Marjory Stoneman Douglas' Dedication to the Florida Everglades

1428 Words3 Pages

The Everglades; a treasured river

Marjory Stoneman Douglas (April 7, 1890 – May 14, 1998) was an American journalist, writer and environmentalist known for her staunch defense of the Florida Everglades against draining and development. Moving to Miami as a young woman to work for The Miami Herald, Douglas became a freelance writer, producing over a hundred short stories that were published in popular magazines. Her most influential work was the book The Everglades: River of Grass (1947), which redefined the popular conception of the Everglades as a treasured river instead of a worthless swamp. Published the same year as the formal opening of Everglades National Park, the book was a call to attention about the degrading quality of life in the Everglades and continues to remain an influential book on nature conservation as well as a reference for information on South Florida. Its impact has been compared to that of the influential 1962 book Silent Spring. Dougla’s books, stories, and journalism career brought her influence in Miami, which she used to advance her causes.

Florida became a state in 1845 and almost immediately people began proposing to drain the Everglades. In 1848, a government report said that draining the Everglades would be easy, and there would be no bad effect. Canals and dams were dug to control seasonal flooding. Farmers grew vegetables in the rich soil of the drained land, Ranchers had their cattle graze on the dry land, and new railways lines were constructed to connect communities throughout south Florida; but the ecosystem of the Everglades was not suited for either farming or ranching. The natural cycle of dry and wet seasons brought a devastating series of droughts and floods. These had always been a p...

... middle of paper ...

...rystal tropical light her ceaseless activism kept clear, to the very way in which generations of Floridians look upon their land, the monument to Mrs. Douglas is all around us.

Reference List

Bryant, Jennifer (1992). Marjory Stoneman Douglas:Voice of the Everglades. (An Earth

Keepers Book). Frederick, MD: Twenty-First Century Books.

Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. The Watercourse and Western Regional

Environmental Education Council. (1995) Project Wet: Water Education for Teachers.

Douglas, Marjory Stoneman. The Everglades: River of Grass. Rinehart & Company, Inc.,

1947.

Giles, Norman (1948). "The Everglades: River of Grass. Rivers of America." The Quarterly

Review of Biology; p. 346

Miami Museum of Science (1995). http://falcon.miamisci.org/everglades/animals.html

Stoneman, M. S (1997). Everglades: River of Grass. Sarasota: Pineapple Press.

More about Marjory Stoneman Douglas' Dedication to the Florida Everglades

Open Document