The Everglades National Park is a North American national park located in the state of Florida, which protects 20% of the original area of the Everglades. In the United States, it is the largest tropical zone, and the largest of any kind east of the Mississippi River, and receives an average of one million visitors a year. It is the third largest national park behind Death Valley and Yellowstone. It has been designated as an International Biosphere Reserve, World Heritage Site and Wetland of International Importance, one of only three sites in the world to appear on these three lists.

Many of the national parks protect unique geographic features. Everglades National Park was the first to be created to protect a fragile ecosystem. The Everglades are a network of wetlands and forests fed by a river from Lake Okeechobee, southwest of Florida Bay. The park represents the most important breeding ground for tropical shorebirds in North America, and includes the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere. It is home to 36 endangered or protected species including the Florida panther, American crocodile and manatee, and is home to 350 species of birds, 300 species of salt and freshwater fish, 40 species of mammals and 50 species of reptiles. Most of South Florida’s fresh water stored in the Biscayne Aquifer originates in the park.

Humans have lived in and around the Everglades for thousands of years. In 1882, it was planned to withdraw water from the region and work the land for agricultural and housing use. Throughout the 20th century, the water coming from Lake Okeechobee was controlled and directed to give way to the high growth of the South Florida Metropolitan Region. The park was created in 1934 to protect the everglades from degradation and increasing demise, and was consolidated in 1947 when major canal construction projects began throughout South Florida. Everglades National Park ecosystems have suffered significantly from human activity, and preservation of the zone is a political issue in South Florida.