Home to more than 80 endangered species of plants and animals, this unique and endangered ecosystem also provides the drinking water supply for more than 9 million Floridians and untold millions of people who visit South Florida. This is not small stuff. It's big. 

 

A large, diverse and complex region including 16 counties, from Orlando in the north to the Florida Keys, this one-of-a-kind ecosystem supports mangrove forests, nursery and nesting conditions for many species of birds, fish and invertebrates, and sustains seagrasses and aquatic life critical to the survival of the Everglades.

 

The Everglades includes freshwater marshes and swamps, rivers sloughs and springs, hardwood forests and hammocks, pine flatwoods and rock land, scrub, sandhills, prairies and savannas, mangrove swamps, lagoons, estuaries, and bays.

 

These ecological systems are dynamic, always changing due to environmental factors ranging from geologic elements, climate, water levels, and the frequency and severity of storms and fire. These fluctuations help sustain and transform flora and fauna of these fragile yet resilient ecosystems. 

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Few places are as biologically rich as the Everglades ecosystem, which hosts a vast array of plants and animals adapted to a wet, subtropical environment.

 

Nearly 45 species of mammals, hundreds of fish species, and thousands of invertebrates inhabit the Everglades and related bays, coastal estuarine, and offshore areas.

 

More than 50 kinds of reptiles and 20 types of salamanders, frogs, and toads live in the watershed. An astonishing 350 species of birds have been recorded sharing a home with alligators and the black bear.