Few Americans have experienced the Everglades, a freshwater habitat larger than the state of Connecticut and the most famous wetland on Earth. A national treasure, a World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve, it is more commonly called by a much less prestigious name - a swamp.

Vast, mysterious, inhabited by ominous creatures and seemingly impenetrable, the Everglades is literally America’s Amazon. And, like its South American counterpart, the Everglades is a complex and endangered series of ecosystems threatened by greed, ignorance and human folly. Yet, it is also a magical, mystical and otherworldly sanctuary for plant and animal species found nowhere else on Earth.

This is the abundant and ethereal world of Clyde Butcher, one of America’s greatest living photographers, who is often compared to the legendary Ansel Adams. In his large-scale, black and white photography, Clyde takes us deep into the Everglades and immerses us in his environment – one of the last, great places in the United States.

Using a large format camera seldom seen in our modern, digital world, Clyde literally wades into the Everglades to bring us “pictures worth more than a thousand words.”  He has spent a lifetime capturing moments in time in places secluded and serene. What he gives us is not “a swamp,” but a virtual Garden of Eden within our own country.

In The Everglades: America’s Amazon, Clyde culminates his decades-long photographic expedition to chronicle every part of the Everglades. From languid estuaries to pinpoint still-lives of rare species, Clyde reveals its ecosystems in magnificent detail. He makes an unquestionable case for why we should care about its future. As an early proponent of the Everglades restoration stated, “The Everglades is a test. If we pass, we may get to keep the planet.”

Using the awe-inspiring photographs of Clyde Butcher, visitors will be introduced to several subject areas:

• Water Ecology and Aquifers
  The Everglades is actually a 100-mile long and 60-mile wide freshwater river. Few understand its status as a river because it seems to stand still. The Everglades water system travels one mile an hour, from north to south. A raindrop that falls in the headwaters in central Florida takes an entire year to dribble down to the estuaries at the tip of the peninsula.
• Environment
  Through more than two centuries, the Everglades has been subjected to a war on nature by humans. Pollution, hunting, drainage, cultivation, suburban encroachment and countless other attempts at “civilizing” the Everglades have put it in peril. Understand how the ecosystems of the Everglades and other wetlands work, and how human interference can tip the balance.
• Remarkable Species
  Nowhere else on Earth is there the variety of species found in the Everglades. Like the Amazon, the Everglades is the only home of many of the creatures and plants that survive there: from black bears to barracudas, turkey vultures to vase sponges, zebra butterflies to spaceship-looking air plants, dolphins to panthers, alligators and crocodiles, bald eagles to spoonbills, moray eels to marsh rabbits. More than 1,100 species of trees and plants, 350 species of birds, and even 52 va-rieties of tree snails inhabit this ark of life in a modern-day world.
• Native Cultures
  The Everglades is also home to endangered human cultures. Throughout time, a number of conquering societies have tried to tame the Everglades. The Seminoles, the Miccosukee and Calusa tribes have adapted their lives for centuries to live in this foreboding environment.
• Engineering
  The effort to drain the Everglades for human cultivation and inhabitation and attempts to repair the damage have been topics for a century and cost billions of dollars. Sadly, we are still racing to restore what we nearly destroyed.
• History and Politics
  The Everglades has captured the imagination of countless prominent historical figures – Thoreau, Audubon, Roosevelt, Flagler and many more. Learn how railroads, plume hunting, the sugar industry, the boom of Florida as a resort destination and other encroachment have marked the life of the Everglades.
• Climate Change
  The Everglades sits at sea level, yet it is a freshwater habitat. When the world warms a degree at a time and sea levels rise, what will be the future of this miraculous world?
• Photography
  Clyde uses an almost unheard of style of photography. His large format camera can only take one photograph at a time with a hand-held shutter. As Clyde looks through his camera to see the image, the subject looks upside down. Sometimes, Clyde spends days waiting for just one shot. His large-scale photographs require a one-of-a-kind, immense projection enlarger that he built by hand.
• A Personal Story
  For Clyde Butcher and his wife, Niki, the decision to focus their lives on photographing the Everglades in black and white is an enormously personal journey. After the death of their child, they sought peace and emotional tranquility in this very special place. Their story is an American anthem of perseverance and an indefatigable human spirit.

