GRASSY WATERS MASTER PLAN
(Nature Trail Maps will be Posted Soon)

An environmentally-educated public is the best hope to sustain our natural resources and our quality of life. Grassy Waters Preserve offers an opportunity to understand the impact of human activities on natural systems through educational programming.

Grassy Waters Preserve is 20 square miles of protected Everglades environment. Just 4 miles west of I-95, the Preserve provides an appreciation of the natural history of South Florida and explains the essential connection between people and environmental resources.

Grassy Waters Preserve offers both classroom and outdoor interpretive educational programs for all age groups. This education will help all generations to understand the environment and respect the remaining wetlands of South Florida in order to sustain the quality of our life.

Grassy Waters Preserve wants to accommodate all of the requests of schools and organizations to participate in programs. We have begun a $13.4 million expansion for development in four phases. These plans include a welcome center, learning pavilions, laboratory and scientific discovery buildings, an amphitheater, walking trails and gazebos. These are all elements in the South Florida Sustainability Wing, the largest complex on site at Grassy Waters. The first building, the Everglades Pavilion, opened in January, 2002. Funding was provided by the City of West Palm Beach, State of Florida and from Palm Beach County. The Everglades Pavilion will tell the past, present and future story of the Everglades, and will display state-of-the-art investigations into the ecology, hydrology and restoration of the Everglades and the South Florida ecosystem.

The second and third educational pavilions will complete the South Florida Sustainability Wing. Brief descriptions of these pavilions are:

The Woodlands Environmental Learning Pavilion will provide a large classroom capable of being either a conference room (140 people) or being subdivided up into smaller classrooms. Break-out rooms will be available. Public access to Internet sites on the Everglades and global communications will be an essential part of the Woodlands environment. The facility will be equipped to broadcast environmental programs to the Palm Beach County School District or receive programs through satellite down-links. Complete inter-active and interpretive exhibits will engage the visitor and student alike.

The Loxahatchee Pavilion will educate the public on how people and nature can coexist in the Loxahatchee Slough, River and Estuary without endangering its unique wildlife and habitat. The latest technology and teaching methods will impart a "sense of place" to the visitor and offer a perspective on their position in one of the world's most unique and fragile environments.

The Ecosystem Research and Education Wing will provide classrooms for hands-on experiences and laboratories for environmental education as well as space for research activities.

The Global Village Wing will emphasize that sustainability is a worldwide responsibility. Recognizing this, the City of West Palm Beach has already instituted a Sister City Project/Joint Educational Venture with the Tzahar Region of Israel. This global village education program will use this facility as a public information center.

The Wilderness Wing and Pavilion will consist of the existing facility located south of Northlake Boulevard with enhanced exhibits, classroom and "never-ending boardwalk." A "natural" Everglades experience will include a marsh walk site and launching sites for canoe and pole boat forays into the wilderness areas of Grassy Waters Preserve.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, located in a new center at Grassy Waters Preserve, will provide fishing catch-and-release programs for children and the physically challenged, bird watching, non-game and wildlife watching programs, as well as classrooms and meeting rooms.

For South Florida, a healthy ecosystem is not a nicety, but is a necessity. Special programs will be set up to emphasize Environmental Health. These programs will educate the public on nutrients, hydrology, and mercury in the Everglades, estuaries, and coral reefs, and the benefits of natural areas on reducing air pollution.

Grassy Waters Preserve has a Vision of Sustainability - a natural landscape in South Florida; a place where beauty, health and integrity are restored and nourished by inter-relationships with human communities and activities. To make this vision a reality, Grassy Waters has developed a master plan in which environmental educational programs can benefit students, residents, communities, developers, farmers, businesses and local governments and ensure a promising future for the Everglades and for South Florida.

The message is clear: Humankind must work with nature to achieve a sustainable South Florida, but growth in South Florida could ultimately destroy the natural paradise that we enjoy. Only through education can we explain how these environmental pressures are destroying the natural South Florida, how we can prevent further decline, and most importantly, how we can restore our damaged environment. Foremost among these restoration efforts is the publically funded Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project or CERP.