They said it was it was suitable only for the haunt of noxious vermin. government report on the Everglades described it as a pestilential swamp. You know wetlands were considered wastelands and it's not a coincidence that today when you hear the phrase drain the swamp it means to solve a festering problem you know the first U.S. But the second meaning is that for most of its history or at least the history where white people have been involved with it it's been known as a swamp and not in a good First of all I should admit the Everglades is not technically a swamp at least the part of the Everglades that people think of as the Everglades it's really a Sawgrass marsh but the Everglades ecosystem does have actual swamps the Big Cypress Swamp being the one that most people know. How do you decide on the title the swamp. NWC you interview welcome Michael Grunwald. Author Michael Grunwald has written extensively on the Everglades and is the author of the swamp the Everglades Florida and the politics of Paradise and he joins us now. It's the largest restoration project ever undertaken in the world's history. Now our government is spending billions more to undo the drainage projects. And during the last 80 years the Army Corps of Engineers spent billions trying to create dry land.

The Swamp by Michael Grunwald