Few Americans have experienced the Everglades, a freshwater habitat larger than the state of Connecticut and the most famous wetland on Earth. A national treasure, a World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve, it is more commonly called by a much less prestigious name - a swamp.

Vast, mysterious, inhabited by ominous creatures and seemingly impenetrable, the Everglades is literally America’s Amazon. And, like its South American counterpart, the Everglades is a complex and endangered series of ecosystems threatened by greed, ignorance and human folly. Yet, it is also a magical, mystical and otherworldly sanctuary for plant and animal species found nowhere else on Earth.

This is the abundant and ethereal world of Clyde Butcher, one of America’s greatest living photographers, who is often compared to the legendary Ansel Adams. In his large-scale, black and white photography, Clyde takes us deep into the Everglades and immerses us in his environment – one of the last, great places in the United States.

Using a large format camera seldom seen in our modern, digital world, Clyde literally wades into the Everglades to bring us “pictures worth more than a thousand words.”  He has spent a lifetime capturing moments in time in places secluded and serene. What he gives us is not “a swamp,” but a virtual Garden of Eden within our own country.

In The Everglades: America’s Amazon, Clyde culminates his decades-long photographic expedition to chronicle every part of the Everglades. From languid estuaries to pinpoint still-lives of rare species, Clyde reveals its ecosystems in magnificent detail. He makes an unquestionable case for why we should care about its future. As an early proponent of the Everglades restoration stated, “The Everglades is a test. If we pass, we may get to keep the planet.”

Using the awe-inspiring photographs of Clyde Butcher, visitors will be introduced to several subject areas:

• Water Ecology and Aquifers
  The Everglades is actually a 100-mile long and 60-mile wide freshwater river. Few understand its status as a river because it seems to stand still. The Everglades water system travels one mile an hour, from north to south. A raindrop that falls in the headwaters in central Florida takes an entire year to dribble down to the estuaries at the tip of the peninsula.
• Environment
  Through more than two centuries, the Everglades has been subjected to a war on nature by humans. Pollution, hunting, drainage, cultivation, suburban encroachment and countless other attempts at “civilizing” the Everglades have put it in peril. Understand how the ecosystems of the Everglades and other wetlands work, and how human interference can tip the balance.
• Remarkable Species
  Nowhere else on Earth is there the variety of species found in the Everglades. Like the Amazon, the Everglades is the only home of many of the creatures and plants that survive there: from black bears to barracudas, turkey vultures to vase sponges, zebra butterflies to spaceship-looking air plants, dolphins to panthers, alligators and crocodiles, bald eagles to spoonbills, moray eels to marsh rabbits. More than 1,100 species of trees and plants, 350 species of birds, and even 52 va-rieties of tree snails inhabit this ark of life in a modern-day world.
• Native Cultures
  The Everglades is also home to endangered human cultures. Throughout time, a number of conquering societies have tried to tame the Everglades. The Seminoles, the Miccosukee and Calusa tribes have adapted their lives for centuries to live in this foreboding environment.
• Engineering
  The effort to drain the Everglades for human cultivation and inhabitation and attempts to repair the damage have been topics for a century and cost billions of dollars. Sadly, we are still racing to restore what we nearly destroyed.
• History and Politics
  The Everglades has captured the imagination of countless prominent historical figures – Thoreau, Audubon, Roosevelt, Flagler and many more. Learn how railroads, plume hunting, the sugar industry, the boom of Florida as a resort destination and other encroachment have marked the life of the Everglades.
• Climate Change
  The Everglades sits at sea level, yet it is a freshwater habitat. When the world warms a degree at a time and sea levels rise, what will be the future of this miraculous world?
• Photography
  Clyde uses an almost unheard of style of photography. His large format camera can only take one photograph at a time with a hand-held shutter. As Clyde looks through his camera to see the image, the subject looks upside down. Sometimes, Clyde spends days waiting for just one shot. His large-scale photographs require a one-of-a-kind, immense projection enlarger that he built by hand.
• A Personal Story
  For Clyde Butcher and his wife, Niki, the decision to focus their lives on photographing the Everglades in black and white is an enormously personal journey. After the death of their child, they sought peace and emotional tranquility in this very special place. Their story is an American anthem of perseverance and an indefatigable human spirit.