More wilderness, more protection of Florida Bay's shallow waters, and a new paddling trail all are provided for in the general management plan approved for Everglades National Park.

The plan, combined with the East Everglades Wilderness Study, should take the park's management objectives forward for the next several decades. Overall, the two plans are designed to better protect and restore critical natural, cultural, and wilderness resources and provide improved visitor experiences. The park now is home to more than 1.5 million acres of official wilderness, the “largest designated wilderness area east of the Rocky Mountains.”

The last comprehensive management planning effort for Everglades National Park was completed in 1979, so an update was needed to address changes in visitation, boundaries, and improved understanding of resources and threats to those resources. 

“This is an important milestone to guide park decisions and priorities for many years to come. The need for the GMP is clear and the public’s support in developing the plan will go a long way toward its successful implementation,” said Stan Austin, director of the National Park Service's Southeast Region. Mr. Austin approved the plan October 23.

The plan is built around the concept of management zoning and collaborative techniques, such as adaptive management, user education, and an advisory committee. The management zones describe desired conditions for park resources and visitor experience throughout the park. Management zones range from the "Developed Zone" for the main visitor center facilities; the "Front Country Zone" easily accessible to visitors; the "Boat Access Zone" for recreational watercraft and motorboats; "Pole/Troll Zone" to protect vulnerable shallow marine areas of Florida Bay (submerged marine wilderness) – but allowing paddles, poles, or trolling motors; the "Pole/Roll/Idle Zone", which allows for combustion engines operating at idle speed in proper depths; the "Backcountry (non-motorized) Zones" for water or land in the wildest areas to provide wilderness experiences; and, finally, a "Special Protection Zone" for sensitive wildlife areas or areas that are part of long-term ecological benchmarks for research.

“Our mission is clear – protect and improve the resource conditions, and provide for the understanding and enjoyment of this special place," said Everglades Superintendent Pedro Ramos. "In addition to the ongoing work to restore the Everglades ecosystem, GMP implementation will bring measureable improvements to our fresh- and marine-water environments and enhance opportunities for visitors.”

The plan includes a number of new features. These include:  “1) a state-of-the-art marine-waters boater education program, 2) Florida Bay protection with over 140,000 acres of shallow-water zoning to enhance resource protection and an updated boat transit network, 3) an 85,300-acre expansion of the park’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness in the East Everglades Addition, 4) airboat zones for individual airboats and concession tours consistent with 1989 East Everglades Expansion Act, 5) the 120-mile Everglades Paddling Trail through the park’s western backcountry, 6) sustainable redevelopment of the park’s Flamingo and Everglades City sites, and 7) re-opening the Joe Bay area for paddling and catch-and-release fishing.”  

Full details of the plans can be found here.

How soon some of the changes are implemented is hard to say.

“Implementing the plan will not happen all at once and is likely to take many years, as funds and resources become available," said Superintendent Ramos. "The more complex projects, especially those changing visitor use and access (e.g., boater education program, shallow-water marine zoning, airboat zones), will not start before 2016, and may take several years to complete."

The GMP also calls for a comprehensive cultural resource management to inventory, document, and protect such resources, and improve ethnographic resources and interpretation in consultation with American Indian tribes and peoples traditionally associated with the park area.