Apple Snail daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Apple Snail, 2011, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on cradled panel, 5"x5"

The apple snail is the main source of food for the endangered Snail Kite.  The kites have a sharp beak adapted for eaily removing the snails from their shels. 

The snails live in and on the water most of the year.  They prefer wetland grasses that they can climb rather than lily pond vegetation, and climp up onto sawgrass and low hanging branches in April and May to lay their eggs in large white clusters.  

The largest of the Florida snails, not much more is known about the life cycle of Apple Snails except that they are considered a bellweather species for Everglades restoration.  They don't do well if the water is too low, but if they are thriving, there's enough water but not too much, the water is clean enough, the birds are fed, and the natural cycles of the Everglades are healthy.  

Preservation and Restoration, Dancing in the Sky painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Dancing in the Sky, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 12x16

As an artist the Everglades landscape continues to interest me.  I've come to know much of it, especially the areas closest to Marco Island, the Ten Thousand Islands, the Fakahatchee, and the Big Cypress. The light on the prairies, the marching palms and the dancing clouds have become dear to me. 

I worry about the threats to Everglades survival, and wonder if we're doing enough to save it.  It's a unique wetland, and the only one of its kind in the world.  In the last century, natural resources were exploited for their usefulness to humans.  As we mature as a species, we are beginning to recognize that there are limits to our resources, and that for our own health and survival we must preserve and protect  our worlds natural systems. 

As we begin to undo a hundred years of damage from forced controls of water flows, the world watches to see just how far we will go and how much we will spend to protect and preserve both our environment and our economy, and  is looking to see how we resolve the balance of needs.

There's been an ongoing legislative dance between stakeholders, public perception, and funds available for restoration. It's a dance for control, regulation, funding, and needs.  The line between restricting regulation and restoration regulation is still being defined. 

Florida is once again at a crossroads.  Please make sure that your legislators know where you stand.

No Man's Land, painting by Everglades artist JoAnn Sanborn

No man's Land, Jo-Ann Sanborn 2010
acrylic on canvas, 20x24

Few people were found living in the Everglades region prior to the turn of the last century. The interior was simply too wet to live comfortably, and those who did set their homes on higher ground near the coastal ridges.

The people who did live here put out a cry for help after devastating hurricanes in the late 1920's and 1940's. They petitioned to control the flood waters that continually threatened the area, and Congress complied. It seemed the right thing to do at the time, but the results have been devastating for the Everglades ecosystem, and now efforts are underway to restore the ancient water flows.

Scores of stakeholders, led by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Southwest Florida Management Agency have developed the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan neither of which have an easy link to the plan or their part in it.

The plan is huge, and of such significance that we all ought to be aware of it. How the water is handled will affect our water and our economy. There are so many parts and so many stakeholders each with their own take that it's not easy to follow. Still, occasionally you might see a request for public comment. When you do, please speak up for the land!

What do you know? Corner of the Glades painting by Everglades artist JoAnn Sanborn

Corner of the Glades

Acrylic on Canvas, 24"x36"

What do you really know about the Everglades? They are mysterious and sometimes difficult to enjoy, with a variety of biting insects, the thorny, prickly undergrowth, shallow waterways everywhere you turn and the potential for SNAKES! Yes, at least 26 varieties!

But the Everglades have a special place in our world. We've abused this planet resource and the Everglades need to be saved and restored as a valuable and contributing part of our world.

The Everglades Foundation, an organization that wants to inspire restoration, has a great quiz to help you find out what you know about the Everglades and to fill in information gaps. You can take the Everglades quiz here. Let me know how you did and what surprised you!

Everglades restoration, Pink Sky daily painting by Jo-Ann Sanborn

Pink Sky, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 5"x7"

The magical, mystical Everglades have offered me unlimited inspiration. The light is so special here, and consistently putting on a show and I love the bold forms against the sky. I'm never at a loss for what to paint--I only have to take a ride and within twenty miles can be in this vast wilderness.

In addition to loving what I paint, I hope in some small way to bring attention to this threatened landscape and ecosystem. It's been brutalized to near extinction several times, with vast bird kill-offs at the turn of the nineteenth century followed by extreme logging. Now chemical wastes are taking a toll.

Earlier this year the Miccosukee Indians and the Friends of the Everglades filed a lawsuit in their efforts to battle for clean-up relief. The result is that the EPA has told the State that clean water standards are not being achieved, and that there would need to be a significant increase in the marsh treatment areas that are used to reduce phosphate levels before the runoff water water is released into the Everglades. Florida is charged with amending permits, and if the State doesn't act, they can be held in contempt of court.

Another court hearing will be held in October. Let's hope the Everglades have a chance.

Everglades Restoration, Morning Walk daily painting by Everglades artist JoAnn Sanborn

Morning Walk
5x7, acrylic on board
Sold

Looks like the Everglades will lose again, as discussed in this New York Times article a few days ago. Florida's plan to reclaim these ancient wetlands is instead on track to rescue the fortunes of United States Sugar.

It is so frustrating to see money allotted for the Glades disappear into the gaping hole of politics today. "What you have is just another step in the category of kicking the ball down the road and chasing it,” said Alan Farago, the conservation chairman of Friends of the Everglades.

