Two years of drought leave Everglades parched, taking toll on wildlife and tourism

At first glance, it looks like a normal day in the Everglades. But look closer, and the effects of two consecutive years of drought are hard to miss.

There is barely any water in the man-made canal we traveled through by airboat — and beyond the canal, large stretches of the Everglades are dry.

"How deep should the water be?" CBS News Miami asked.

"Well, presently, right now, the average mid-August water level would be knee deep, just above my kneecap, so 20 inches, give or take," said Marshall Jones, a fifth-generation Gladesman.

Jones said droughts are a natural part of life in the Everglades, but two consecutive dry years have taken a heavy toll, leaving the area with about a 2-foot water deficit.

"The fish population in this part of the Everglades is down over 98 percent," Jones said. "This year was the worst year on record for birds nesting season, for the rookery season here in the Everglades. We saw over a 98 percent rate of refusal, where the birds abandoned their nests."

For turtles, Jones said the conditions have been devastating.

"Out here, they're cooked — literally. The animals have been cooked from the sun," he said.

Alligators have also been taking refuge in canals. But Jones said there could be one upside to the dry conditions: Less rain is making it easier for nests to stay dry, potentially leading to more hatchlings.

"Animals that rely on drought for their nesting, such as the alligator and the turtle, this year will be a banner year for alligator nests, for hatchlings, as well as turtle nests with their hatchlings," Jones said. "We'll see a massive resurgence in the small alligator and turtle population across the majority of the Everglades."

The drought is also taking a toll on Jones' livelihood.

At this time of year, Jones said he would normally operate about 15 airboat tours a week. Now, he is down to about three, with tours restricted largely to a man-made canal.

"It's hard to give somebody a good airboat ride in three-eighths of a mile," he said.

"We're only able to operate in this one agricultural ditch, and from here further, the majority of this drought season has been too dry to even go beyond this white pipe," Jones said, pointing to a marker in the water.

For now, Jones is hanging on — and hoping for stormier days ahead.

"We're actually in over our heads already," he said. "Debts mounted up to the point where, you know, we're operating at a loss for several months now, and this is two consecutive years that we're operating in the red."

Jones said he has been racking up credit card bills and dipping into savings just to stay afloat.

"We're taking out everything we have in savings just to survive on a monthly basis," he said.