FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  March 4, 2004
CONTACT: Linda Long (850) 245-2112

Remembering Marjory Stoneman Douglas

--Defender of the Everglades remembered in Women’s History Month—

TALLAHASSEE- As the nation celebrates National Women’s History Month, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is recognizing Marjory Stoneman Douglas, remembered as the “mother of the Everglades.” Through her tireless efforts, protection of the famed River of Grass gained national attention.

“National Women’s History Month recognizes extraordinary visionaries like Marjory Stoneman Douglas,” said Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Colleen Castille. “Her leadership and dedication to the Everglades continues to inspire citizens to take an active role in conserving and protecting our precious natural resources.”

Born in 1890, Douglas moved to Miami in 1915 to work at the Miami Herald, where her father was a publisher. Ahead of her time, she carried the causes of feminism, racial justice and conservation to mainstream America.

“There are no other Everglades in the world. They are, they have always been, one of the unique regions of the Earth, remote, never wholly known. Nothing anywhere else is like them…” wrote Douglas in her book, “Everglades: River of Grass”. Published in 1947, the book is considered to be the definitive description of the Everglades and the first to express the notion that it was not a swamp, but a vast, flowing river.

At the age of 78, Douglas spearheaded the effort to preserve the Everglades, create national parks and pass legislation to protect Florida’s natural resources. Douglas died in 1998 at the age of 108. Two years later, she was named to the Women’s Hall of Fame. The Department of Environmental Protection honored her in 1981, naming their main offices after her.

Continuing the legacy, Governor Jeb Bush established the 50-50 state-federal partnership that is returning a more natural flow of water to the Everglades. Since 2000, Florida has committed more than $2.5 billion through the end of the decade to clean up and restore the River of Grass.

The first construction project of the 30-year, $8 billion plan is underway - years ahead of schedule. Today, Florida is restoring a natural flow of water to more than 50,000 acres of wetlands in Southwest Florida. On the east coast, Florida recently began moving water through the world’s largest constructed wetland. The 16,500-acre treatment marsh uses plants to clean pollution from water flowing into the Everglades.

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