The Everglades rarely yield their stories to passersby. To move beyond the postcard version requires proximity—feet in the water, ears open, a guide who knows the way. These guides—a Miccosukee matriarch, a Gladesman historian and a conservation-minded photographer—live and work on the land daily, revealing a landscape that shares its deepest truths only with those willing to listen.
Scott Randolph: Photography, Restoration and Living Systems
Most people arrive for Clyde Butcher’s Big Cypress Gallery swamp walks wary of the water and the wildness. But something shifts along the nearly two-hour backcountry trek. “Once people get about halfway through, they start to relax,” one of the guides, Scott Randolph, says. “They begin to take in this rain-driven system. I see the transition, and it’s incredible.”
Scott has led walking tours from the Ochopee gallery of renowned landscape photographer Clyde Butcher for more than 14 years. He’s one of several certified Master Naturalists on-site—but as the gallery’s artist-in-residence and groundskeeper, he also offers a rare dual lens into the land: the ecological and the artistic. On the private tours, available year-round, Scott takes guests through 13 acres of restored freshwater ecosystems where the water may rise to the ankle—or the chest—depending on the rains. Visitors wade through dwarf cypress prairies, strands and canopied forests, learning the names of native plants and wildlife, the history of the land and the way shifting hydrology shapes every living thing.
Though his photography leans toward color and digital (unlike Clyde’s iconic black-and-white films), he draws from his mentor’s philosophy, encouraging guests to slow down and let the swamp reveal itself. “Wherever they live, I hope guests take this Earth ethic with them,” Scott says, reflecting on the belief that nature has intrinsic value and deserves respect. “It’s moving beyond viewing nature solely as a resource for human use.” —Marlowe Starling
Photography by Scott Randolph
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Betty Osceola: An Indigenous-Led Journey Through the River of Grass
Miccosukee matriarch, captain and environmental advocate Betty Osceola doesn’t see the Everglades as scenery. For her, the land is kin—and she helps others experience the watershed similarly. From her base near Shark Valley, Betty leads Buffalo Tiger Airboat Tours, one of three Indigenous-run operations within the reservation, offering a rare view still passed down largely through stories in her community. A member of the Panther Clan, Betty is the only Indigenous woman airboat captain in the Everglades, occupying a role traditionally dominated by non-Indigenous men and reframing it through presence, purpose and connection. Her excursions pulse with the verve of a lifelong storyteller, the urgency of an activist and the depth of generational knowledge.
On the 45-minute ride, guests travel through a maze of sawgrass to a traditional Miccosukee tree island and the former home of William “Buffalo Tiger,” the first elected chairman of the Miccosukee Tribe. There, among chickees, Betty shares stories of cultural survival and environmental interdependence. A few times a year, she also prepares her famous pumpkin fry bread, cooked beneath the shelter’s thatched roof.
Unlike tours built around speed and spectacle, hers slow down to follow the Miccosukee’s relational worldview, rooted in connection, responsibility and reciprocity. “Water is life,” Betty says. “When you connect with the elements, you can understand who you are. You are part of the water, and it is part of you.” The experience represents her living, breathing culture, emphasizing that the River of Grass is not wild or empty—it’s a held home, passed down and protected. —Lisette Morales
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Photography by Erik Kellar
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Everglades champion Betty Osceola offers a rare, Indigenous-led lens into the River of Grass through Buffalo Tiger Airboat Tours.
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Photography by Erik Kellar
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Jack Shealy: Old Florida Stories from the Turner River Trail
Jack Shealy slips his handcrafted pole boat into the Turner River and jumps, seemingly, back in time. His Gladesmen ancestors settled this region of Ochopee a century ago and learned to build these shallow, sturdy boats from the Indigenous people who preceded them. The river, a placid, 8.5-mile stretch from Old Tamiami Trail to Chokoloskee Bay, looks the same as Jack remembers from boyhood, a remnant of untamed wilderness in our increasingly urbanized state.
Motorboats are prohibited along the river; the soundtrack of Jack’s Everglades Adventure Tours includes the gentle splash of his oar, water lapping against ancient cypress trees, wind blowing across grass flats, birds taking flight, alligators’ occasional grunts, and Jack’s narration as he describes the history of this place and its people. As little as 60 or 70 years ago, Jack adds, people in places like Ochopee and Everglades City still adhered to the old ways—hunting and fishing and working the land. “To be able to share those stories … offers us an opportunity to keep those stories thriving and alive,” he says.
Jack—who also leads half-day Everglades safaris and evening tours—serves as an unofficial historian for the region and his Gladesmen culture, collecting artifacts and oral stories. He operates the Trail Lakes Campground, with chickee huts, where you can stay overnight and the “Skunk Ape Research Headquarters,” a roadside attraction founded by his dad, Dave, who brought the Sunshine State’s Sasquatch to life. “Florida is so busy,” Jack says. “We call our company Everglades Adventure Tours, but we’re really offering a chance to relax and detach, to get back to the basics.” —Jennifer Reed
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Photography by Dan Cutrona
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Gladesman Jack Shealy shares his ancestors’ practices with guided pole boat tours through the wetlands he grew up in.
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Photography by Dan Cutrona
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Photography by Dan Cutrona
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Photography by Mac Stone
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Photography by Mac Stone
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