

Finally, Everglades Plan website has a FAQ page, a learn and teach page, news and events, etc.

Don't forgot about the group that Marjory Stoneham Douglas started, the Friends of the Everglades.

I want to put a plug in for the staff of the Everglades National Park (ENP), I had the privilege of talking to a couple of staff from the ENP when I was doing my research all those years ago as well as going on an ENP staff lead tour. All ENP staff that I spoke to were committed to conserving and preserving the Everglades.

Everglades History

I want to say something about the history of the Everglades. And yes, I could post something in my own words, based on the work I did on the Everglades in graduate school all those years ago. I still may, but not today.

Even when and if I do, I would want to point you to some information that you yourself can look at online. So, I am starting with a culture and history page from the Everglades National Park Service's website. Here you will find four links:

1. native peoples.

2. pioneer settlement.

3. development in the Everglades.

4. conservation.

Another brief history of the Everglades may be found here.

I'll point you to some online resources about conserving the Everglades in my next post, so stay tuned!

Everglades: habitats and vegetation

I want to give you with some places you can go to view pictures of the Everglades:

1. vegetation and habit images are from the Everglades Park Service.

2. The Florida Museum of Natural History has this webpage on the Everglades. I have not had a chance to check it out yet, but it looks really cool. I found it about it from the links page of the Friends of the Everglades.

Everglades wildlife

Well, I spent some time yesterday looking through my house for the pictures of the Everglades that I took on my 2001 trip to no avail.

We did see alligators reasonably close up, which means that we saw them in some wetlands from a trail from a safe distance of several feet.

I also recall seeing a couple of herons close up. We had just turned onto one of the dirt roads off of U.S. Rte 41 to drive north. Just after we turned, I saw a couple of herons standing in some water. I stopped the car, at first wanting to try to get a picture. They were pretty close, perhaps 5 to 7 feet away. I decided that this was not one of those photo moments because I did not want to risk having them fly away. Instead, I watched the herons go about there business for a couple of minutes. The image if forever etched in my mind. We drove away after a couple of minutes not wanting to disturb them.

Here are some links where you may go to view Everglades wildlife:

1. A page with wildlife photographs at the Friends of the Everglades webpage, and

2. The Everglades National Park maintains a wildlife image gallery that may be found here.

Visit to the Everglades over Christmas 2001

I had a chance to visit the Everglades over Christmas of 2001. We left early on a Saturday morning and drove to Lorton VA outside Washington D.C. where we caught the over night auto train to Sanford Florida, not far from Orlando. We stayed near Kissimmee, within a stones throw of Disney World and related theme parks. This may sound horrifying to some of you, but we were not all that interested in Disney World and the other theme parks. Rather we spent a quiet day or say at the complex where we stayed. Our plan called for us to leave on the day after Christmas to drive down to the Everglades, staying over night about 30 miles east of Naples. Instead, we called the hotel, added a night onto our stay, and left Christmas day.

The next day was our day in the Everglades. We got on U.S. Rte. 41, that I think may also be referred to as the Tamiami Trail. Our first stop was a tour boat service officially sanctioned by the Everglades National Park Service (ENP). I don't recall the exact nature of the affiliation of this tour boat service with the ENP except that I had the impression that it had some kind of "stamp of approval" from the ENP. It was a little cool for Florida and windy, so we were glad that we had some light jackets aka windbreakers with us. We spent about one hour touring around the islands and the water ways near Everglades City. I was awestruck. I have pictures from our day in the Everglades, but they are not digital. One of these days, I may try to dig them up and get digital copies made.

We grabbed some food, and drove back to U.S. Rte. 41 continuing our drive across U.S. 41. My friend drove, and I looked outside the window at the "river of grass." It was magical to see the "river of grass". I thought of Marjory Stoneham Douglas' words. I saw the canals and the infrastructure for various water control projects that changed the shape of the 'Glades. I tried to imagine what the 'Glades were like all those years ago.

After 90 minutes or so, we came to our next stop in the ENP where there is an observation, some short trails, and a chance to sign up for a tour. We walked the trail and took the tour. Again, I rejoiced in seeing the "river of grass", and seeing the wildlife that I had read about. We finished the tour and headed back east, spending a little time on some of the dirt roads off of Rte. 41 and stopping at a trail head and walking through a forest.

I wish that I had kept a written diary of that day, I did not. Nonetheless, the images of what we saw live on.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas

It was sometime in 1990 or early 1991 when I began reading about the Everglades for a research project I did as a part of my work in graduate school.. It did not take long for me to hear the name Marjory Stoneman Douglas in connection with the Everglades. I don't remember where I first heard her name, it may have been someone from the Everglades National Park. Not that it matters.

She wrote a book, first published in 1947, called The Everglades: River of Grass. I was urged to read the book. I found a copy at my University's library and read it. I later picked up a revised edition (1987) with an afterward, from the Everglades National Park Service.

The Friends of the Everglades was founded by Marjory Stoneman Douglas, you might want to check out their bio of her here. Their mission is to protect and restore the Everglades.

At the time I did my research, I had never been to the Everglades. In reading her book, especially her first chapter, the Everglades came alive to me. She had the gift of painting a wonderful visual picture of the 'Glades. Her first sentence is poignant:

There are no other Everglades in the world. They are, they have always been, one of the unique regions of the earth, never wholly known. (Stoneham Douglas, 1987, p.5)

I felt her sadness as she told of the destruction of large portions of her beloved 'Glades. It was her advocacy on behalf of the 'Glades that was, in large measure, responsible for the establishment of the Everglades National Park in 1947. She died at the age of 108 in the late 1998.

Fighting Wildfires in the Everglades

I found this slide show of fire fighting equipment on the Everglades National Park website. If you put your cursor at the top of the photo during the slide show you will see the caption.

I suspect that some of the equipment is the same for all wildfires. However, one piece of equipment that you will see is called a flapper. It looks to me like it is made to fight fires in grasslands. Then again what do I know?

For photos of the Mustang Corners see incaweb and this photo gallery on the Everglades National Park webpage.

Wildfires in Florida in May 2008

On or about May 14, 2008 wildfires started burning in the Everglades National Park in South Florida. By the time the fires were contained in early June, just over 39,000 acres were burned. Known as the Mustang Corners fire, this fire followed a series of fires in the Palm Beach area, in Brevard County south of Daytona Beach, that burned 12,000 acres. Other fires included about 19,000 acres on the south end of Lake Okeechobee, 1,300 acres in the Florida panhandle near Apalochicola, 257 acres in the Ocala National Forest in Central Florida and a couple of smaller fires in the Everglades National Park.

Information on the Mustang Corners fire in Everglades National Park may be found here and here. The two smaller wildfires in the Everglades National Park are very briefly referenced in this press release. A CNN report on May 18 reviews the then current status of the Mustang Corners fire as well as other Florida wildfires. What is probably the final incident report on the Mustang Corners fire may be found on InciWeb. Inciweb goes down periodically so if the link does not work, try back again later.

Damage reports for the Brevard Çounty wildfires may found in this press release issued by the Brevard County Office of Emergency Management. They report that 194 buildings were affected by these wildfires with 42 residences being destroyed.

CNN reports on the arrest of a man alleged to have caused some of the Brevard County fires. Both InciWeb and the National Park Service report that the Mustang Corners fire was caused by humans.