Environmentalists teach students about Glades
It was the day before the opening of the spring turkey season in South Florida, a busy time for hunters to scout for the birds and determine where they need to be in the pre-dawn darkness the following morning to hear the gobbles of a male wild turkey.
Although he loves to guide friends and family on turkey hunts on his Green Glades West ranch in Hendry County, which borders the Big Cypress National Preserve west of Miami, “Alligator” Ron Bergeron had more important matters on his mind last Friday.
He and his wife, Ali, had invited several dozen high school juniors from Youth Leadership Broward to the ranch as part of the organization’s Environmental Day. The young women and men, who had previously visited the Broward County Jail and courthouse on Criminal Justice Day, listened to the Bergerons talk about the important of protecting the Everglades because it supplies South Florida’s drinking water, is home to a number of threatened and endangered species and is vital to the health of seagrass on Florida’s east, west and southern coasts.
They also gave the students a firsthand look at a side of the Everglades few Floridians ever see. During a tour of the ranch, the kids saw white-tailed deer and learned about the other wild animals it supports, including black bears, panthers, wild hogs and wild turkeys.
“When you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere,” Ali Bergeron said.
Ron Bergeron was first introduced to the Everglades more than 70 years ago on an airboat ride with his game warden grandfather.
“As a young boy I fell in love with this environment and I’ve spent my whole life trying educate, where we can make a difference as we go into the future,” he said. “The most important is Everglades restoration. The largest environmental restoration in the history of the world.”
As Bergeron explained, in 1948 a line was drawn south through the Everglades. Everything east of the line was to be used for agriculture and development. West of the line, the freshwater sawgrass marshes were to be preserved, but they also were compartmentalized by canals to prevent flooding on the former wetlands that would one day be sugar farms, houses and other buildings.
Those canals and water control structures altered the natural sheet flow of the Everglades, which went from Orlando down the Kissimmee River to Lake Okeechobee and south into Florida Bay. They also transported excess water from bordering cities following rain events into the Everglades and moved water into those cities during drought conditions.
“The importance is that we correct what they did in 1948 and we decompartmentalize the system, the River of Grass,” Bergeron said. “We cut off that natural flow of 1.5 million acre-feet of water. We need the proper quantity, the proper quality, the proper timing and the proper distribution.”
And it’s the young leaders of today who will put restoration of the remaining Everglades above all other interests, including state legislators like those who attempted to circumvent the water flow needs of the Everglades earlier this year. Bergeron helped get that proposed Senate bill killed.
“I think they were floored by the day,” said Andrew Zullo, the CEO of the Leadership Broward Foundation. “I think it was so compelling because he was talking about drinking water and sustainability for survival. We felt super lucky that we could come out there. He wants to have the impact with the kids, because he’s forward thinking.”
Erin Bergquist, who attends Nova High School in Davie, was impressed by Bergeron’s ranch and short videos that highlighted Everglades restoration efforts and the wildlife on his property.
“I thought it was really cool. It’s definitely very different,” Bergquist said of the ranch. “I knew, of course, about the Everglades and I knew there were animals, but I didn’t know they had deer here, I didn’t know they had bears. I knew they had panthers and bobcats, but today we learned about what actually lives here. They’re a lot closer [to urban areas] than I would have anticipated. I definitely am going to be coming back here.”
Zullo said that many youngsters shared her feelings.
“There was such a high buzz on the bus going back,” he said. “One kid asked how they could get involved and I said to follow Alligator Ron’s social media and see when he has a callout for volunteers.”
Bergeron’s Instagram account, @alligatorronbergeron, features informative videos of the wildlife, including alligators, otters and wading birds, on the ranch, as well as scenic photos of sawgrass sunsets and cypress swamps. Bergeron also has an active Facebook page and YouTube channel, “Alligator Ron Bergeron.”
His website, www. alligatorronbergeron.com, has information on his business career, his philanthropy, his rodeo cowboy background growing up in Davie, his appointment to the South Florida Water Management District governing board by Gov. Ron DeSantis (Bergeron previously served eight years as a commissioner with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) and, most importantly, his love of the Everglades and the Gladesman culture.