Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, said in response:

This shortsighted bill will leave Americans at greater risk of flooding, damage our rivers and wildlife, and fleece taxpayers. Apparently, all it takes is a classic Washington pig roast to break the gridlock in the Senate.

It would cost an estimated $60 billion to build all the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects currently on the books. Today, the Senate has added to the backlog while undermining the process that identifies which projects provide real value. Time and time again, commonsense environmental reviews have shed light on expensive, damaging proposals that are not in our national interest.The Water Resources Development Act is vital for helping to restore national treasures like the Everglades and the Mississippi River Delta. Unfortunately, language in this bill undermines the bedrock environmental principle that the federal government should look before it leaps. For example, this bill will allow the Army Corps to fine other federal agencies up to $20,000 a week if they aren’t able to meet the new rushed deadlines for environmental review.

Now the debate moves to the House. We look forward to working with our representatives to protect the integrity of the environmental review process, and to enact meaningful reforms that will prioritize low impact solutions and modernize the management of existing projects. This bill must be fixed before the President signs it into law.

Read more about the Water Resources Development Act:

• Will Senate Water Down Environmental Protections While the Midwest Floods?
• Black Bears and Wetlands and the Water Resources Development Act…Oh, My!
• Five Ways the Water Resources Development Act Harms Wildlife
• Congress and Water Projects in America: The Latest on the Water Resources Development Act

Florida Panther (Photo: Rodney Cammauf/National Park Service)

The Importance of Environmental Review

One of the best tools we have to protect wildlife from harmful Corps projects is called “environmental review.” Established under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)—often called the “Magna Carta of environmental policy”—this process requires that the federal government consider the environmental impact of any project before deciding whether and how to proceed. When it works, it ensures that all federal projects (including water resources projects) are completed in a way that is better for wildlife, habitats, and public health. Environmental review is one of the most valuable tools we have to protect wildlife. 

However, the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) — the legislation that Congress uses to guide Corps policy and say which water projects get built by the Army Corps of Engineers — is expected to be voted on by the Senate later this month, and significantly undermines environmental review.  This dangerous environmental streamlining makes it much harder for the public, scientists, and other agencies to have input on Corps projects. And not only does this bill make it harder to stop harmful Corps projects, it also fails to require the Corps to use non-structural and restoration solutions where they will work to solve a problem, despite the fact that these approaches would safeguard wildlife and habitats.  This legislation will have a negative impact on countless vulnerable species and undermine ongoing restoration and conservation efforts. 

Five reasons this bill is bad for wildlife

1. Undermines democracy by weakening public participation.

Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), all Americans have a legal right to know about and have a say in federal decisions. The NEPA review process is the only way that the public — including hunters, anglers, gardeners, and other outdoor enthusiasts — get to tell the Corps how projects affect them and the wildlife they care about. This WRDA limits public comment periods to either 60 days or 30 days, depending on the type of environmental review. Environmental review statements are often hundreds of pages long and full of dense scientific language: 30 days is barely enough time to read and understand a review, let alone consult experts and submit informed public comments. In addition, this legislation is worded so broadly that it obstructs not only NEPA, but also reviews under the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and other landmark environmental laws.

2. Significantly hampers the ability of other agencies to improve Corps projects.

The environmental review process also requires other agencies, such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to weigh in on Corps projects. By setting arbitrary and unreasonably short deadlines for reviews, imposing higher level reviews of even technical disagreements, and fining agencies up to $20,000 a week for missing deadlines, this legislation makes it much, much harder for agencies to fully evaluate a Corps project. Good science takes time, and the way this legislation changes the environmental review process doesn’t give experts enough time to adequately evaluate the impacts that a project could have on vulnerable fish and wildlife.

3. Tilts the scales of the project permit review towards approval—regardless of potential environmental impacts.

By fining agencies for not meeting these arbitrary deadlines, this Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) penalizes agencies that undertake a full deliberation of important environmental issues.  We fear that, in order to avoid fines, agencies — already facing restricted budgets — will rush to complete reviews even without having all the needed information, increasing the likelihood that environmentally harmful projects will be approved.

