Marjory Stoneman Douglas was definitely a powerful
                     woman.  She was often called the "Mother of the
                     Everglades," she was an environmentalist, activist,
                     feminist, and independent thinker longer than many of
                     us have been around. (She died in 1998 at 108 years
                     old).  Her name is synonymous with the Everglades for
                     her tireless, ground-breaking efforts to protect this
                     watery region - a region her adversaries considered a
                     worthless swamp.

                          Ms. Douglas was perhaps most known for her best-selling
                     book, "The Everglades: River of Grass." First
                     published in 1947, River of Grass awakened residents
                     and visitors to the notion of the Everglades as a vast,
                     flowing river. Her descriptive, fluid prose portrays the
                     strange beauty of the region and diversity of its
                     wildlife; recounts the history of the native peoples,
                     explorers, and conquerors who traveled here; explains
                     its importance as the region's watershed; and
                     addresses modern civilization's impact on this fragile
                     ecosystem.

                         Ms. Douglas lived in South Florida from 1915 until she
                     died and through the decades, wrote extensively
                     about the region. Twenty years after publishing The River
                     of Grass, when she was 78, Ms. Douglas became
                     absorbed in the movement to preserve the Everglades.
                     She served on the committees to create Everglades
                     and Biscayne National Parks, formed the Friends of
                     the Everglades, and spearheaded legislation to protect
                     the parks and their wildlife. To defend this fragile
                     ecosystem, she wrote and spoke out about it. And,
                     whenever necessary, she went head-to-head with
                     government authorities with her respected,
                     straight forward approach to dealing with conservation
                     issues.

                          In her 1987 autobiography written with John
                     Rothchild, Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River,
                     Douglas summarizes the Everglades' role as the major
                     watershed for South Florida: "Much of the rainfall on
                     which South Florida depends comes from evaporation
                     in the Everglades. The Everglades evaporate, the
                     moisture goes up into the clouds, the clouds are blown
                     to the north, and the rain comes down over the
                     Kissimmee River and Lake Okeechobee. Lake
                     Okeechobee, especially, is fed by these rains. When
                     the lake gets filled, some of the excess drains down the
                     Caloosahatchee River into the Gulf of Mexico, or
                     throug hthe St. Lucie River and into the Atlantic
                     Ocean. The rest of the excess - the most useful part -
                     spills over the southern rim of the lake into the great
                     arc of the Everglades."

                         Douglas fused a fiery commitment to the Everglades
                     with her renowned tell-it-like-it-is approach. "Since
                     1972, I've been going around making speeches on the
                     Everglades. No matter how poor my eyes are I can
                     still talk. I'll talk about the Everglades at the drop of a
                     hat. Whoever wants me to talk, I'll come over and tell
                     them about the necessity of preserving the
                     Everglades," she reveals in her autobiography.
                     "Sometimes, I tell them more than they wanted to
                     know." She will be greatly missed. If you would like to
                     learn more about Marjory Stoneman Douglas, just press
                          the next button to visit various web sites that contain
                     additional information about her.