Tampa Bay

Exploring the environmental history

of an important natural area



The

largest open water estuary in Florida, Tampa Bay has been a flashpoint of

environmental struggles and action in recent years. This book goes beneath today's

news headlines to explore how people have interacted with nature in the region

throughout its long history.

In

Tampa Bay, Evan Bennett reveals that

humans have been part of the bay's ecology since the estuary took its modern form

2,000 years ago, along with the communities of fish, birds, reptiles, and mammals

that proliferated in its seagrass meadows, tidal salt flats, and mangrove

forests. Bennett discusses the natural resources that drew people to settle

there, the trade that encouraged development, and the shipping and industry

that increased biological and ecological change.

While

the past 150 years have seen serious environmental damage from dredging, water

pollution, red tides, and more, Bennett shows how people have been fighting to

clean up the bay and regain a balance with nature. Informed by the latest in

marine science, area environmentalists, policymakers, and citizens are working

to create a model for other societies that have developed in fragile natural

areas.

The

first book to examine the environmental history of the region, Tampa Bay uncovers deep-rooted

relationships between water, land, and people and offers hope for bringing threatened coastal spaces back from

the brink.



A volume in the series Florida in Focus, edited by Andrew K. Frank