4. Doesn’t address the real cause of Corps project delays.

Research has shown that the NEPA review process is not the main cause of delays in federal decisions and projects. Delays are really driven by funding constraints, the Corps’ $60–80 billion project backlog, and the Corps insisting on planning highly destructive and controversial projects when far less damaging approaches are available. Streamlining environmental review is not likely to accelerate completion of Corps projects; but it is highly likely to let Corps projects move forward without a full consideration of the impacts on public safety, wildlife, and ecosystems.

5. Fails to improve the safety of our communities by using floodplains and other natural resources to help protect people and wildlife.

Using low impact solutions — for example, reconnecting streams with floodplains, and other nonstructural restoration measures — is frequently more cost effective and better protects people, wildlife, and the many businesses that rely on healthy rivers, coasts, and wetlands. During the past 20 years, structural Corps projects have played havoc with the nation’s fish and wildlife resources.  During the same period, despite the construction of innumerable federal flood damage reduction projects, the nation’s flood damages have increased at an alarming rate. By continuing to promote environmentally destructive and costly structural projects even when a cheaper and safer nonstructural solution is available, this WRDA puts people and wildlife at risk.

Take Action

Tell your Senator to make sure the Water Resources Development Act is good for wildlife.

Photo by Larry Kay

See more of Larry Kay’s photos on Flickr >>

Your Photo Could Be Here

We want one of your nature photos to be the next Photo of the Day! Share your images with our Flickr group and tag them with PhotoOfTheDay-NWF12.

Don’t have a Flickr account? It’s free and easy to create one.
 

Everglades (Fifth World Art/Flickr)

Water is the lifeblood of America’s Everglades, the unifying factor that connects the once-vast ecosystem from its headwaters at the Kissimmee River to the most southern tip of Florida and Florida Bay. Sequestered within the tip of South Florida is the Everglades National Park, the last remaining piece of the original Everglades. This ecosystem depends on a constant, slow supply of water in order to function. Since the park is located at the bottom of its watershed, we must protect the water in order to protect the park.

And the Everglades is not a place that South Florida can afford to lose!

My Home, My Everglades

When I saw the “swamp” for the first time, I was in fourth grade and my parents took my family to Big Cypress. I remember at first feeling off put by the decidedly swampy smell, but then being quickly distracted by the bright green sprigs on the cypress trees, decorated by Spanish moss, and by the promise of finding the hidden alligators that were buried among a mask of water plants. I couldn’t believe that this water connected us to points as far away as Miami, the Keys, and Lake Okeechobee.

Learning just how interconnected Florida is with water and the Everglades still blows my mind. My jaw dropped when I learned that I was among the one in every three Floridians who rely on the Everglades ecosystem to provide their water supply. The continued existence of South Florida as we know it all depends on clean water.

The Clean Water Act Protects the Everglades

Over the past 40 years, the Clean Water Act has been instrumental in protecting the health of Florida waters and the Everglades. The Act has helped preserve the tapestry of headwaters, small streams, and wetlands that play an integral role in providing links among the “river of grass” that feeds into the Everglades and on to Florida Bay. Nevertheless, since the early 1900s, much of the Everglades has been neatly partitioned by canals, dams, roadways, and agricultural areas, resulting in the funneling of a large quantity of nutrient pollution to Florida’s canals and coastal waters before it even has a chance to flow through the Everglades. The remaining small streams and wetlands of the Everglades watershed are more important than ever for holding and filtering these pollutants, yet many of them are now at increased risk of losing Clean Water Act protections in the wake of recent court decisions.

In order to reduce the amount of nutrient pollution entering the Everglades and flowing to coastal waters, strong Clean Water Act protections need to be in place.

A Heron flying through the Everglades (milan.boers/Flickr)

Show us why you love clean water! If you care about clean water and would like future generations to have fishable, swimmable and drinkable waters, take action and help restore clean water today!

NWF Report Says Climate Change Ruined Summer in the U.S.

