Drew Martin and the River of Grass

The Neighborhood News was great today and the bio information by Willie Howard on my friend, Drew Martin, was well done. CLICK HERE to read about Drew and his involvement in Florida's environment and in the "River of Grass."

Years ago, after I had moved back to Lake Worth, I had met Drew and was very impressed with him as a person as well as his concern for the environment and for people in general. His enthusiasm went further than just locally--it was Mother Earth. Sincere people are sometimes hard to find. I decided to campaign for him. It was the race with Wes Blackman and Jo-Ann Golden for Commissioner District 3. I got to experience, first-hand, the nasty and rude people involved in politics in this city. It is something that I will always remember and hopefully I have learned from it. Nothing should ever surprise me but something always does…like the intensification in the meanness and in the lies.

But to get back to The River of Grass which is The Everglades and consists of 1.5 million acres of swamps and sawgrass. The Everglades National park is the third largest in the country. Initially when Congress signed the Act, it created 460,000 acres of protected land filled with all sorts of wildlife including 14 rare and endangered species—three of which are the

American Crocodile, the Florida Panther and the West Indian Manatee.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas described the Everglades as the River of Grass and it is believed that she was the first one to come up with that name. Water does flow through the Everglades into Florida Bay and is covered by grasses. Marjory died in 1998 and I would bet that she is also one of Drew’s heroes.