HOMESTEAD, Fla. – The National Park Service issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for two major rehabilitation projects in Everglades National Park: Rehabilitation of Parkwide Water and Wastewater Systems and Flamingo Bulkheads Rehabilitation Project. The FONSI establishes that, based on the Environmental Assessment (EA), there would be no significant impact on the environment as a result of the selected action. In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, the park considered “action” and “no action” alternatives and solicited public comments for 30 days.  
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“We are so grateful for the public’s input on these vital infrastructure projects that are essential to providing sustainable visitor services and protecting the park environment,” said Superintendent Pedro Ramos of Everglades and Dry Tortugas national parks. "These improvements address critical safety and health concerns while ensuring many years of continued facility operations for park visitors.” 
 
Rehabilitation of Parkwide Water and Wastewater Systems 
This project addresses the physical and operational deficiencies of the park’s potable water distribution systems and wastewater collection systems. The existing systems are critically deficient and expensive to maintain. Many are only partially operable or at the end of their service life. Infrastructure near the ocean corrodes and deteriorates from exposure to saltwater, UV rays and high temperatures. The project seeks to improve safety, efficiency and overall operations while ensuring resilience to the impacts of climate change and maximizing the service life of the systems. 
 
The selected action provides for the rehabilitation of water and wastewater systems at 13 sites managed by park staff. The primary elements of the project include rehabilitating the reverse osmosis plants in the Flamingo and Main Entrance/Royal Palm areas. Other elements include replacing associated apparatuses needed for distribution, collection, and treatment of potable water and wastewater. Design is expected to begin over the summer with construction starting in 2026.  
 
Flamingo Bulkheads Rehabilitation Project 
This project will rehabilitate existing historic seawall bulkheads, walkways, and aging amenities within the park’s Flamingo Mission 66 Developed Area Historic District. Visible sections of existing seawall caps and pilings are cracking and breaking due to rusting and expanding reinforcing steel, causing potential tripping hazards for visitors and staff. This project will improve safety and provide an optimal visitor experience with a 50 to 100-year life span. 
 
The selected action, Alternative C, provides for the building of a new bulkhead wall using the “hard ground press-in method.” This method involves specialized equipment that uses hydraulic force to push piles into the ground. The new bulkhead wall will be built in front of the existing wall and is designed to carry the load of both walls. Other components of the project include the demolition and replacement of an aging boat shelter, as well as the repair/replacement of boat docks, pilings, and associated utilities (electric, water, wastewater, and fuel). Construction is anticipated to begin later this year. 
 
The FONSI decisions were made separately after considering environmental impacts to resources including vegetation, wetlands and soils; wildlife and species of special concern; hydrology and water quality; visitor use and experience; human health and safety; and lightscapes and viewsheds. The NPS will implement multiple mitigation measures and best management practices to protect the natural and cultural resources onsite. 

Funding for both projects is provided by the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) Legacy Restoration Fund. GAOA is part of a comprehensive effort to address the extensive deferred maintenance and repair backlog in national parks. Supported by revenue from energy development, the fund provides up to $1.3 billion per year for five years to the NPS to make significant enhancements in national parks to ensure their preservation and provide opportunities for recreation, education, and enjoyment for current and future visitors.   
 
The FONSI and related documents are available for viewing at: 
ParkPlanning - Rehabilitation of Parkwide Water and Wastewater Systems (https://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectId=93827)
ParkPlanning - Rehabilitate Marina Bulkheads at Flamingo (https://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectId=97893)

Learn more about Everglades National Park online at nps.gov/ever or follow the park on Facebook, X and Instagram. 

MIAMI, Fla - The National Park Service (NPS) in conjunction with the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and the Bureau of Indian Affairs will be conducting a joint prescribed fire operation scheduled to begin in late January and continue through February. The 151,434-acre Boundary Prescribed Fire Project—located south of US Highway 41 between mile markers 36 and 44, including the Miccosukee Reserved Area—removes jurisdictional boundaries to complete prescribed burns with the assistance of federal, Tribal, state and local resources. The project aims to reduce hazardous fuel accumulations, create a critical fire break on the south side of the Miccosukee Reserved Area to protect the Tribal Community from wildfire, enhance landscape resiliency, aid in ecosystem restoration, protect cultural values and improve firefighter and public safety.