Historically, we've had Presidents and Governors who did the right thing, preserving the land. Today, I'm running into people every day who talk the talk but feel no need to actually walk the walk. This goes for our commitments to each other, to our businesses, our politics, and those responsible for the land we live on.

For the Everglades, business as usual may mean that it will be another generation, if ever, before the Everglades may get the help that it needs to survive. This national treasure, unique in the world, loses again. So do we, the taxpayers and citizens, who believe the world can be better in the future if we just take some action now.

US Sugar, Florida, On Separate Sides daily painting by Everglades artist JoAnn Sanborn

On Separate Sides

5x7, acrylic on Canvas

$150 framed

It's time we began thinking of our native wilderness lands and watershed areas as valuable resources. Valuable as in "money"! If we factor in the economic impact of such areas as the Everglades to our local economy, we would see how short-sighted it is to delay the purchase and restoration of environmentally important lands by making short-sighted budgeting decisions.

According to The Conservancy of Florida's Vice Chairman Andrew Hill, Atlantic University just published a report on the economic value of the Everglades. They found that the total impact of ecotourism in 2007 was 1.8 billion dollars. Sport Fishing adds another 5 billion to that!

Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico are already suffering from overuse. Tourists who suffer respiratory problems from a bloom of red tide, or who experience disgusting fish kills are unlikely to return to our formerly pristine beaches.

Florida and US Sugar are in court determining how Florida will move forward in obtaining land many believe is vital to our environment. It's also vital to our economy. By acquiring US Sugar lands and restoring water flow to the Everglades, the state can provide wildlife habitat, replenish parched farmland, protect coastal estuaries and put the "river" back into the River of Grass.

The stakeholders in this issue have varied and conflicting needs, yet the alternative of doing business as usual will destroy both our environment and our economy. Let's get this purchase done!

Everglades Restoration, By a Stream daily painting by Everglades artist JoAnn Sanborn

By a Stream

5x7

Acrylic on Canvas

$150, framed & shipped

Today’s Everglades painting is a common scene, one of palms, water, and sky. I never tire of interpreting the way the palms interact with the sky and the rest of the landscape. It’s my hope that we will come to value this land, one of three critical watersheds in our country.

There have been many stops and starts to the protection of the Everglades. One turning point for development came as a new jetport was planned to take the pressure off Miami International Airport. Since Miami had outgrown it’s capacity, a jetport larger than O’Hare, Dulles, JFK, and LAX was planned only six miles north of Everglades National Park.

When studies indicated that the proposed jetport would create 4,000,000 gallons of raw sewage a day and ,almost 10,000 tons of jet engine pollutants a year, the project met staunch opposition from many quarters. River of Grass author Marjorie Stoneham Douglas, at 79 years of age, was pursued to go on a speaking tour against the project, and the measure failed.

Today, water quality is improving, but has a long way to go before anything close to restoration. Despite a strong coalition for change and the support of Florida lawmakers, Everglades Restoration still faces continual difficulties and challenges from competing interests.

Everglades Value, A Quiet Day daily painting by Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Everglades National Park may be the third largest national park in American, but it is only protecting one seventh of the land that we call the Everglades. The Park was created in Congress in 1934, and was finally dedicated by President Truman in 1947. The park has been designated a World Heritage Site because of it's history and diversity by UNESCO in 1979, and is also designated an International Biosphere Reserve and a Wetland of International Importance. Despite all of these lofty designations, the land is still under attack and threatened by development and draining every single day.

Wetlands are vitally important to the health of our planet. Everglades wetlands are unique in the world, and vital to the health of the South Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. You can keep up to date on Everglades issues or support the restoration and protection of the Everglades by joining Friends of the Everglades. This organization was started by author and advocate Marjory Stoneman Douglass who saw the value in this wet, humid, difficult land and proceeded to promote it's protection throughout her later life.

Coming from New England the land seemed exotic and magical. Although I've been painting this landscape for 15 years, it never disappoints, even on a quiet day.

A Quiet Day
7" x 5"
acrylic on canvas
$150 with free shipping and handling in the US

Fakahatchee View

The Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park follows a north-south path about twenty miles long and five miles wide and is just east of Marco Island. The Park Manager calls it the Amazon of North America! This area abounds with wild life and wild growth, and contains some of the rarest orchids in the world. The Everglades Comprehensive Restoration Project is expected to bring changes to this area as the Prairie Canal will be filled in, slowing current water flow into the estuaries and recharging the groundwater. There's also good news about further north. Read this article for more information about how the State of Florida may purchase huge tracts from "Big Sugar" and return the Everglades to a more natural state. Maybe there's hope for the future of the planet after all!

Fakahatchee View
24" x 20"

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Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan

It's encouraging to see our lawmakers finally coming into agreement and beinging to fund the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. More information about the plan can be found in these stories from USA Today. As you know, I feel storngly that the Eveglades hold a special place in earth's ecosystems and are important to us all. There's been a lot of controversy about the plan, but finding ways to work together and acting now will begin to bring this part of the earth back to good health.

Growing up in Gloucester, MA, the harbor was filled with trash, debris and polution. Thanks to the Clean Water Act and a lot of hard work, the harbor is almost pristine again. Let's wish the same for a speedy Everglades recovery!

Groupies
6" x 8" (15.3cm x 20.4cm)
acrylic on canvas
$175 plus $15 shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.