When I first came to Miami, the Everglades did not
interest me very much. In fact, I was even depressed because no longer
could I see birch trees, maples, and poplars around me; instead I noticed
only palm trees. No longer could I hear the singing of a nightingale from
my home country but just its imitation by a mocking bird. With time, little
by little my views started to change. Of course, I still do not know much
about the Everglades but after studying some of its history, a very
interesting image comes to mind. In the book, The Swamp Michael Grunwald
describes the reclamation of the land, and the drainage of the Everglades
that started in the late 1800's, and still is an issue today. People
believed that by controlling the water level in Lake Okeechobee and
cultivating the land they could use it for farming or turn it into a
tourists' paradise. Yes, these plans came true; however, all this
development has greatly changed the ecosystem and the Everglades will never
be the same. For some reason, this reminds me of one event that happened to
me when I was around eleven or twelve years old. As a child every summer I
would go to my grandparents' house in the country. Right above the front
door of the house there was a little nest where each spring the swallows
came and laid their eggs. One day a cousin of mine got curious and decided
to see what was inside. He got a ladder and climbed to where the nest was.
When he was high enough, he looked inside and saw a couple of eggs, very
quickly he took them in his hands and showed them to me. Instead of putting
them back, we decided to keep them. After this incident, the swallows
stopped nesting there. Year after year the nest was empty until two or
three years ago my grandmother noticed swallows coming back. This childhood
memory reminds me to some extent of the history of the Everglades, where
the same type of ignorance and greed ruined the harmony created by nature
and which takes years to recover or overcome.
A couple of days before the Everglades class, I called
my uncle in the Ukraine and told him that I was going to the slough slog in
the Everglades. He said that he was happy for me and wished he could go
with me. My uncle has always loved nature and often together we went on
boat trips or spent some nights in a forest by the fire. I was curious and
at the same time afraid to go to the slough slog but his positive attitude
gave me courage and made me excited. So, on Friday morning while sitting
in the Coe Visitor Center with the rest of the class I thought: "Finally
the Everglades, the real Everglades!" Slough slogging is nothing like an
airboat ride where everything goes by so fast and a driver makes only a few
stops and explains some facts, nor is it like canoeing where attention is
mostly concentrated on paddling and it is difficult to pay attention to the
details. As a matter of fact, slough slogging gives one a chance to get
more "intimate" with nature, watch it, study it, and learn to appreciate it.
When I took the first step in the water I was
surprised to see how clean it was. At first I saw only the sawgrass, which
was not very tall and dense. However, in a while I started noticing
different types of flowers. They were everywhere. To my surprise some of
them resembled the flowers I used to see back home in my native county. I
saw tiny violet and pink flowers that resembled bluebells, little pale
flowers reminded me of the apple tree blossoms and the tall white ones
looked a bit like an herb called yarrow. Soon I found myself falling behind
everybody. I walked so slowly because I wanted to look closely at each
flower, touch it and smell it. One time while I was trying to catch up with
everyone, I did not notice a water snake right in front of me. Thanks to
one of my classmates, who warned me about the snake, I stopped just in time
avoiding stepping on it. I am not afraid of snakes but I never feel
comfortable around them; however, at that moment I just stayed and watched
it. I did not feel apprehension towards it but rather curiosity and
admiration. Another species that interested me was the mosquito fish. Since
this fish is so small nobody noticed it until Alan, our ranger pointed them
out. Once he started talking about them, I put my hand in the water and in about
ten seconds I saw many fish around it and I felt little bites. It was very
unusual for me to see fish that did not consider me as a threat.
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale
Hurston wrote that life and dreams of men go around just as ships do. When
I think of the Everglades I see that the history was also a round trip.
Since the end of the 1800's men wanted to drain the Everglades and turn the
land into a "paradise" and because of their ignorance and greed they
started destroying the harmony that existed there for many years. Today,
views have been changed. Some people realize how important it is to save
the remaining Everglades from being completely destroyed by getting to know
it and by learning to appreciate it. So, for me knowledge is a beginning of
devotion. The slough slog gave me a chance to explore the Everglades on a
deeper level and I went from tolerating it to loving it.
