I live in Broward County in the state of Florida. It is the middle part of the three county metropolis running from Palm Beach to Miami-Dade, thankfully the bluest three of all the counties in Florida. You may remember us from 2000. The largest city in Broward is Fort Lauderdale, a favorite Spring Break destination until our city fathers got tired of the drunken college students and chased them to Daytona Beach. The rest of the cities are really only satellite towns although I'm sure many residents of those towns would disagree. Of the county's 1,320 square miles, one third of it is really just one huge city. The rest is a part of undeveloped Everglades and that shrinks every day due to the lobbying efforts of the developers and big sugar magnates. But that's another blog.
Historically, except for a small strip of coastline, the county's geography was almost entirely a part of the Everglades. The highest natural point in Broward County is Pine Island Ridge at 29 feet above sea level. We have one natural river that nicely drained the Everglades into the ocean. Prior to the 20th century, the only settlements were along the New River. There were few roads and before to Henry Flagler's railroad, the only way to get goods in was by sea. Yes, there was a fort named after a soldier named Lauderdale. There were three forts actually, two along the river and one at the entrance to the harbor, now called Port Everglades.
In the early 20th century, land developers started to reshape Broward into its present form. Since it was made up almost entirely of waterlogged land, the most efficient way to control the marsh was by digging drainage canals. Take a look at Google and you'll see that our canals are as neatly laid out as our roads. In fact, Fort Lauderdale's nickname is: "The Venice of America" for our network of canals, a moniker coined by one of the early developers to lure people to town. It worked.
All of that development may have hurt the Everglades, but it does make for a very pleasant place to live. Even people of moderate means can enjoy a waterfront home. I myself am far below moderate, yet I live a few feet away from the largest lake in the county. If you take a look at that link above you can see exactly where I am. Just look for the biggest lake, a slightly smaller one immediately to the south and the major canal that runs between them.
So in addition to enjoying the water with the added benefit of almost perfect flood control, life in Broward County really is nice. (If you ignore the traffic, but again that's another blog.) However, in recent years all of this water has caused a problem...one caused by some of the more stupid people who live here.
I'm talking about the people who turn loose their pet iguanas. Iguana iguana is a species not native to Florida and yet due to their popularity as a pet, South Florida is quickly becoming overrun with abandoned iguanas. In an attempt to curtail the release of these pets into the wild, authorities give people the opportunity to give their unwanted lizards to a sanctuary rather than incur any penalties. We'll see how well that works. And there are efforts to force legally obtained iguanas be tagged with a microchip so owners who free them can be punished. Again, we'll see.
Iguanas love water. They live in our lakes and in our canals. All of that wonderful water makes the perfect breeding ground and they are flourishing. So you can imagine that I have a lot of iguana neighbors. They're are actually quite amusing and not that dangerous. They're herbivores so they don't eat cats and dogs like freed pythons do (one released python was found with its belly split open after it attempted to eat an alligator!). And while they carry salmonella, if you don't bother they won't bother you, something most of us are quite used to when dealing with alligators. I enjoy watching them flee into the water when I take a walk along the lake. When we have a cold snap, they have a tendency to fall out of trees and it's fun to watch them wake up when they warm up.
Still, I am inherently opposed to any invasive species that poses a danger to my native Florida. And yes, that includes humans. The biggest problem I have with iguanas is that they tend to take over the dens of the wonderful Burrowing Owl. Not only are they cute as heck, but my university's mascot is the Burrowing Owl.
However, like the Melaleuca and Bufo toads I'm afraid they're here to stay.
--->Susan
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