PEMBROKE PINES – At Everglades National Park in Florida, severe drought dries up not only the habitat that wildlife depends on, but the tourism industry in the largest wetland in the United States.
Tour operator Marshall Jones, who owns seven airboats in the southern region where his family settled five generations ago, says his operation is quite literally grounded.
One boat now rests in the dry bed of a canal.
“A lot of the species of wildlife rely on water to survive. Right now, there’s very little to no water within the Everglades, except for man-made waterways,” said the 46-year-old owner of Mack’s Fish Camp on the Miami River.
Lack of rainfall in the Everglades has a dramatic impact on the local ecosystem, which is home to more than 2,000 animal and plant species.
Drought can stunt fish species like black bass and catfish, or force alligators, turtles and snakes to migrate in search of wetter habitats, exposing them to the risk of dying from heat, Jones said.
Droughts are frequent toward the end of the dry season, which stretches from October to mid-May — but in recent months there has been less precipitation than normal, said Robert Molleda, head of the US National Weather Service in Miami.
Which means conditions now are more extreme.
It is not only the local wildlife that has been affected.
