National Park Foundation Supports and Protects the Everglades Visitor Experience
"Here are no lofty peaks seeking the sky, no mighty glaciers or rushing streams wearing away the uplifted land. Here is land, tranquil in its quiet beauty, serving not as the source of water but as the last receiver of it. To its natural abundance, we owe the spectacular plant and animal life that distinguishes this place from all others in our country."
– President Harry S. Truman, address at the Dedication of Everglades National Park, December 6, 1947
Today, Everglades National Park covers over 1.5 million acres across Florida's Miami-Dade, Monroe and Collier counties. The country's third-largest national park was the first of its kind created to protect this fragile subtropical wetland ecosystem. One million visitors from across the globe visit these unique habitats each year. The Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation and the National Park Foundation are partnering to enhance and expand the visitor experience.
The National Park Foundation, the charitable organization supporting the National Park Service, generates support and partnerships to protect and enhance the country's National Parks. NPF shares our commitment to inspire and teach through nature, the arts, and science.
Our Foundation’s recent grants are helping to transform the Everglades visitor experience with infrastructure improvements and enhanced, multi-cultural educational and interpretive resources for students and guests.
Guy Bradley Flamingo Visitor Center
Grant award supporting the renovation of the park's visitor center, creating and installing 6,000-square-feet of interpretive exhibits. The new displays will highlight diverse stories, resources, and recreational opportunities available in the Flamingo and Florida Bay regions of Everglades National Park.
The project will also install interactive elements and graphics to create an engaging, flexible and practical space that orientates visitors, deepens their understanding of the area's significance, and encourages them to explore the park.
Shark Valley Visitor Center
Shark Valley's proximity to Miami makes it a popular destination for tourists and locals alike. Our grant supports the improvement of recreational access and safety. Currently, visitors are forced to park their cars alongside a dangerous and busy roadway during the peak season to access the park.
Funding supports the planning and design of an expanded parking area and implements additional traffic management solutions to reduce the safety risk.
In addition, funding for this project will create an enhanced educational experience provided both English and Spanish interpretive panels that will highlight the park's many features. The informational panels will cover topics such as gator holes, water management, wading birds, fish habitats, and the Miccosukee Indians, to name a few.
Open Outdoors for Kids (OOK)
Open Outdoors for Kids connects children to their national parks through engaging activities. Our grant welcomes thousands of fourth-graders throughout South Florida to experience the Everglades in a way many of them never imagined. Research shows that kids who spend time outdoors are healthier and perform better in school. Students who have opportunities for hands-on learning demonstrate more interest in education and science. Their experience at the Everglades will expose them to culture and history and help to deepen connections to the natural world.
If you are interested in supporting the Everglades and our national parks, click below for more information.
