This is America. Гришенкова Е.Г. - 102 стр.

UptoLike

ВУЗ: 

УлГТУ | Ульяновск

Составители: 

Рубрика: 

102
10. What measures does the government take to protect the area?
Everglades National Park – One of the World’s Great Biological Wonders
When many people think of Florida, images of sandy coastlines or fun theme
park rides come to mind. Yet about an hour south of Miami lies a natural wilderness
different from anywhere else in the United States.
Everglades National Park is the largest subtropical wilderness in the country.
The park is home to several rare and endangered species. It is also the third largest
national park in the lower forty-eight states, after Death Valley and Yellowstone.
Each year, more than one million people visit the Everglades.
In 1947, President Harry Truman spoke at the official opening of Everglades
National Park. He said the goal of creating the park was to protect forever a wild area
that could never be replaced.
The Everglades is considered one of the great biological wonders of the world.
The expansive wetlands stretch across more than
six hundred thousand hectares. It is
a place where plants and animals from the Caribbean Sea share an ecosystem with
native North American species.
Nine different environments exist within the Everglades. They include
mangrove and cypress swamps, estuaries and coastal marshes.
In the 1940s, Marjory Stoneman Douglas wrote a book called, “The
Everglades: River of Grass.” She described the area as, “the liquid heart of Florida.”
Unlike most other national parks, Everglades National Park was created to
protect an ecosystem from damage. The Everglades is home to about fifteen species
that federal officials say are threatened and endangered. They include the Florida
panther, the American crocodile and the West Indian manatee.
In addition, more than three hundred fifty bird species and three hundred
species of fresh and saltwater fish live within the park. The Everglades is also home
to forty species of mammals and fifty reptile species.
Visitors to the Everglades will see many exotic plants. They include what is
said to be the largest growth of mangrove trees in the western world. Gumbo-limbo
trees, known for their peeling red skin, strangler figs and royal palms are also among
the area’s plant life. The country’s largest living mahogany tree also lives in the
Everglades.
With about one and one-half meters of rainfall each year, plants and trees never
stop growing in the Everglades. That is why it is hard to tell that a storm, Hurricane
Andrew, caused severe damage to the area in 1992.

Страницы