Gatorman’s River of Grass, Life in the Florida Everglades by Glen Wilsey and Andrew Kaufman

This is a story about the Florida Everglades, it’s islands, ponds and open saw grass. Glen Wilsey, the Gatorman of the Florida Everglades, takes you deep into the wilderness. His world is a river of grass. There is no dry land and the islands are few and far between. Not having an airboat you would never know these places exist. Places Glen describes to you in his own words and he has many stories to tell.

Besides Glen’s storytelling the only other noise you may hear would be the bird’s chirp, the frog’s burp and the wind in the trees. Once in a while you might hear an airboat off in the distance. And suddenly you are in an open pond and all you see is tall grass growing out of the water. It looks like there is no way out. But Glen aims with his airboat straight at the wall of grass and stomps on the gas. His airboat climbs onto the grass and then zooms away while it leaves the grass moving behind you.

Glen sees himself as a naturalist. Snakes and birds are his friends. He swims with alligators. Glen shows us how people can make friends with the animals and live in the same environment. His ideas are shared by his friends. But Gatorman's world is rapidly vanishing. Overpopulation, the sugar and cattle industry, mismanagement of the land, droughts and bush fires are just a few of the problems the Florida Everglades are facing. It seems that Gatorman’s world is almost a lost one. >>