Iconic airboats won’t be part of Everglades culture for much longer - Miami-Dade - MiamiHerald.com

An important part of "Gladesmen Culture" will eventually die along with the long time operators of airboats in the Everglades. New licenses are not going to be issued and mechanized travel, including bikes, will not be allowed in large portions of the park. Click title for link to article. Here is a bit:

But maybe not for much longer. The three Gladesmen — all longtime members of the airboat Association of Florida ranging in age from 60 to 72 — will be among the last private airboaters to operate in the vast marsh south of Tamiami Trail if officials at Everglades National Park get their way.
The park’s proposed general management plan for the next 15 to 20 years calls for an end to all private airboating in the East Everglades once the “grandfathers” who operate there now have died. The region was added to the national park in 1989, and whoever can prove he or she had a registered airboat in Miami-Dade County back then could obtain a non-transferrable, non-renewable permit to operate on designated trails only for the remainder of their lives. Park officials estimate 1,000 to 2,000 airboaters would be affected.