Will You Bare Your Feet in the Everglades?

E V E R G L A D E S  N A T I O N A L   P A R K, Fla., Dec. 19 -- Not far from where the tram full of tourists glimpsed an alligator lurking among saw grasses, a guide dares them to wade knee-deep into the swampy, darkwater surrounding them.

"Is she serious? Are you going to go in?" Kathy Nubling askedher husband, Al, not budging from her seat.

The California couple was touring the country trying to visitevery national park. Just to be adventurous, they bared their feet,crossed the wet grass and stepped blindly into the black water.

Nine-year-old Catherine Morrison tried to get as far, butsettled for getting the bottoms of her feet wet.

"It was icky. There was all this gooey stuff in the water,"she said after skipping over a pile of ants and retreating to thesafety of her seat.

Mosquitoes and Humidity Keep Visitors Away

The Everglades has never been a glamorous vacation spot. Despiteefforts to promote the wetland as an eco-tourism destination, theinhospitable scenery keeps many tourists at Florida's more popularbeaches and theme parks.

As if mosquitoes and smothering humidity weren't enough totarnish the park's image, decades of development and pollution haveswallowed more than 5,000 square miles, half of the originalwetlands. The changes wiped out some of the wildlife andsurroundings that would be among the park's biggest attractions.

An $8.4 billion restoration project, now underway after years ofplanning, aims to reverse some of that damage. State officials hopethe plan — billed as the world's largest environmental restorationproject — will lure more tourists to discover the rare wilderness.

"People who live in Indiana will scrimp and save because theywant to make sure they take their kids to see the Grand Canyon. Ihope with this kind of investment, people in Indiana will scrimpand save so they can make sure their kids have seen theEverglades," Florida Department of Environmental ProtectionSecretary David Struhs said.