# 4099c FDC - 2006 39c Southern Florida Wetland: Florida Panther

 

Issue Date: October 4, 2006
City: Naples, FL
Quantity Issued: 5,000,000
Printed by: Avery Dennison
Printing method: Photogravure
Perforations: Die cut 10 ¾
Color: Multicolored

 

Southern Florida’s subtropical wetlands are a vast expanse of saw grass marshes and mangrove swamps that formed about 5,000 years ago. They support a unique variety of wildlife and salt- and fresh-water plants that is found nowhere else.

 

Twenty-five percent of the state’s total wetland is in the Greater Everglades. In 1934, national concern about the Everglades led to the creation of Everglades National Park. However, in 1948, Congress authorized water and flood control for urban and agricultural development. The water management system drained over half of the wetlands and altered the drainage of fresh water into Florida Bay.

 

By the late 1960s, the water flow of the region was severely altered, and the Everglades National Park experienced reduced water quality and damage to wildlife habitats. Fortunately, this type of conversion was halted by policies put in place over the past 30 years.

 

The Greater Everglades is home to 61% of the 111 threatened and endangered species federally listed in Florida, like the Florida panther, the wood stork, and the American crocodile. These animals and more are displayed on the Southern Florida Wetland stamp sheet, the eighth in the Nature of America Series.