36

Marker 36 sits on a numbered Everglades route where the flat, open character of the landscape gives way to subtle variations in vegetation and water depth. These micro-changes drive big differences in wildlife — a few inches of extra water can separate alligator-friendly sloughs from the drier marl prairies favored by rare Cape Sable seaside sparrows. For visitors paying close attention, stops like this become a lesson in ecological complexity. The Everglades is not a single habitat but a mosaic, and marker 36 is a good vantage point to begin seeing those fine-grained distinctions.