Imagine a vast River of Grass - 50 miles wide and flowing southward over 100 miles from Lake Okeechobee in south central Florida. Its history spans centuries from the times of the nomadic Calusa Indians to modern settlers.

This is the Everglades, located in southern Florida. It is the largest sub-tropical wilderness in the United States.

Much of the southern tip of Florida is protected in Everglades National Park, which is the third largest national park in the United States. Unlike other national parks, it does not have the dramatic mountainous scenery of the West, but its ecosystem is certainly unique.

The landscape consists of sawgrass marshes, mangrove forests and jungle-like hardwood hammocks (vegetation). Most of the park's 1.5 million acres are either fresh or brakish waters.

Much of the land area of the park is covered with water during the wet season. The average depth of water on the sawgrass marshlands is just six inches.

We drove from Naples, Florida, the Gateway to the Everglades, about 35 miles south to the Everglades Chamber of Commerce Welcome Center, located at the intersection of Highways 41 Tourism Trail and State Highway 29. This is a great place to stop for information about the park. There are books, souvenirs, brochures and friendly personnel, all with a wealth of information about the Everglades.

Everglades City, adjacent to the Ten Thousand Islands is a few miles south of the Welcome Center. It has one of the entrances to the national park from where we took a Ten Thousand Islands' boat cruise across the bay, to the mangrove islands along the Gulf. A National Park Service naturalist narrated the excursion pointing out playful dolphins and the abundant bird life along the way.

There are also other ranger-led activities available from December through April: canoe trips, biking tours, nature walks and a night presentation.

Everglades City, typical of old Florida, (without a McDonald's or a Holiday Inn) is devoted mostly to sport fishing.

The world-famous Rod and Gun Club, which operated in the 1920's as a private hunting and fishing club and hosted dignitaries including several U.S. presidents, is now a resort with guest rooms and an excellent restaurant featuring seafood.

There are several other good restaurants nearby. We have enjoyed lunch at The Oyster House.

Swamp cuisine, alligator tail, frogs' legs and stone crab claws could be featured on any of the menus.

A visit to the Museum of the Everglades in Everglade City is a lesson in local history. It includes accounts of the Seminole Wars, in which the Native American Seminole Indians were forced to leave Florida and were placed on Reservations.

Much later the development and construction of the Tamiami Trail, the highway through the Everglades linking Naples and Miami. It was completed in 1928. The Everglades lands became a national park in 1947. President Harry Truman was pictured at the historic event.

For many years, the only way to travel in the Everglades was either by boat or on foot. Native Americans used flat-bottomed boats.

For many years now, people have used airboats to travel the Everglades. Airboats were invented by pilots returning from WWII. They are wide, flat-bottomed aluminum boats with an airplane engine and propeller, which both lift and push the boats through the sawgrass.

There are numerous airboat tours available in the Everglades. One we have used is Wooten's Airboat and Swamp Buggy Tours. It is located in Ochopee, several miles south of the Welcome Center on Hwy. 41.

An airboat ride is a thrill a minute as you going "flying" through the "glades" down old Indian trails and into mangrove jungles.

There's always a promise of alligator sightings, too, but if you do not see them, Wooten's has a collection of the Everglades' star attractions, alligators in pens.

We've also seen the sides of Hwy. 41 lined with alligators sunning themselves. Being cold-blooded, they must soak up the rays of the sun in order to function.

BIRDS

One of the Everglades' greatest assets is its wealth and variety of birds. The wading birds, such as the great egret, the great blue heron, the white ibis, the snowy egret and wood storks draw bird watchers to the swamplands from all over the world.

There are also many birds of prey: hawks, kites, falcons, vultures and bald eagles.

During winter, birds of all types can be seen in the air or along the roadways. Many have migrated from the West Indies.

Because of habitat destruction and the absence of a natural water flow through the park, the population of nesting wading birds in the park has decreased from over 300,000 in the 1930's to 10,000 in the 1990's.

ALLIGATORS and CROCODILES

The Everglades is the only place on earth where both alligators and crocodiles live. The alligator is king of the fresh water Everglades

The primary foods of alligators are fish and turtles, but they will go after wading birds when they can, as well as other creatures near the edges of water.

The Florida crocodile is a salt-water reptile, but is very rare and difficult to find. It is estimated that there are 800 to 1,000 crocodiles in Everglades National Park.

Alligators had been protected, but in recent years they have made a major comeback.

MAMMALS

The Florida Panther can also be found in the Everglades. The number of panthers in South Florida is estimated today at 50.

Bobcats, the 30 to 50 pound cats, are seen regularly in the Everglades National Park where they are protected.

Raccoons, opossums, armadillos and otters live in the Everglades, too.

Aquatic animals include the bottlenose dolphin and manatees. The dolphins are friendly and curious creatures.

A charter boat captain told us that dolphins love to hear the voices of children. So when he has a group of school children on board, the dolphins are apt to tag along with the boat, cavorting and leaping into the air.

Manatees, also known as sea cows, are much more shy. Sadly, their numbers have been greatly lessened in recent years because manatees float just under the surface of the water, so they often are struck by powerboats.

And this year, the cold weather has also taken its toll on the endangered manatees. Between January 1 and March 5, 193 deaths were reported.

EVERGLADES RESTORATION

Over the years, the natural drainage patterns and the amount of water that flows from Lake Okeechobee has been greatly diminished.

A system of canals was built in the early part of this century, and land was cleared for farming and large developments on both the east and west coasts of Florida. These developments have altered the natural order of things and disturbed the ecosystem.

However, Everglades Restoration is underway to restore natural water flow. It has taken 24 years to acquire land at a cost of more than $155 million.

On March 12, Florida water managers approved a contract extension to buy 73,000 acres of U.S. Sugar Corporation land in the Everglades at a cost of $536 million.

The Florida Supreme Court is expected this month to decide whether or not to allow the purchase by the state of Florida.