Photo by Amy Starlight Lawrence

While most college students would be asleep at 5 a.m. on a Sunday morning, an adventurous group of students from the University of Miami waited to board a bus that would take them into the heart of the Everglades.

Both undergraduate students studying International Studies, and graduate students in the Master of Arts in International Administration (MAIA) program set off on an academic fact-finding trip led by a diverse faculty team of experts.

The bus took the group past the Miccosukee gaming resort and villages and into the North entrance of the park. Upon arrival, students clambered under the wooden gate (the park does not open to the public until later in the morning) and found a vacant spot to sit and watch the sunrise.

Margaret Cullen, a student in the MAIA program, said her favorite part of the day was watching the sun rise over the everglades. “It’s a different experience from what you get commercially,” Cullen said.

Then the students took a tram tour of Shark Valley, a reserve within the National Park to watch the birds and local alligators.

A. Peter Burleigh, a visiting professor to UM and formerly a US and UN Ambassador loved the tour which gave him the opportunity to see a new kind of bird. “I’d never seen the spoonbill,” he said.

Students then stopped at the Big Cypress Photographic Gallery to see the art of Clyde and Niki Butcher, Everglades photographers; as well as a natural preserve behind the gallery. Next stop: Great Cypress Swamp Preserve Information Centre and a movie about the swamp.

Last was Buffalo Tiger’s airboat tour. Buffalo Tiger has lived in the Everglades for 85 years and was the last tribal chief of the Miccosukee Tribe. He now runs airboat tours and tries to promote understanding about the protection of the Everglades.

“We have our ways, and we do respect yours,” said Buffalo Tiger. “But love nature, do everything day by day.

The tour boats set off laden with students and faculty, and with Ernie Redwing as guide. Redwing explained the cultural differences for Native Americans, as well as the problems facing their tribe with the destruction of the Everglades.

“People ask me aren’t we glad that the government is giving us money to clean this, but all we see is paper,” said Redwing referring to the bureaucracy of clean-up projects.

He motions to a far off place where a pumping station pumps pollution and human waste into the water. “This is the most contaminated area in the Everglades,” he said.

Professor Weiskoff, the faculty member leading the team and author of ‘The Economics of Everglades Restoration, Missing Pieces in the Future of South Florida’ is disappointed with results.

“I’ve been on this case for nine years and it’s not getting better – we’re not solving the problem. The Indian land is flooded with water and the park is dry. Something isn’t right and we’ve only scratched the surface,” Weiskoff said.

Burleigh is more optimistic about the proposed Everglades Restoration Project. “A lot of scientists think it will work and I think it’s worth a try,” Burleigh said. “There needs to be a balance.”

Weiskoff thinks the Everglades is indicative of the world’s water problems, but is small enough to give students the opportunity to “touch” the problems.

“Every environmental problem on the planet is right here,” Weiskoff said.

Oscar Paez is sorry more students don’t get out to see the Everglades.

“It’s amazing to see how close we are to this, but it’s surprising to see how few people come out to see the beauty in these Natural Parks,” Paez said.

The trip was made possible through the MAIA program, and through funding from the Provost’s office at the University of Miami.