The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1954-05-06
I25. 600 Visitors Are Listed
A total of 125, 600 visitors came 10

the season which began the first
Of December and ended April 30,
according to Superintendent Dam
lei B. Beard, who added that this
total was about 1880 more than
the winter of 1928. They came
from every one of the forty.eight
states and over a dozen foreign
countries to swell the number for
the entire year beginning the first
Of last May to 216,500 (Which was
an increase Of about twelve per
cent over the year before).
"The popularity of Florida's on
ly national park is definitely es-
tablished," Beard said, "and as the
area becomes more fully develop
ed for conforming to public use
through the years, it will be able
to absorb many more visitors with
out destroying the natural values
which have already attracted ma
tionwide attention"
Cruise Boat
During the recent winter season,
a cruise boat service was started
in the park to supplement the very
popular trips conducted by the Ma
tional Audubon Society. Four times
each day cruise boats carried park
visitors on ranger-guided trips into
the wild and intricate mangrove
country.
Their destinations were remote
areas where concentrations of spec
tacular wading birds assemble to
roost or nest. Since the park start
ed in 1947, almost 10000 people
have taken these wilderness trips
without causing the least disturb
ance to the wildlife which was once
so close to extinction.
"The restoration and protection
of these famous wildlife spectacles
of the Everglades depend upon the
continued protection not only of the
rookeries themselves, but of feed.
ing grounds in the mangroves, cy-
press country, and the open Ever
glades," Superintendent Beard not
ed. He emphasized that several
tons of natural food must be avail
able daily in the form of minnows,
crayfishes, frogs, pollywogs, in
sects, and other Life to perpetuate
single bird rookery.
Disturbance of these feeding
areas or watersheds by drainage,
so-called mosquito control i'll ad-
vised road construction, or other
forms of adverse human use would
do untold damage to the key bird
concentration areas that are now
listed as one of the great sights
in Florida" the superintendent
warned.
Night Prowl
An innovation that proved popu-
lar in the park last winter was the
might prowl." Under the guidance
of park naturalists, visitors came
armed with flashlights for night
nature walks under the stars. Their
flashlights beams picked up night
foraging raccoons, feeding aHiga-
tors, tree frogs, and the many crea-
lures of the Everglades that are
abroad at night. Night sounds which
one visitor from Illinois called
"the Symphony of the Swamp
lands" were identified by the ma
turaliSts.
Each Sunday evening, nature
talks were given at Royal Palm
Ranger Station and have been 50
successful that they, and the night
prowls, will be a regular activity
in the park during winter seasons
from now on. Hundreds of school
children came in with their teach
ers for special naturalist programs
this year.
Park rangers unremitting effots
to reduce the damage of fire in
the Everglades have continued to
meet with success. There were
only nine fires in the past year
MAY 1, 1858 April 30. 1851
which burned 1870 acres of park
lands. The previous year had nine.
teen fires. but less acreage burn