#9 Everglades NP

Everglades National Park in Southern Florida, preserves North America's largest and most important wetlands. It is a small section of an ecosystem that used to encompass almost the whole Southern half of Florida, an area that has lost at least half of it's size due to spreading urbanization and draining for farmland. It is a prime birding and wildlife viewing spot and home to a very small number of the very endangered Florida Panthers. The highlight for me was seeing all the exotic birds, plus the alligators. The top picture is of the Pinelands area of the park. These small pockets have been especially hard hit by the eroding of this once pristine environment.

See more pictures here-(this is a park I intend to re-photograph while visiting my parents one of these years) These pics are from January of 2003, while on my way to Key West.

http://www.eriksmith.com/Florida03/evergladesNP.htm