Environmental issues in Florida
There are a number of environmental issues in Florida. A large portion of Florida is a biologically diverse ecosystem, with large wetlands in the Everglades. Management of environmental issues related to the everglades and the larger coastal waters and wetlands have been important to the history of Florida and the development of multiple parts of the economy of Florida, including the influential agricultural industry. This biodiversity leaves much of Florida's ecological ecosystem vulnerable to invasive species and human sources of industrial pollution and waste. Moreover, because of Florida's low geography, Florida has been described as "ground zero" in the United States for the impacts of climate change in the United States. Everglades The Everglades are tropical wetlands located in the southern portion of Florida that have been designated under the Ramsar Convention as one of only three wetland areas of global importance. A restoration of the Everglades is being carried out with a $7.8 billion, 30-year project aimed at its preservation and restoration. Biodiversity The Florida panther is an endangered population of the cougar (Puma concolor). There are about 230 individuals in the wild. The Center for Biological Diversity and others have called for a special protected area for the panther. Manatees are also dying at a rate much higher than their reproduction. In 1977, the federal government placed alligators on the endangered list. They were removed from the endangered list in 1987 and Florida permitted selective hunting in 1988. In 2013, the US Fish and Wildlife Service was examining a list of nine species to see if they should be added to the protected list. These included bridled darter, Panama City crayfish, Suwanee moccasin shell mussel, eastern hellbender salamander, Florida Keys mole skink, MacGillivray's seaside sparrow, boreal toad, Sierra Nevada red fox, and the Bicknell's thrush. Invasive species The state has more invasive amphibians and reptiles than anyplace else in the world. The pet industry was responsible for 84% of the 137 non-native species introduced from 1863 to 2010. 25% were traced to a single importer. Flora Approximately 1,300 of Florida's plant species (31 percent of the total) are non-natives which have become established; 10 percent of these are considered invasive. The three most ecologically damaging are Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius), which has taken over in south and central Florida, and forms single-species environments; melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia), which has invaded - more than 12 percent of total land area in South Florida, and was spreading at an estimated per day; and Australian pine (Casuarina spp.) which covered , and whose fallen needles release a chemical into the soil which inhibits the growth of native plants. In 2013, five rare butterflies, indigenous to Florida, haven't been seen in over six years. These include the zestos skipper, rockland Meske's skipper, zarucco duskywing, nickerbean blue, and the Bahamian swallowtail. The US Fish and Wildlife Service is reluctant to declare them extinct because other butterfly species have been "rediscovered" after long periods of not being seen by man. Hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata) is the