“We are so grateful for this collaboration, which allows us to take a landscape-level approach to prescribed fire,” said Superintendent Pedro Ramos who oversees the NPS sites in South Florida. “Nature doesn’t adhere to our jurisdictional boundaries, so allowing a controlled burn to take a more natural path benefits the ecosystem and increases safety for people and our built environment.”

Due to the size and location, this project will take place in phases guided by agency specialists and the Tribe’s traditional ecological knowledge to benefit the mutual natural and cultural interests of the NPS and the Tribe. Phases 1 and 2 include treatment on the western and northern perimeters of the project area using Shark Valley Tram Road as a natural holding barrier on the eastern perimeter and securing residences and other values at risk. In Phase 3, once at-risk values are secured, managers will apply fire strategically, creating the desired level of fire intensity based on fuels and water levels in the remainder of the area, to achieve the ecosystem objectives specified in the treatment plan.

“The Tribe is very pleased to partner with the National Park Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs to execute these important land management actions for the benefit of promoting robust resources and ecosystem health,” said Chief of Sustainability Officer Kevin Cunniff of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. “We are collectively embarking to do so in a manner based in, and informed by, the traditional knowledge and practices that Miccosukee people have used to help shape the Everglades and Big Cypress over thousands of years.”

Conditions for successful prescribed burn operations such as weather, fuel moisture and smoke dispersion are carefully tracked and considered in advance. The target timeframes are estimates and may change depending on environmental conditions, agency approval, resource availability and state burn authorizations and restrictions.

Fire has played a significant role in the history of South Florida, both naturally and through human activity. One of the primary objectives of prescribed fire is to decrease accumulated vegetation, which reduces the risk of catastrophic wildfires. As set forth in the Miccosukee Tribe and National Park Service Co-Stewardship Agreement, “Everglades National Park coordinates with the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida to minimize threats of wildland fire to the Miccosukee Reserved Area and greater Miccosukee community, a nationally recognized Wildland Urban Interface Community at Risk.” By deliberately burning specific areas, land managers can limit the density of fast-burning grasses that threaten nearby communities.

South Florida’s ecosystems are dependent on fire to sustain healthy, resilient ecosystems that resist exotic plant invasions, recover quickly from natural events such as hurricanes and support habitat for federally threatened and endangered species. South Florida’s tribes, local, state and federal agencies are committed to reducing wildfire risk through proactive fuel management. Through collaboration and cooperation south Florida is removing lines from maps and treating the ecosystem on a landscape level.  
 
For updates on burn operations and related closures, visit:
InciWeb interagency all-risk incident information management system:
​Flevp Boundary Prescribed Fire Information | InciWeb
Everglades National Park - https://www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/conditions.htm
Big Cypress National Preserve - https://www.nps.gov/bicy/planyourvisit/conditions.htm

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – On Jan. 16, Everglades National Park released a status update on the draft Wilderness Stewardship Plan, which would guide the preservation, management and use of the park’s wilderness lands. An updated StoryMap with details is available at parkplanning.nps.gov/ever-wsp. No public meetings or public comment period are planned with this informational update.
 
“We are grateful for the input we have received on our wilderness stewardship planning effort,” said Superintendent Pedro Ramos of Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Parks. “Having a wilderness stewardship plan that balances the protection of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness with active use and enjoyment by people is essential.”
 
The purpose of the wilderness stewardship plan is to provide long-term direction for preserving wilderness character, protect the natural and cultural resources in wilderness areas, improve conditions in areas with unacceptable levels of impact, and provide opportunities for public use and enjoyment in accordance with the Wilderness Act and other applicable laws and policies.  
 
The next steps will include development of alternatives, another opportunity for public comment, and a management decision as required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The development of alternatives will be prepared in an environmental compliance document that will analyze the near-term and high-priority actions in the Wilderness Stewardship Plan. These documents will be shared for public review in late 2025.
Recognizing the deep connections between past, present, and future peoples, and wilderness, the National Park Service (NPS) welcomes shared stewardship of our wilderness areas. As part of a collaborative and transparent planning process, the park invited input on the draft desired conditions and preliminary management strategies from the public and associated Tribes in spring 2024. The NPS analyzed comments and refined the desired conditions and preliminary management strategies. The public comment summary can be found along with the StoryMap on the project website: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/ever-wsp.

