Everglades National Park

Youth Educational Programs

Soon to celebrate its 50th anniversary, the youth education program of the Everglades is a trendsetter in its space.

Park Rangers are hiking, slogging, and wildlife-watching live on camera, bringing curriculum-based programs into classrooms around the world. What traditionally serves around 16,000 students throughout South Florida went 100% virtual in 2020, more than doubling its reach in the 2020-2021 school year to an anticipated estimate of 40,000 students. Through this pivot, the Everglades is now able to offer its lessons beyond the 4th through 6th graders that it usually serves to 2nd graders all the way through high school.

Teachers across the world can sign up for this free program and allow their students to interact with Park Rangers in real-time.

Topics that the youth education program offer includes: Ecosystems / Habitats, Natural / Prescribed Fire, Adaptations, Seasons, Food Web / Chains, Human Impacts, Climate Change and Restoration.

BioCorps Internships

Everglades National Park is recognized globally as a prized outdoor laboratory that provides real-world experience on biology, ecology, and conservation.

Thanks to the generous support of The Alliance, the Park has successfully launched the BioCorps Program and, since its inception in 2013, over 50 BioCorps interns have helped support the Park’s natural resources program while advancing their careers. Working with resource professionals across various disciplines, they develop field skills and techniques in a real-world setting that helps prepare them for careers in natural resources.

Several former interns joined the Everglades and Biscayne workforce following their internships – and many more went on to graduate school or to work for natural resources agencies across the country. The program has contributed greatly to meeting the long-term needs of the Everglades on a variety of emerging issues.

The BioCorps interns provide vital support to several priority projects including sea turtle nest monitoring on Cape Sable, interagency tegu control efforts, fire effects monitoring, invasive vegetation management – and others.

Fisheries

Everglades National Park is working to transition how they evaluate fishery status to a comprehensive, science-based Fisheries Independent Monitoring (FIM) program in partnership with the State of Florida.

This program will assess both finfish and commercially important invertebrates (crabs, shrimp, etc.) using multiple sampling gear types across the marine waters of the Everglades.

This will improve the park’s ability to determine the status of fishery resources within the park, evaluate how the Park’s waters compare with other major estuaries around the state and ensure that fishing in the park is continued in a sustainable manner.

Sponge Populations

Sponge populations are a huge indicator of just how healthy our waterscapes are. A substantial presence of large-bodied sponges has been shown to be important to a healthy community of spiny lobster, shrimp and fish.

Through this project, a survey will be conducted to determine the distribution and density of the predominant large-bodied sponges historically present in Florida Bay.

The species consist primarily of the Loggerhead (Spheciospongia vesparium), Lavender Rope (Niphates erecta), Caribbean Chicken-liver (Chondrilla nucula), Yellow ball (Cinachyra alloclada), Fire (Tedania ignis) and Vase (Ircinia sp.) sponges.

A study like this includes several key elements, including using data from the last survey conducted in the 1990s and collecting data from these previously sampled locations and utilizing in-water divers.

Results from this study will inform park management of the health of the benthic sponge community and determine if restoration efforts are necessary.

Boater Education

Enjoying the world-class marine resources at the Everglades takes world-class responsibility.

This mandatory Boater Education Program for Florida Bay and the park’s marine waters is based on the strong public concern for the protection of marine resources and the quality of visitor experiences in the Park’s marine areas.

The Boater Education Program includes the increased presence of on-the-water Park rangers; improved navigation markers and technology; and shallow-water zoning increases protection of over 530,000 acres of the Park’s natural resources to preserve the submerged designated wilderness and improve visitor experiences.

In 2019, the Everglades launched the free Everglades Boater Education Course to orient and educate boaters to the unique features of the Park’s marine waters. Since then, approximately 10,000 individual boaters have completed the course.

Kayaking at Flamingo

A new ranger-led paddle program utilizing sit-on-top kayaks to explore Flamingo’s fish, feathers and fame while journeying along the shallow coastline waters and mangrove-covered keys.

Designed to be a healthy activity for both beginners and experienced paddlers, Flamingo’s history, cultures and ecologies will come alive for visitors while plying the shore waters of Florida Bay.

Through waterborne recreational interpretation, groups of up to 12 paddlers will actively engage with two members of park staff during each of the free, 90-minute opportunities in a realm beyond Everglades’ roads and land-based trails.

Healthy, free waterborne recreational interpretation and education of marine and terrestrial resources will help the community gain a fuller understanding of the importance of conservation for Florida Bay and the Everglades.

Youth Nature Play Camp

Camp one, camp all!

The Nature Play Camp Program is offered in collaboration between the Everglades National Park and Zoo Miami to introduce local families to camping experiences in the Everglades.

Nature Play seeks out families with children ages 5 – 18 who have never visited the Park and provides them with specialized ranger-led programs, and the supplies needed to camp out in the Everglades.

Nature Play helps new and diverse audiences from our local community to overcome any potential fear of the outdoors, while creating stewards for our public lands.

Families will engage in activities like a walk along the Anhinga Trail, a canoe trip, a Slough Slog and a traditional campfire program.

Dark Skies

The dark skies of South Florida attract stargazers from around the world.

The Gulf Coast district of Everglades National Park hosted two pilot Dark Skies Programs in the Winter 2019 season with a telescope and night sky binoculars borrowed from a neighboring district.

With the support of The Alliance and our allies, the Everglades team will be able to purchase its own telescope and filters for astronomical exploration for many years to come.