Marjory Stoneman Douglas, an environmentalist who recently celebrated her 100th birthday, was an honored guest at a ceremony last month to dedicate a bronze sculpture by Philadelphia artist Eric Berg at the entrance to the Everglades National Park Royal Palm Visitor's Center in Florida.
The life-size statue, which depicts a Florida panther, also honors landscape architect Ernest F. Coe (1886-1951), who conceived the idea of an Everglades national park in 1928. It is estimated that fewer than 50 of the once-plentiful panthers now remain in the state. Douglas has devoted more than 60 years to conservationist causes such as protecting the panther and preserving the Everglades.
In 1970, she founded the Friends of the Everglades, a grass-roots organization that she still serves as president. Friends of the Everglades, a group of research scientists, engineers, and concerned citizens, was founded with the goal of fostering coexistence between human and natural environmental ...
