The problems currently threatening the Everglades region and the Everglades National Park (ENP) are not new. They have been recognized and discussed for years, and stem from the regulation of water and its timing, delivery patterns, flow and quality. These problems originate from outside of the Park boundaries. Problems involving the Park and the historic southern Everglades system are also linked to development and land use in Dade County. The ENP is defined by an artificial jurisdiction boundary that was imposed on a natural system whose hydrologic and water quality characteristics are closely tied to water resources originating outside its boundaries. The area originally proposed for the Park acquisition included much of western Dade County, the area known as the East Everglades; Barnes Sound and northern portions of Key Largo, the western portion of all the keys that currently border the Park; and, Caryfort Reef to the edge of the reef tract, approximately 5 miles from shore. If this system had been acquired and incorporated as the original ENP proposed, many of the problems currently facing the Park would not exist, or to a large degree, such problems as water distribution, timing and quality would be much easier to solve. The boundaries of what is currently the ENP do not comprise a functioning hydrological unit. They are missing the headwaters of the Taylor Slough, the headwaters of the Shark River Slough, the main area of land upstream of northeast Florida Bay, and the rockdale lands. The rockdale lands comprised the short hydroperiod wetlands that were continuous with other areas that historically served as foraging areas for wading birds.

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