When Monika Mayr arrived at Biscayne National Park in 2000 to take over assistant superintendent duties, the presidential election was in full swing and so was a proposal to convert nearby Homestead Air Force Base into an international airport.

If you go

Monica Mayr, superintendent of the Vicksburg National Military Park, will sign copies of her book, “Everglades Betrayal: The Issue That Defeated Al Gore,” at 2 p.m. a week from today at Lorelei Books, 1103 Washington St. For information, call 601-634-8624. On the web, click here.

Mayr, now superintendent of the Vicksburg National Military Park, was fascinated by the behind-the-scenes story of the airport proposal, especially in such an environmentally delicate area sandwiched between Biscayne and Everglades National Park, with Big Cypress National Preserve and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary not far off.

Biscayne’s then-superintendent, Dick Frost, was getting ready to retire and told her stories of all-night meetings, contentious public hearings and controversial project green-lights.

“I told him he should write a book about it,” Mayr said. “He said no. So I started it.”

And finished.

Mayr’s “Everglades Betrayal: The Issue that Defeated Al Gore” has been published, and she will sign copies Jan. 24 at Lorelei Books on Washington Street.

“There’s the catchy title — ‘The Issue that Defeated Al Gore,’” Mayr said. “That’s not really the focus, but it is a lesson in that he deserted his environmental supporters.”

Mayr contends that Gore forfeited at least the 537 votes by which President George W. Bush officially beat him in Florida, and consequently lost the election, by waffling on the airport issue, seeking the favor of Hispanic voters and a popular local politician and not coming out strongly against the airport proposal for south Florida.

“One of the important points to take away from that in politics and all of life is that you don’t abandon your convictions,” Mayr said.

“‘Everglades Betrayal’ is a provocative and insightful account of the passionate dedication of south Florida environmental activists, political miscalculation and unintended consequences,” writes April H.G. Smith, director of Ecosystem Restoration for the Audubon Society, in an endorsement of the book. “Ms. Mayr tells an important story of ideology and political costs — how an airport may have changed the course of our nation.”

Homestead Air Force Base had been slated for closure by the military even before it was largely destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Subsequent discussions about the fate of the base focused on a proposal to develop the area into an airport with supporting hotels, office buildings, apartment complexes and restaurants.

Mayr writes that initial environmental studies insufficiently considered the environmental impact of such development on the two neighboring national parks as well as mislabeled, on maps and reports, nearby estuaries “that support extraordinary species of wildlife.”

The ensuing fight to protect those parks, bays and estuaries makes up the main body of her book.

“It’s a story about beating the odds,” Mayr said. “This was signed and ready to go. The outcry from the public turned it around.”

Mayr began writing “Everglades Betrayal” in 2000, before the presidential election. Researching it proved to be more time-consuming and involved than she imagined. Once she began interviewing, one source led to another, and she estimated that she interviewed at least 30 people, including former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt.

Other sources included the Miami Herald newspaper archives, public documents and environmental impact statements and maps.

During the writing, Mayr also moved to Vicksburg where she became superintendent of VNMP in 2004. “I put it on hold for a while,” she said. After completing the manuscript and rewrites, she had it edited and a cover was put together for the book by Mill City Press, she said.

The cover expresses the conflict, with airport shots and diagrams running down the center, sandwiched by nature photographs from Everglades National Park on the left and Biscayne National Park on the right.

“Everglades Betrayal” includes photographs, maps, charts and appendices.

Besides the local signing, Mayr has promoted “Everglades Betrayal” in Florida, including the south Florida region which is its focus. The book is also in use at two branches of the University of Miami part of environmental studies course reading.

Mayr has also been superintendent of Obed Wild and Scenic River in Tennessee and assigned to the National Capital Region in Washington D.C. She is a native of Virginia and magna cum laude graduate of the Virginia Institute of Technology.

Everglades National Park comprises more than 1.5 million acres, “the largest wilderness east of the Mississippi River,” Mayr writes. It was established by Congress on Dec. 6, 1947.

Biscayne National Park, with 65,000 acres, was established Oct. 18, 1968.

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Contact Pamela Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com.