The park’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness is the largest unit of the National Wilderness Preservation System east of the Rocky Mountains. Established in 1934, Everglades National Park was considered wilderness 30 years before the Wilderness Act of 1964 was signed into law, and 44 years prior to its official wilderness designation in 1978. The NPS now manages 97% of the park as wilderness, including submerged marine lands.
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Learn more about Everglades National Park online at nps.gov/ever or follow the park on Facebook, X, and Instagram.  

MIAMI, Fla. – On Jan. 31, Everglades National Park will host the 24th U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón to celebrate the intersection of poetry and nature with a virtual event for students and a public event to unveil a poetry installation—a picnic table inscribed with the poem “Ecology” by June Jordan.  

Everglades is one of seven national parks selected to be part of Limón’s signature project “You are Here: Poetry in Parks.” The initiative is a partnership between the National Park Service (NPS), Library of Congress, and the Poetry Society of America that features installations of site-specific poetry installations in the parks. In each park, a picnic table, transformed into a work of public art, features a historic American poem that relates to the park in a meaningful way. 

“I want to champion the ways reading and writing poetry can situate us in the natural world,” said Limón.  “Never has it been more urgent to feel a sense of reciprocity with our environment, and poetry’s alchemical mix of attention, silence, and rhythm gives us a reciprocal way of experiencing nature—of communing with the natural world through breath and presence.” 

Everglades National Park is the sixth stop of Limón’s "You Are Here: Poetry in Parks" tour.  She has already visited Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts, Mount Rainier National Park in Washington, Redwood National and State Parks in California, Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee. The final stop on her tour will be Saguaro National Park in Arizona. 

The project includes an invitation for public participation. The NPS and Limón hope people of all ages—poets and non-poets—will feel moved to write their own responses to the You Are Here prompt of “What would you write in response to the landscape around you?” People have the option to share their responses on social media using the hashtag #YouAreHerePoetry. 

“We are so pleased to be a part of Ms. Limón’s Poetry in Parks project,” said Sabrina Diaz, interim superintendent for Everglades and Dry Tortugas national parks. “Through the park’s Artist in Residence in Everglades program and other opportunities, we have hosted poets and other artists over the years to explore that special connection between art and nature.”  

Beginning at 3 p.m., the free, public event will be held outside the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center at the Homestead entrance. Limón will give a poetry reading and describe the selection of the poem, followed by a panel discussion with local representatives from community organization O, Miami and park partner Artists in Residence in Everglades, Inc. The ceremony will end with an unveiling of the picnic table which will reside in the parking area of the visitor center to inspire park visitors.  

Following the event, there will be a book signing of the new anthology of nature poetry complied by Limón, You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, published by Milkweed Editions. The Florida National Parks Association, the park’s non-profit partner, will have copies for sale at the event.  

Limón will also join a park ranger in the morning for a virtual broadcast from the Everglades to classrooms across the country. Teachers may register for the virtual reading and introduction to the Everglades by emailing the park’s education program at [email protected].  
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Limón was appointed as the 24th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress on July 12, 2022, and was reappointed for a historic two-year second term on April 24, 2023. Limón’s second term will conclude in April 2025. 
 
Learn more about Everglades National Park online at nps.gov/ever or follow the park on Facebook, X, and Instagram.  

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – On Jan. 18, Everglades National Park will host the inaugural Nike Site Festival at the historic HM-69 Nike Missile Site. The event will commemorate South Florida’s role in the Cold War and Cuban Missile Crisis and will also highlight the region’s Cuban heritage. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. followed by a Cold War era presentation at the Long Pine Key campground at 6 p.m. The event is family-friendly, open to the public, and free of charge with park admission.

The festival features a variety of events, each chosen to connect to the site’s history and the stories of its military personnel. There will be ranger presentations, guest speakers, and related educational organizations in attendance. Participants can assemble their own water-powered rocket, watch K-9 demonstrations, vote for their favorite Cold War era muscle car, and listen to live musical performances by the 13th Army Band and other local musicians playing hits from the 1950s through the 1970s. Food will also be available for purchase.

The HM-69 Nike Missile Base operated from 1965-1979 to defend the United States against possible air attacks. Approximately 140 soldiers staffed the site, which was listed as a Historic District on July 27, 2004. Located near the Homestead entrance, the site is open seasonally from November through March for visitation and daily tours.
 
For event schedule and additional details about the Nike Site Festival, visit: Nike Site Festival - Everglades National Park (U.S. National Park Service) 
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Note: Registrations are still being accepted for the auto show.   
 