August 30 – A new National Wildlife Federation report says climate change made its presence felt in disappointing, dangerous, and destructive ways this summer. From severe heat waves, devastating wildfires, catastrophic floods, serious crop damage, and destructive pests expanding their range; people in most parts of the U.S. suffered the impacts scientists have predicted for years. Those impacts will spill over into next year with higher food prices and damaged ecosystems struggling to rebound.

“This summer has been the season climate change became real to many Americans,” said Joe Mendelson, NWF’s director of climate and energy policy. “From burned houses to parched fields to West Nile virus, it’s time for all political parties to start protecting our homes, families, and communities. We need to get serious about reducing the uncontrolled carbon pollution that is ravaging our country.”

Important Wetland Gains Achieved in Mirasol Settlement near Corkscrew Sanctuary

August 23 – National Wildlife Federation and Florida Wildlife Federation and partner conservation groups achieved hundreds of acres of additional wetland protection and restoration in a landmark settlement over the Mirasol project, a proposed golf course development to be sited in wetlands and wood stork habitat of Florida’s Western Everglades. The groups had opposed and litigated to reduce the damage from this development for almost a decade.

This latest settlement follows on the groups’ 2010 settlement of challenges to the adjacent Saturnia Falls and Parklands developments. All three developments were proposed originally in 1999 in the ecologically sensitive Cocohatchee Slough, a natural wetland flowway emanating from Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. The Slough plays a vital role in providing foraging habitat for the endangered wood stork, whose largest nesting rookery in the nation is at Corkscrew Swamp. The Cocohatchee Slough also provides vital regional watershed benefits, like water supply and flood protection.

August 28 – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today is set to finalize new fuel efficiency and carbon standards, landmark rules that will double the fuel economy of America’s cars, SUVs and pickups to an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.

Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, said today:

“As a onetime General Motors mechanic, I’m proud to see Americans already proving we have what it takes to lead in a prosperous clean energy future. Taken together, new fuel economy standards for cars and trucks are the biggest step America has ever taken to cut carbon pollution and reduce our oil dependence, critical for wildlife which faces both the global threat of climate change and the direct impacts of oil spills and pollution.”

Make a Play Date with Nature

August 27 – Back to school shouldn’t mean back inside for kids. While busy school schedules, sports and other extra-curricular activities make free time for playing outdoors or a trek to the park more challenging, National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Learning Initiative at North Carolina State University, have developed a guide to creating enticing outdoor play spaces as close as your backyard, patio or balcony.

Nature Play at Home : A Guide for Boosting Children’s Healthy Development and Creativity shows parents and caregivers how they can turn an uninspired outdoor environment into an entertaining and exciting play area that will have kids from 1-12 years welcoming that frequent parental command, “Go outside and play!”

And here are highlights from NWF in the News:

• Climate Wire: Conservative Republicans launch a new group to promote clean energy(subscription required)
• Indian Country Today Media Network: Northwest Tribes Fight for Treaty Rights in Face of Coal-Transport Plan
• Greenwire: Company cancels Pacific Northwest shipping plans(subscription required)
• Metro Times: Hitting the pipe hard: Enbridge’s tar sands oil pipelines dodge oversight

For more, visit www.nwf.org/News

Extra-Large Wildlife

Blue whales reach lengths of 110 feet (with females being bigger than males), making them the largest animals to ever live! They are also one of the loudest animals on Earth, songs can reach nearly 200 dB (louder than a jet engine!) and travel for hundreds of miles across the ocean.

For another animal with impressive length, here is a video of a 49 foot long python, being held in captivity in Indonesia. Over the centuries there have been many tales of giant snakes. This 983 pounder tells us the tales were mostly true. In recent years, pythons have become an extra-large threat to the Florida Everglades ecosystem, where pet owners have released the non-native species into the wild.

Similar tales of exotic wild creatures at sea may have been spawned by such as this 2,000 pound, nine foot long loggerhead turtle that, sadly, only came to view because it snagged in buoy cable. NWF and colleague organizations took many needed steps during the 2010 BP Gulf oil disaster to protect loggerheads and other turtle species.

We all know that giraffes are our tallest land animal and that some have reached heights in excess of 20 feet, but the world’s tallest subspecies of giraffe, the Rothschild, is now in danger of extinction.

