Ball State alumnus Ted Levin said he first fell in love with the Florida Everglades on a family vacation when he was 6 years old.
"It's a rather remarkable place," he said. "If you've never been there, you would feel like you're in a different country."
For 11 years, from August of 1992 to September of 2003, Levin studied the Everglades alongside other researchers to write his award-winning book, "Liquid Land: A Journey Through the Florida Everglades."
Levin, a 1970 graduate, returned to Ball State as a keynote speaker for this year's Earth Week celebrations as well as to receive an alumni Award of Distinction.
Students listened Thursday night as Levin lectured on the evolution of the Everglades.
"Florida was like the Wild West," he said. "It was a very late area to be populated."
Levin said the Everglades is the largest freshwater marsh in North America, and at its largest was 110 miles long by 70 miles wide.
Soldiers fighting during the Seminole Wars, when the government tried to relocate the Seminole tribe out of Florida, wrote the first information on record about the Everglades, Levin said.
However, the government failed in its conquest to drive out the American Indians because the Seminoles were able to use the environment of the Everglades to avoid the soldiers, he said.
"It's a very hard and unforgiving environment," Levin said. "The effects of the wet and dry seasons is what makes the Everglades come to life."
In 1947, President Truman signed a law making the Everglades a national park.
"It was the first place ever set aside for its biology," Levin said, as opposed to being made a national park for a spectacular site such as the Old Faithful geyser.
During the late 1800s, Levin said the Everglades had a major problem with milliners, or hunters who were slaughtering wading birds to make into women's hats.
Even with efforts being made to stop the activity, it wasn't until 1915 that the trade died off because east coast prostitutes began wearing bird feathers in their hair, and no respectable woman would be caught wearing feathers, he said.
The Everglades have been subject to devastating blows by industrialization and development, Levin said. As a result, in December of 2000, President Clinton signed into law the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP).
The restoration plan will cost the state and federal governments $ 8.4 billion and is scheduled to last for 36 years, Levin said.
"You're never going to restore the Everglades to the way it was in the 1880s, though," he said.
He said he expects about 30 percent of the Everglades to be restored, and some of the plans for restoration have never been tried on such a large scale before.
"It's never been done, and no one has any idea if it's actually going to work," he said.
Senior Kelly Wiese said she appreciated the background and history of Levin's lecture.
"It was nice to hear the speech after I read the book. It was good to get the first hand account of the stories," she said. "It was very insightful and painted a wonderful picture of the Everglades."
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