For more information about the HM-69 Nike Missile Site, to include trip planning: HM-69 Nike Missile Base - Everglades National Park (U.S. National Park Service)
 
For more information about Everglades National Park, visit: nps.gov/ever or follow the park on Facebook, X, and Instagram.

Homestead, Fla. — Thursday October 10, 2024 Biscayne National Park will reopen the Convoy Point grounds to the public at 12:00pm.  Friday October 11, 2024 The Park Bookstore will reopen at 8:30am and the Dante Fascell Visitor Center will reopen at 9:00am.
 
For more information about Biscayne National Park visit nps.gov/bisc or follow the park on Facebook or Instagram
 
                                               www.nps.gov
 
About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 425 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. 

Following the passing of Hurricane Helene, visitors to the South Florida National Parks and Preserve should continue to exercise caution with the potential for unidentified hazards on land and in park waters. Marine waters continue to be open in all locations, but parks are still assessing missing or damaged aids to navigation. Closures or special conditions are available on each park’s website under Alerts.
 
Dry Tortugas National Park sustained impacts from storm surge. As conditions permit, staff will begin to assess damage and facilities. Vessels may continue to seek safe harbor within the one nautical mile anchoring zone around Garden Key, including Bird Key Harbor. 
 
Everglades National Park is open, but some services may be limited. Services at Flamingo will resume later today. Boaters should take precautions in park waters as there may be marine debris, derelict vessels and missing aids to navigation.
 
These Everglades areas remain closed:

• Gulf Coast Visitor Center and Everglades City entrance (under construction until Fall 2025)
• Long Pine Key campground (closed seasonally)

For guided tours and services, visitors should call or check individual websites for more information. Links can be found on the park’s website at: www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm
 
Biscayne National Park is open for regular business. These areas include:  

• Convoy Point Grounds  
• Dante Fascell Visitor Center  
• Park Headquarters
• Florida National Parks Association bookstore

Biscayne National Park Institute tours will resume limited operations on Friday afternoon. All morning programs and all daylong programs were cancelled for Sept. 27. However, afternoon paddling programs and Heritage of Biscayne Cruise out of the Dante Fascell Visitor Center will proceed as scheduled.
 
Big Cypress National Preserve is open for regular business.
 
For more information about Big Cypress National Preserve, visit nps.gov/bicy or follow the preserve on Facebook or Instagram.
For more information about Biscayne National Park, visit nps.gov/bisc or follow the park on Facebook, X, and Instagram. 
For more information about Dry Tortugas National Park, visit nps.gov/drto or follow the park on Facebook, X, and Instagram. 
For more information about Everglades National Park, visit nps.gov/ever or follow the park on Facebook, X, and Instagram.

MIAMI, Fla. – The National Park Service (NPS) and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida today entered into two historic co-stewardship agreements for Everglades and Biscayne national parks. A formal signing ceremony was held at the Miccosukee Reserved Area within Everglades National Park. The Tribe and the national parks will implement the agreements through joint and cooperative endeavors focused on the natural and cultural resources of mutual interest.

“The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida has long been a steward of the Everglades and Biscayne Bay, pre-dating the establishment of the National Park Service,” said Chairman Talbert Cypress of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. “Since the battles in Biscayne Bay during the Seminole Wars and the subsequent creation of Everglades National Park and the eviction of the Tribal villages within it, the Tribe has worked with the Service to reestablish our role in the Everglades and the Bay. We are deeply appreciative of the National Park Service’s commitment to restoring Tribal co-stewardship of these lands.”

The agreement with Everglades National Park enables cooperative administration of wildland fire and prescribed burn operations, hydrology and water resources, and visitor services in the Shark Valley area. The Biscayne National Park agreement acknowledges Miccosukee citizens’ rights to traditional fishing and plant gathering within park borders. The agreement also establishes the intent to collaborate on fisheries management, vegetation restoration, resource protection and facilitation of traditional Tribal practices.

“This is an historic moment. While the parks have been consulting with the Miccosukee for many years, these co-stewardship agreements take our important relationship to the next level,” said Superintendent Pedro Ramos who oversees the NPS sites in South Florida. “These landscapes are home to the Miccosukee people, and continuing to provide Miccosukee citizens access to their traditional lands and cultural practices is simply the right thing to do. The infusion of traditional ecological knowledge will benefit our public lands and conservation efforts.”

The agreements will remain in effect for five years, with both parties agreeing to renew in good faith with similar terms every five years, for a total of twenty-five years, at which time the Tribe and NPS have agreed to revisit the terms of the agreements.

