Everglades National Park

Everglades National Park is an enormous wetland park located in the southern part of the state of Florida. With its unique nature, called a “river of grass” where water and grass stretch on endlessly, it is a treasure trove of the wild where countless birds, alligators, and fish live together.

The reverse of the coin depicts an anhinga perched on a willow together with a roseate spoonbill wading through the water. The bird perched on the tree and the pink bird walking at the water’s edge come together to capture, in a single scene, the ecology of the various birds that dwell in the wetland.

The anhinga is a bird well known for its habit of spreading its wet wings to dry after catching fish in the water. The roseate spoonbill, as its name suggests, has a soft pink hue and searches for food by sweeping through the water with its spoon-shaped bill. These two birds symbolically show how many lives the Everglades wetland holds.

This park was approved for establishment on May 30, 1934. It is a rare national park made to protect not a striking mountain or cliff but the ecosystem of the wetland itself, and it is counted as an important model of nature conservation.

This coin in the America the Beautiful series quietly reminds us that a wetland, which may not look showy, is in fact a precious home that sustains countless lives.