Paradise Lost?: The Environmental History of Florida

436 Pages·1998·1.64 MB·English

by  Jack Emerson Davis

Davis
&
The Environmental History of Florida
Arsenault
“From the earliest descriptions of the state’s natural beauty to the degradation of the
Paradise Lost?
Everglades, virtually every facet of Florida environment is included in Paradise Lost? Nor
have the authors neglected the human side of the story, from William Bartram, Marjory
Stoneman Douglas, and Archie Carr to various development boosters and bureaucrats.
. . . A fine collection that will make an important contribution to environmental history
P
generally and to the history of Florida in particular.”—Timothy Silver, Appalachian
State University a
r
“A magnificent contribution to Florida’s environmental history and a fascinating analysis a
of ‘paradise lost’ in the land of the pink flamingos and Disney.”—Carolyn Johnston, d
Eckerd College
i
s
This collection of essays surveys the environmental history of the Sunshine State, from e
Spanish exploration to the present, and provides an organized, detailed overview of the
reciprocal relationship between humans and Florida’s unique peninsular ecology. It is
L
divided into four thematic sections: explorers and naturalists; science, technology, and o
public policy; despoliation; and conservationists and environmentalists. The contributors
s
describe the evolving environmental policies and practices of the state and federal gov-
t
ernments and the dynamic interaction between the Florida environment and many social
?
and cultural groups including the Spanish, English, Americans, southerners, northerners,
men, and women. They have applied historical methodology and also drawn on the meth-
odologies of the fields of political science, cultural anthropology, and sociology.
Of obvious value to environmentalists and general readers interested in Florida’s history,
exploration, and development, the book will also serve as a solid introduction to the sub-
ject for undergraduates and graduate students.
Jack E. Davis is associate professor of history at University of Florida. Raymond Arsenault
is the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History and director of the University
Honors College at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg.
Cover: View on the Tomoka, postcard.
Florida History and Culture Series
University Press of Florida
Edited by Jack E. Davis
and Raymond Arsenault
ISBN 0-8130-2962-7
UPF
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Paradise Lost?
The Florida History and Culture Series
University Press of Florida / State University System
Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
New College of Florida, Sarasota
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida , Tampa
University of West Florida , Pensacola
University Press of Florida
Gainesville · Tallahassee · Tampa · Boca Raton · Pensacola
Orlando · Miami · Jacksonville · Ft. Myers · Sarasota
Paradise Lost?
The Environmental History of Florida
Edited by Jack E. Davis and Raymond Arsenault
Copyright 2005 by Jack E. Davis and Raymond Arsenault
All rights reserved
Chapter 9 originally appeared as Raymond Arsenault, “The Public Storm: Hurricanes
and the State in Twentieth-Century America,” in American Public Life and the Historical
Imagination, edited by Wendy Gamber et al. (University of Notre Dame Press, 2003).
Reprinted with permission.
Chapter 13 originally appeared as Jack E. Davis, “‘Conservation is Now a Dead Word’:
Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the Transformation of American Environmentalism,”
Environmental History 8 (January 2003): 53–76. Reprinted with permission.
First cloth printing, 2005
First paper printing, 2005
A record of cataloging-in-publication data is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-0-8130-2826-2 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-8130-2962-7 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-8130-4022-6 (e-book)
The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State
University System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic
University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida State
University, New College of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of Florida,
University of North Florida, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida
University Press of Florida
15 Northwest 15th Street
Gainesville, FL 32611-2079
http://www.upf.com
For
Becky Palmer Davis
Patricia Ostby Arsenault

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Foreword xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
Part 1. Paradise Explored and Interpreted
1. Between Topos and the Terrain: A Brief Survey of Florida
Environmental Writing, 1513–1821 25
Thomas Hallock
2. An Eighteenth-Century Flower Child: William Bartram 47
Charlotte M. Porter
3. A Naturalist’s Place: Archie Carr and the Nature of Florida 72
Frederick R. Davis
4. “Improving” Paradise: The Civilian Conservation Corps and
Environmental Change in Florida 92
Dave Nelson
5. Water, Water Everywhere 113
Christopher F. Meindl
Part 2. Science, Technology, and Public Policy
6. The Everglades and the Florida Dream 141
David McCally
7. The Trials and Tribulations of Amos Quito: The Creation of the Florida
Anti-Mosquito Association 160
Gordon Patterson
8. “Nature’s Navels”: An Overview of the Many Environmental Histories
of Florida Citrus 177
Christian Warren
9. The Public Storm: Hurricanes and the State in Twentieth-Century
America 201
Raymond Arsenault
Part 3. Despoliation
10. Alligators and Plume Birds: The Despoliation of Florida’s Living
Aesthetic 235
Jack E. Davis
11. Blasting through Paradise: The Construction and Consequences
of the Tamiami Trail 260
Gary Garrett
12. Lake Apopka: From Natural Wonder to Unnatural Disaster 280
Nano Riley
Part 4. Conservation and Environmentalism
13. “Conservation Is Now a Dead Word”: Marjory Stoneman Douglas
and the Transformation of American Environmentalism 297
Jack E. Davis
14. A “Monstrous Desecration”: Dredge and Fill in Boca Ciega Bay 326
Bruce Stephenson
15. “We Must Free Ourselves . . . from the Tattered Fetters of the Booster
Mentality”: Big Cypress Swamp and the Politics of Environmental
Protection in 1970s Florida 350
Gordon E. Harvey
16. “The Big Ditch”: The Rise and Fall of the Cross-Florida Barge Canal 375
Lee Irby
Contributors 399
Index 403
Illustrations
Figure 5.1. Population of Florida since 1860 126
Figure 8.1. Oranges produced by box 184
Figure 8.2. Orange production by county 184
Figure 8.3. Orange production versus population growth 193
Figure 14.1. Boca Ciega Bay 341
Table 8.1. Orange production in Florida, 1890–1992 185