Scientists exploring Madagascar reported the discovery of what is thought to be the world's smallest chameleon, Brookesia micra, a leaf chameleon. Photo by Glaw, F., et al., PLoS ONE

Extra-Small Wildlife

By contrast, the smallest of reptile was recently discovered in Madagascar: Brookesia micra. It is a tiny leaf chameleon that measures an inch when fully grown.  Recent efforts to inventory wild species in tropical forests are finding hundreds of previously undocumented species, including this little guy who lives in leaf litter and only comes out at night.

Speedy Birds

There are many record-breaking speedsters in the animal kingdom. The Peregrine falcon gets the nod for being able to dive at speeds close to 150 mph, but Siberia’s spine-tailed swift wins the overall prize for flying across the sky at 106 mph.

And while cheetahs are the fastest land animal, able to run at 70 mph, the ostrich is the fastest land bird, having been clocked at about 45 mph.

My favorite speedster may be the Gentoo penguin which can swim at about 25 mph through Antarctic seas. These penguins need their speed and smart maneuvering to keep from becoming food the large predators such as orcas. This two minute video, called Happy Gentoo, shows how this all works for a worn out but clever penguin being chased by a pod of orcas. It has a surprise ending you may like. By breaking a record, the little guy avoids becoming a statistic.

Big Leapers

The highest land-based leaper seems to be the cougar, which can jump straight up over 20 feet. The highest ocean leaper seems be a toss-up between orcas and sharks which can get themselves some 20 feet above the waves.

Southern cricket frogs are one of the best jumpers in the amphibian world, reaching heights of over 60 times their body length (that’s like a person jumping up a 38 story building!).

Eastern Hercules Beetle

Longest Commutes

The arctic tern seems to win in the “longest commute” category with its annual 21,000 mile round trip from pole to pole and the North American caribou does a 5,000 mile round trip on land.

Hercules! Hercules!

Last but not least, rhinoceros beetles–sometimes called Hercules beetles because they possess strength of a herculean proportions–can lift objects 850 times their weight. That would be equivalent to a human lifting 9 fully grown male elephants!

Protect Record-Breaking Wildlife

You can help wildlife – adopt your own record-breaking animal today! >>

Legislating in the Dark: Latest House Vote Attacks Water, Clean Energy and Light Bulbs

July 15 – The House of Representatives voted to further dismantle America’s clean water and clean energy future by passing H.R. 2354, the Energy & Water Development Appropriations Act of 2012. The bill blocks the Army Corps of Engineers from updating Clean Water Act guidance that would bring greater clarity to the law and better protect our rivers, lakes and streams. H.R. 2354 also stalls restoration of the Everglades and other Great Waters, which offer huge water quality, habitat and economic benefits to the nation.

Bipartisan ‘No Child Left Inside’ Act Will Foster Innovation

July 14 – The Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed in 1965, authorizing state-managed, federally funded education programs as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s suite of poverty-reduction policies. Thirty-seven years later it was reauthorized as the No Child Left Behind Act under President George W. Bush, who sought to define core common educational standards for the purposes of national assessment.

Now, under the leadership of Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Mark Kirk (R-IL), Congressman John Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) and others, a bipartisan movement is underway to amend that far-reaching act because it still doesn’t touch one of the most crucial areas of all—the outdoors.

Oil Pipelines Unsafe, Congress Must Improve Safety Shortcoming NWF Tells House Panel

July 14 – In the wake of yet another tragic oil spill, NWF Senior Scientist Doug Inkley did his best to impress upon a House pipelines subcommittee that spills are far too frequent and better pipeline safety legislation is urgently needed.

“Montana’s people, fish, and wildlife didn’t deserve this oil spill in the Yellowstone River, but they do deserve a better response from ExxonMobil and the federal government,” Dr. Inkley testified in a hearing that included testimony from Exxon and the government’s chief pipeline safety official.

Dirty Politics, Dirty Water: House Trashes Clean Water Act to Help Pad Polluter Profits

July 13 – The Clean Water Act is under unprecedented assault during this Congress, and today the House of Representatives launched the biggest and most outrageous attack yet. Lawmakers passed H.R. 2018, the “Dirty Water Act,” which undermines Clean Water Act safeguards and the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to do its job and keep our waters clean and healthy.

