We're looking for amateur photographers to participate in our Everglades Photography Contest. All ages are welcome! All you have to do is visit the Everglades, take photographs of your trip, and post your favorite to the Museum's Facebook fan page for a chance to win prizes.

It can be a beautiful nature scene or a picture of you and your family enjoying the Everglades.

The contest will be judged by celebrated nature photographer, Clyde Butcher. The contest runs through September 30, 2012, and the winner will be notified by
October 31, 2012.

Everglades Forever is a project to introduce visitors to the greater Everglades, Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Park in new, meaningful ways that will increase their engagement with these parks and support for preservation. The project includes Everglades-themed experiences throughout the Museum (including our new 34,000 square foot EcoDiscovery Center), a guest speaker series, and activities that encourage the public to visit the Everglades and share their thoughts and discoveries with other Museum visitors and the wider
public. The Everglades Forever Celebration is made possible by the American Express Charitable Fund.

What are the Everglades?

• America's Everglades once covered almost 11,000 square miles of South Florida. Just a century ago, water flowed down the Kissimmee River into Lake Okeechobee, then south through the Everglades marsh to the flats of Florida Bay - the ultimate destination of the pure sheet flow.

• Dubbed the River of Grass for the sawgrass that flourished throughout the marsh,the Everglades is a mosaic of freshwater ponds, prairies and forested uplands that
supports a rich plant and wildlife community. The river spans as much as 60 miles in width, yet is only six inches deep in some places.

• In 1947 the Everglades National Park was created and encompasses nearly 1.5 million acres of South Florida wilderness and has been designated a World
Heritage Site by UNESCO.

• To meet the needs of Florida's growing population, in 1948 the U.S. Congress authorized the Central and South Florida Project, which created an extensive network of man-made canals, levees and water control structures that now channels 1.7 billion gallons of water daily from the Everglades out into the ocean. The loss of
water changed the natural characteristics of the marsh and the Everglades today is half the size it was a century ago.

• In order to maintain the quality of life for South Floridians, protect natural wildlife and plants, and provide flood control ond water supply for a growing populotion,
the State has developed the largest environmental restoration project of its kind in the history of the world. The 30-year, $13.5 billion Comprehensive Everglades
Restoration Plan (CERP) is being funded, managed and implemented through an unprecedented 50-50 partnership between the state and federal governments to restore the famed River of Grass.

Everglades Forever Celebration made possible by the American Express Charitable Fund.

Learn more about the Everglades by exploring any of the parks, preserves and refuges listed below.

Everglades National Park

Big Cypress National Preserve

Collier-Seminole State Park

Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge

Ten Thousand Island National Wildlife Refuge

Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge