A New Season in Fight to Save the Glades

Spring comes early to the Everglades. A haze of new growth mists the cypress trees. Flower buds start fattening. Wading birds in showy plumage begin building their nests. Soon the rookeries will fill with the shouts of hungry chicks and the briefest rains will bring a wildflower explosion. A season of vigorous new life begins now.

We are especially eager for spring at Friends of the Everglades. This season begins the next phase of our legal battle to protect an unique and fragile place that inspired Marjory Stoneman Douglas, at age 79, to found Friends of the Everglades. Marjory was determined to stop a government-built jetport on one the world’s rarest wetlands, where the River of Grass meets the Big Cypress National Preserve, 6 miles from Everglades National Park. That site, which Marjory and many allies succeeded in saving, is now notorious as “Alligator Alcatraz,” a detention camp built by the state of Florida at the request of the federal government, in reckless haste and defiance of federal law.

Marjory was not shy about speaking truth to power, and neither are we. We partnered with the Center for Biological Diversity, and were joined by the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida, to force the state and federal governments to comply with one of our nation’s fundamental environmental laws, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). We had a big win Aug. 21 when a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction halting new activity at the site. Now, we're working to restore that win.

NEPA is a commonsense law, sometimes called the Magna Carta of environmental laws. It requires three things: an environmental impact study; public input; and consideration of alternatives. None of those happened when Alligator Alcatraz was built. Bulldozers scraped the site and workers laid at least 20 acres of new asphalt; installed high-intensity lighting in a sky once free from light pollution; and brought in trailers, tents, sewage tanks and other equipment to house up to 3,000 people in immigration detention.

This land shelters or feeds 25 species protected by the Endangered Species Act: 16 plants and nine animals. Alligator Alcatraz has driven Florida panthers from about 2,000 acres of habitat, a panther expert testified. Our experts’ evidence of harm done and legal requirements ignored was so strong that the judge found we are likely to win the case. The state and federal lawyers got a temporary stay, but we have new evidence undercutting their claims. Meanwhile, the government has resumed its abuse of land that belongs to all of us.

We will be back in court on April 7 — Marjory's birthday — for oral arguments before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami. We're seeking to restore the preliminary injunction and enforce the rule of environmental law.

National parks have been called America's best idea. A mass detention center in the heart of our country's first national preserve sure looks like America's worst.

You can support Marjory's legacy and learn more about Friends of the Everglades’ current fight at www.everglades.org

By Eve Samples
Executive Director
Friends of the Everglades