New Report: States’ Actions on the Great Lakes Compact Are Good, Bad and Ugly

July 12 – Halfway through efforts to implement the Great Lakes Compact, a new report by the National Wildlife Federation provides an honest critique of the states’ progress:  the good, the bad, and the ugly.

“This report is a wake-up call to the states to step it up,” said Marc Smith, senior policy manager for the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes Regional Center. “The future of the Compact remains bright, but our Great Lakes need a renewed commitment by the states and the region to address the bad—and prevent the ugly.”

Congress Votes for Much-Needed Reforms to National Flood Insurance Program

July 12 – With hurricane season well underway and the remnants of severe floods still troubling many river communities in the country’s midsection, it is difficult to ignore the risks out-of-control waters pose to all Americans. Recently, the House of Representatives voted to reform the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), advancing measures that will better protect people, property and the environment. H.R. 1309, the Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2011, removes incentives for risky developments in flood prone and environmentally sensitive areas, applies market-based rates to flood insurance to further mitigate risk and provides technical and financial assistance to help lessen damage and protect natural features.

House Spending Bill Halts Endangered Species Listing, Blocks Clean Water Protections, Guts Clean Air Act

July 14 – The House Appropriations Committee this week passed its fiscal year 2012 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill. According to NWF’s Adam Kolton, “the policy riders and extreme cuts in this proposal mark a radical departure from America’s longstanding national commitment to protecting the air we breathe and the water we drink. Our families will bear the costs, while polluters will reap the profits.”

The bill slashes investments for agencies charged with providing clean water, protecting public health, and safeguarding wildlife. This includes an 18% cut in investments for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a 7% cut in investments for the Department of Interior.

And here are highlights from NWF in the News:

• WBEZ Radio: Climate change hits mightiest of the Great Lakes
• Boston Globe: MD Congressman Re-introduces Enviro Ed Bill

For more, visit www.nwf.org/News

Lake Erie (Mark Hogan/Flickr)

Here is a list of some of the successful regional initiatives that will be cut significantly by the continuing resolution:

• $441 million from the Army Corps construction budget that includes projects to restore coastal Louisiana and the Florida Everglades
• $250 million from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
• $10 million from the Chesapeake Bay Program
• $20 million from Puget Sound restoration
• $2 million from the San Francisco Bay Program
• $4 million from the Long Island Sound Program
• $2.6 million from Lake Champlain restoration
• $1.5 million from the Gulf of Mexico Program
• $5.6 million from the National Estuary Program ($200 million per watershed)
• $2.1 million culled from all of the other geographic restoration initiatives

In additon to cutting programs that keep our waters clean and safe, the continuing resolution also severely handicaps the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to enforce the Clean Water Act. Cuts to clean water mean more pollution, fish kills, dead zones, invasive species, health threats and less tourism, fishing, and recreation jobs and dollars.

Visit the National Wildlife Federation’s Action Center to tell Congress to stop making cuts to clean water jobs and programs. Water is the lifeblood of this country, and we can’t afford to let lawmakers drain us dry.

Photo by Holly Ambrose

Just a few yards from the northern shore of Florida Bay, I sit enjoying the company of my family and our friends. It is a balmy New Year’s Day in Everglades National Park, and we have taken the weekend to enjoy camping in this subtropical wilderness area.

We awoke to the sound of bird calls and spent the morning on the Anhinga Trail spotting egrets, herons, wood storks, a couple of American bitterns, a purple gallinule, piles of alligators, turtles and of course — true to its name — anhingas too. Now it’s late afternoon and we are thinking about cooking dinner when my husband calls out, “Dolphins!” He points just offshore.

Holding our 17-month-old baby, I scramble closer to the water for a look. Friends rush over, and we scan the expanse of blue to find three fins arching up and down from time to time. Two large fins and a small fin  a small family of dolphins. We watch them as they made their way westward, until we can’t see them anymore.

We all agree that seeing the dolphins was nothing short of a gift of providence.

