South Florida Everglades tourist attractions and airboat operators received letters from the National Park Services ordering them to cease running airboat tours through the federal park waters. Everglades airboat rides operators are still allowed to run the tours through their private property, but they aren’t to extend the tours into the federally-managed waters in the Everglades due to the government shutdown.
“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous,’’ Jon Weisberg told the Miami Herald, the owner of Gator Park for about 20 years. “I look at the Everglades as a navigable waterway.”
According to the Miami Heard, this week, the Park Service announced a significant loophole in South Florida, by saying recreational and commercial fishing would be allowed in Biscayne National Park. The change came after agency lawyers concluded that a provision in the legislation that created the park in 1980 that essentially mandates fishing could continue despite a lack of funds for park operations, said Brian Carlstrom, the park’s superintendent.
If you’re interested in taking an Everglades airboat ride, contact Wild Florida. Wild Florida offers airboat rides through the headwaters of the Everglades that allows visitors to view Florida wildlife in their natural habitat. Wild Florida also offers several additional activities on site for the entire family that include a wildlife park.
