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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a

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Speaker 1: show that dives deep into history every day of the week.

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Speaker 1: I'm Gabeluesier, and in this episode, we're looking at how

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Speaker 1: the Sunshine State became the home of America's first park

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Speaker 1: under the sea. The day was March fifteenth, nineteen sixty.

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Speaker 1: The John Pennicamp Coral Reef State Park was established as

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Speaker 1: the first underwater nature preserve in the United States. With

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Speaker 1: more than two hundred distinct islands and islets, the Florida

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Speaker 1: Keys are home to some of the most vibrant marine

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Speaker 1: ecosystems in North America. The one hundred and twenty five

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Speaker 1: mile long archipelago is also where you'll find the continents

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Speaker 1: only living coral reef formations the Florida Reef Tract. More

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Speaker 1: than forty five species of hard coral and five hundred

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Speaker 1: species of tropical fish reside there, bolstering both the state's

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Speaker 1: natural beauty and its economy. The first link in the

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Speaker 1: island chain and also the most visited, is Key Largo. Today,

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Speaker 1: it's the site of two must see attractions for nature lovers.

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Speaker 1: The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and the adjacent John

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Speaker 1: Pennacamp Coral Reef State Park. Taken together, these preserves cover

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Speaker 1: about one hundred and eighty nautical square miles of coral reefs,

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Speaker 1: seagrass beds, and mangrove swamps, and it's only because of

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Speaker 1: conservation efforts spearheaded in the mid twentieth century that these rich,

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Speaker 1: yet fragile ecosystems still exist today. One of the first

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Speaker 1: scientists to push for the Florida Reef Tract's protection was

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Speaker 1: doctor Gilbert Vaughs of the Marine Institute at the University

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Speaker 1: of Miami. While studying the marine life of the Florida

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Speaker 1: Keys in the late nineteen fifties, doctor Voss discovered extensive

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Speaker 1: damage to the reef structure. In nineteen fifty seven, he

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Speaker 1: presented his findings at a biological conference concerning the natural

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Speaker 1: resources of South Florida. His conclusion was that the tourist

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Speaker 1: trade posed a serious threat to the native coral. Vendors

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Speaker 1: had spent years hammering, chiseling, and even dynamiting the reef

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Speaker 1: in order to collect seashells and corals to sell as

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Speaker 1: souvenirs to tourists. As a result, coral reefs that had

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Speaker 1: taken millennia to form were now at risk of going

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Speaker 1: extinct within just a few decades. Vass and his fellow

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Speaker 1: conservationists formed a nonprofit group to help protect the area,

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Speaker 1: but they knew that the best way to prevent the

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Speaker 1: further exploitation of the reefs was through legislation. They found

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Speaker 1: a powerful out on that front in John D. Pennicamp,

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Speaker 1: a respected journalist and the future editor of the Miami Herald.

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Speaker 1: No stranger to conservation, he had served as the first

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Speaker 1: chairman of the Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials

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Speaker 1: and had played a key role in establishing the Everglades

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Speaker 1: National Park in nineteen forty seven. Pennacamp used his journalistic

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Speaker 1: reach to draw attention to Voss's research and to win

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Speaker 1: more supporters to their cause. It took three years of

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Speaker 1: consistent effort, but finally, in the spring of nineteen sixty

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Speaker 1: the coalition succeeded in getting a seventy five square mile

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Speaker 1: section of offshore Florida designated as a permanent preserve. At first,

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Speaker 1: President Eisenhower proclaimed the area the Key Largo Coral Reef Preserve,

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Speaker 1: but later that year, Florida Governor Leroy Collins announced that

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Speaker 1: the name had been changed. America's first undersea park would

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Speaker 1: actually be known as the John Pennay Camp Coral Reef

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Speaker 1: State Park, as a tribute to one of its earliest

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Speaker 1: and most vocal champions. The underwater reef is undoubtedly the

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Speaker 1: park's main attraction, but it also has a land base

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Speaker 1: featuring three nature trails, a visitor center, and a marina.

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Speaker 1: In addition, visitors can book guided canoe and kayak tours

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Speaker 1: through the park's maze like Mangrove Swamp. But to truly

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Speaker 1: see all the park has to offer, you'll have to

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Speaker 1: take to the open ocean, one way or another. The

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Speaker 1: more intrepid visitors can plunge beneath the waves and explore

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Speaker 1: by scuba or snorkeling, but those in search of a

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Speaker 1: more relaxing excursion might want to book a glass bottom

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Speaker 1: boat tour instead. Either way, visitors are bound to see

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Speaker 1: a rich assortment of wildlife, including sponges, sea turtles, lobsters,

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Speaker 1: and a colorful assortment of tropical fish and corals. But

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Speaker 1: if sea creatures aren't really your thing, there is one

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Speaker 1: other underwater attraction that might be of entro a sunken

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Speaker 1: statue of Jesus Christ. The nine foot tall bronze statue

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Speaker 1: known as the Christ of the Abyss, was submerged in

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Speaker 1: twenty five feet of water off the coast of Key

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Speaker 1: Largo in August of nineteen sixty five. It's one of

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Speaker 1: three such statues created by Italian artist Guido Galletti. The

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Speaker 1: other two lie on the seafloors off the coasts of

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Speaker 1: Italy and Grenada. Florida's Christ of the Abyss technically lies

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Speaker 1: just outside the boundaries of John Pennacamp State Park, but

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Speaker 1: most snorkeling tours still include a visit to the unique site.

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Speaker 1: More than sixty years after its founding, the first underwater

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Speaker 1: park in the United States is still strikingly beautiful, but

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Speaker 1: there's no denying that it isn't as visually pleasing or

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Speaker 1: as biologically diverse as it was back then. Sadly, that's

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Speaker 1: the case throughout Florida and at coral reefs all over

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Speaker 1: the globe. Pollution, overfishing, ocean warming, and other factors have

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Speaker 1: led to a global decline of healthy coral. In fact,

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Speaker 1: according to a World report from twenty twenty, as much

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Speaker 1: as fourteen percent of the world's corals was lost between

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Speaker 1: two thousand and nine and twenty eighteen. The good news

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Speaker 1: is that coral reefs are resilient and can still make

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Speaker 1: a comeback if we protect the marine environment and create

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Speaker 1: the right conditions. One organization that's determined to do just

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Speaker 1: that is the Coral Restoration Foundation or CRF. Since two

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Speaker 1: thousand and seven, the nonprofit has planted more than two

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Speaker 1: hundred and twenty thousand corals onto the Florida Reef Tract,

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Speaker 1: giving the complex ecosystem of fighting chance to rebound. That said,

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Speaker 1: the CRF can't do it alone. The John Pennicamp Coral

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Speaker 1: Reef State Park was established through the combined labor of

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Speaker 1: scientific researchers, journalists, elected officials, and a carrying attentive public

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Speaker 1: take a similar coalition to preserve the park for future generations.

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Speaker 1: So here's hoping that we're all up to the challenge.

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Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Bluesyay, and hopefully you now know a little

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Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. If you'd

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Speaker 1: like to keep up with the show, you can follow

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Speaker 1: us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show

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Speaker 1: and if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free

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Speaker 1: to send them my way by writing to this day

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Speaker 1: at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Kasby Bias for producing

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Speaker 1: the show, and thanks to you for listening. I'll see

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Speaker 1: you back here again tomorrow for another day in History

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Speaker 1: class