Kids-Eye View of the Everglades

Nine young ones (including four children under age 5 and four tweens) from four families were along for our New Year’s camping adventure. We felt lucky to find such great campsites right on Florida Bay, the body of water that separates the Florida peninsula from the Florida Keys, and to be celebrating the New Year in such a beautiful place.

Photo by Holly Ambrose

Everglades National Park is about an hour from our home and I had explored and camped there many times before. But I was happy to be sharing this amazing national park with my children and our friends’ kids. Not only did I get to show them around the park, but in many cases, *they* showed us adults the park.

• It was the older kids who risked ruining their shoes to find a tiny crab in the mudflats of the bay, and brought the crab back to camp for everyone to see. (Mr. Crab was returned safely to his hometown.)
• It was my preschool son who kept saying how much he liked “tenting” — and pretending to see the dolphins again in the water.
• It was my baby, who — with his still-developing language skills — kept reminding us where we were by saying, “Out the door! Out the door!” throughout the weekend.
• It was our friends’ 11-year-old son who saw movement in the grasses under a boardwalk, which turned out to be an American bittern.

All of the kids were excited to see the alligators that are a fixture in the Everglades, and many little fingers pointed to birds (we identified 18 different species) that flew, or swam, or just rested near the water.

Camping Challenges

I’d say the only thing the kids didn’t like was the longish walk to the restrooms — and the older kids moaned just a bit about helping with setting up camp, breaking down, cooking and cleanup.

Photo by Holly Ambrose

It was a relief to me that things went smoothly with the kids, because it was my baby’s first time camping, and my preschooler’s second time. My husband and I had camped together many times, but taking a child camping adds another element to your preparation. Knowing how some children can be unpredictable, especially in new situations, can also make you ask, “What if?”

My main “what if” was concern that my preschooler might slip out of the tent at night while the rest of us were asleep. My husband positioned the preschooler’s air mattress on the far side of the tent so my husband’s cot was in between the boy and the door. Mostly, I’d say camping tired out my son too much for him to be physically able to get up in the middle of the night! I worried for nothing.

However, one situation with our son wasn’t something I could have predicted. He had a panic attack as we were driving to the campground the first night. We usually set up camp in the daylight, but circumstances didn’t make that possible this time. As the sun set, we were still driving on the main park road (38 miles), which is pitch black at night. This deep darkness is great for stargazing, but it scared my son. Once we reached Flamingo and he could see the lights and buildings of the visitor center and marina, my son calmed down.

Tips for Camping in the Everglades

A wood stork/ Photo by Holly Ambrose

My husband and I want our sons’ early outdoors experiences to be positive ones so they will enjoy being in nature — and overall, they both had a superb encounter with the wilderness in Everglades National Park. It was the same for all the children on our trip.

If you want to camp in Everglades National Park, here are some tips:

• When to Go: Visit in the winter and early spring. In subtropical Florida, the dry, cooler season is roughly December through April. It can be cool at night, but warms up during the day. On our New Year’s trip, the temperature stayed in the 60s and 70s, and there was no rain. It was perfect! A winter trip also means less chance of encountering insects like mosquitoes.
• Reserve Online: Make a reservation through the site Recreation.gov. There are two campgrounds in Everglades National Park: the Long Pine Key Campground closer to the main entrance of the park, and the Flamingo Campground at the end of the main park road that lies near Florida Bay. Currently, the Long Pine Key Campground sites are available on a first-come, first-serve basis, and only the Flamingo sites can be reserved.
• Be prepared. Just as with any camping trip, make sure you bring with you whatever you’ll need, including food, water and medications. When you have kids that may mean bringing a lot of extra items that campers without children wouldn’t need: baby wipes, tiny camp chairs sized for kids, favorite toys, books or sippy cups. Our kids are young (4 years old and 17 months old), so my husband and I thought it would be best to bring what they were used to having at home to keep them comfortable — even their favorite pillows. Older children might be able (if not willing!) to do without some comforts from home.
• Start local: If you haven’t camped with children before, a great way to get started is by joining the Great American Backyard Campout. The national event is on June 25, 2011 – but you can register and camp at any time and get great tips on how to have an easy first time campout.
• Read up: You also might check out a book like Babes in the Woods: Hiking, Camping & Boating with Babies and Young Children by Jennifer Aist or the Outdoor Baby Network site. Reading magazines like Ranger Rick, Your Big Backyard, or Wild Animal Baby with your children can help them get excited about viewing wildlife.

