Everglades

We took an airboat tour through the Everglades.

The Everglades is a well-known wetland ecosystem in Florida that is home to many unique species.

The Florida Everglades are a critical breeding ground for many species of birds and reptiles.

They say this upsets the natural ecosystem of the watershed by endangering smaller Everglades residents who might end up as a reptile's lunch.

Everglades National Park was created to protect an ecosystem from damage. The Everglades is home to about 30 species that federal officials say are threatened or endangered. They include the Florida panther, the American crocodile and the West Indian manatee.

Beginning this year, federal park officials will restrict airboat use to those who, in 1989, used them regularly in the eastern part of Everglades National Park near Miami. That was the year Congress passed a far-reaching law to protect and expand the park by nearly 109,000 acres, and to help it recover from engineering projects that had left the Everglades starved for water.