In 2022, the NPS issued guidance to improve federal stewardship of public lands, waters and wildlife by strengthening the role of Tribal governments in federal land management. This guidance followed from the Joint Secretarial Order 3403—signed by the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture during the 2021 White House Tribal Nations Summit—which outlined how the two Departments will strengthen Tribal co-stewardship efforts. The NPS’s co-stewardship policy provides a strong framework beyond traditional consultation to help park managers facilitate and support working relationships with Tribes. 
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The term “co-stewardship” broadly refers to collaborative or cooperative arrangements between Department of Interior bureaus and offices and Tribes and Native Hawaiian Organizations related to shared interests in managing, conserving and preserving Federal lands and waters. The over-arching goal is to empower Indigenous communities while strengthening management of these unique places.

Homestead, Fla – The National Park Service (NPS) today announced the selection of Sarah Hopson as superintendent of Biscayne National Park, effective July 28.  Hopson served as the park’s acting superintendent for four months this year.  
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“Sarah is a seasoned NPS veteran who values the NPS workforce and the importance of community engagement,” said Pedro Ramos, superintendent of Everglades and Dry Tortugas national parks, who also oversees Biscayne National Park. “I am certain that her expert organizational experience will prove beneficial as Biscayne works to advance its highest priorities.” 

Prior to Biscayne, Hopson served as Chief of Staff for the Southeast Region since 2021. In this role, she collaborated with regional leadership to provide strategic vision and facilitate the success of key management objectives for the 75 park units in the region. Some of her accomplishments include supporting completion of the land exchange at Virgin Islands National Park, the acquisition and rehabilitation of the Selma Interpretive Center at Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail and the A.G. Gaston Motel at Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument. Sarah was also instrumental in the coordination of financial plans and management structure for six newly established park units.  Hopson also helped guide regional responses to many critical issues affecting the National Park Service to include coral reef health, shoreline stabilization, disaster recovery, and numerous other park planning efforts.  

“Biscayne's employees, volunteers, and interns demonstrate their passion and dedication to the NPS mission every day and I am honored to become a permanent member of their team,” Hopson said. “I look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with the community and stakeholders to navigate the unique and complex challenges that face one of the largest marine parks in the NPS.” 

Hopson began her NPS career 18 years ago as a program assistant for the NPS Cultural Resources Stewardship, Partnerships, and Science Directorate in Washington, DC. She also worked for the Office of the NPS Liaison to the White House, served as acting superintendent for Guilford Courthouse National Military Park and as the management analyst to the NPS Southeast regional director. Prior to joining NPS in 2006, she worked for the National Trust for Historic Preservation where she fostered state and local partnerships. 

Hopson holds a bachelor's degree in history earned at Covenant College in Georgia. She calls Salt Lake City, Utah home but has deep roots in the southeast with family located throughout the region. Outside of work, Hopson enjoys baking, traveling (often to NPS sites), hiking and reading.  
www.nps.gov  
  
About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 430 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. 

​HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Everglades National Park is seeking public comment on resolving adverse effects from the proposed demolition of two small utility buildings, which are historic resources near the Shark Valley Observation Tower. The public comment period is open through July 5 on the NPS Planning, Environment & Public Comment site (https://parkplanning.nps.gov/watersystems).  
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Under the proposed action, the Shark Valley Tower Pump House and the adjacent Shark Valley Generator Annex would be demolished to make way for potable water and wastewater improvements. The buildings are a contributing part of the National Park Service Mission 66 development in that area. 
 
This project is part of the parkwide Rehabilitation of Parkwide Water and Wastewater Systems, which would address the physical and operational deficiencies of the park’s potable water distribution systems and wastewater collection systems. The Environmental Assessment for the rehabilitation project was previously released for public review and comment in November 2023.  
 
In accordance with National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 regulations (36 CFR 800.6(a)(4)), the public may comment on the adverse effects during the public review period through July 5. The preferred method of providing comments is through the project website at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/watersystems using the “Open for Comment” tab.   
 
Comments may also be submitted in writing to:     
Everglades National Park  
Attn: Superintendent, Shark Valley Utility Buildings Demolition 
40001 State Road 9336  
Homestead, FL 33034   
 
Mailed comments should be postmarked no later than July 5.   
 
Learn more about Everglades National Park online at nps.gov/ever or follow the park on Facebook, X, and Instagram.