Between watching the children discover the park, the wildlife sightings and being surrounded by the Everglades’ wild beauty, my family and friends had a perfect camping trip that I don’t think will be easy to forget. In fact, I think it will be on my mind for some time. At least for 11 or 12 months.

I see New Year’s is on a weekend again this year…

These habitats and others face sewage contamination, invasive species, habitat destruction, climate change effects and critical ignorance. Luckily, we still have a shot at restoring them and, in doing so, restoring ecosystems that sustain people, wildlife and the economy.

Guest lawmakers included Senator Amy Klobuchar (MN) and Representatives Norm Dicks (WA), Elijah Cummings (MD), Tim Bishop (NY), Jay Inslee (WA), Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX), Mike Quigley (IL), John Sarbanes (MD), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL)). They made it clear that, economic and ecological benefits aside, the fight to restore these ecosystems is deeply personal.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (MN) spoke out on behalf of native Minnesotans and visitors who boat, swim, and fish on the Great Lakes (Some $50 million a year spent on bait and tackle!)

Rep. Jay Inslee (WA) — son of Jimi Hendrix’s biology teacher, apparently –came across as Experienced —not to mention ‘Bold as Love’—in his appeal for water resource protection. It was as if he said, ‘
Hey Joe—You Got Me Floating‘. My One Rainy Wish is that we not Wait Until Tomorrow to preserve America’s great water ecosystems. Crosstown Traffic.
(Seriously, though, Inslee talked about Puget Sound, its threatened ecosystem, and his love of the Northwest’s waters.)

Rep. Elijah Cummings (MD) decried the lax environmental standards that have led to dirty drinking water and mutated aquatic wildlife in the Chesapeake and elsewhere, while Rep. John Sarbanes (MD) recalled crabbing with his grandparents in the same waters, before neglect severely damaged the largest estuary in the U.S.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL) invoked Marjory Stoneman Douglas, an Everglades conservation pioneer, and the need to carry on her fight wherever water habitats are imperiled.

By the end of the event, it was clear that America’s waterways touch us–restore us–at least as much as we touch them. From Washington to New York, everyone had a story about the Great Waters, and nobody left the launch unaware of the stakes.

Me? Throughout early childhood, all I wanted to do was visit the Everglades. When I finally got the chance, at about age 10 or 12, I thrilled to the bugs and muck and left with approximately 4,000 blurry photos–There! It’s a snake! I think! Maybe a vine…?–and a passion for protecting our nation’s wild, wet things. It was great to see leaders and decision-makers sharing our concern.

…

America’s Great Waters Coalition includes the following organizations: Alliance for the Great Lakes, American Rivers, Audubon New York, Biodiversity Project, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Citizen’s Campaign for the Environment, Committee on Middle Fork Vermilion River, Corsica River Conservancy, Environment America, Environmental Defense Fund, Everglades Law Center, Florida Wildlife Federation, Freshwater Future, Friends of the Chemung River Watershed, Gulf of Maine Restoration and Conservation Initiative, Gulf Restoration Network, Illinois Council of Trout Unlimited, Indiana Wildlife Federation, Izaak Walton League of America, Lake Erie Region Conservancy, League of Conservation Voters, Michigan United Conservation Clubs, Michigan Wildlife Conservancy, Milwaukee Riverkeeper, National Audubon Society, National Parks Conservation Association, National Wildlife Federation, People for Puget Sound, Planning and Conservation League, Restore America’s Estuaries, Save The Bay – San Francisco, Save the Dunes Conservation Fund, Sierra Club, The Watershed Center – Grand Traverse Bay, The Wetlands Initiative, Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, Trout Unlimited, Washington Wildlife Federation, Western Lake Erie Waterkeeper Association.