Email sent to members of the Faculty Senate, 13 Apr 2004

SW 24th Avenue : Value of NATL to the University

Dear Senator:

On Thursday, the Faculty Senate will vote on an action item prompted by the Final Report of the SW 24th Avenue Focus Group. This email summarizes what the Focus Group learned about the value of NATL during hearings on 27 Oct 03 and 15 Jan 04.

Mission
NATL is dedicated to teaching students and the public about ecology and biodiversity.

Much used by classes
NATL was first proposed in 1993 by faculty from departments that were already using the area. A 1993 survey of intended usage found that 7 departments, in 3 colleges, intended to use NATL in 28 courses serving 1239 students. In 2000, a similar survey showed that 9 departments/schools, in 4 colleges, had already used it for 53 courses and that the intended usage was now for 76 courses that would annually serve 2561 students.

Other academic uses
NATL is used for special projects, thesis research, short courses, workshops, and a convenient source of plants and invertebrates for classes and research. Docents lead many K-12 groups that are visiting the Florida Museum of Natural History on nature walks into NATL. ( http://natl.ifas.ufl.edu/aprojects.htm and http://natl.ifas.ufl.edu/NATLuses.pdf )

Diverse ecosystems arranged optimally
NATL has significant samples of all three of the ecosystems that are characteristic of uplands in north peninsular Florida: hammock, upland pine, and old-field succession. It also has a large retention basin that is now an ecologically engineered wetland (the Stormwater Ecological Enhancement Project or SEEP) and a sinkhole pond that overflows into an active sink. The arrangement of the ecosystems facilitates the division of NATL into a northern area that is shared with the public and a southern area that is for academic use only.

NATL’s public area contains SEEP and the old-field plots that demonstrate how the biota changes as tilled fields revert toward their original, self-perpetuating ecosystems. It also contains about one-third of NATL’s upland pine and hammock ecosystems.

NATL’s academic-only area has the sinkhole and sinkhole pond and the remaining two-thirds of the upland pine and hammock ecosystems. Excluding the public minimizes disturbance of natural communities and allows equipment used in research projects, by classes or individuals, to be left in NATL with low likelihood of theft or vandalism.

Well-located for its public role
NATL’s public area is adjacent to the exhibits building of the Florida Museum of Natural History and interfaces with the Cultural Complex via a Natural Area Park.

Ideally located for its academic role
NATL is part of the UF campus and is next to the Park-and-Ride lot, with its parking garage and excellent bus service. Students can reach the site and do meaningful fieldwork in a normal laboratory period. Special transportation need not be arranged and paid for, and travel time to and from outlying areas need not be deducted from the lab period. K-12 groups that visit FLMNH use the picnic area of Natural Area Park, where a kiosk invites them to enter and explore NATL’s public area.

Academic-only area has special attributes
The south-most portion of NATL has the greatest biodiversity because it includes the sinkhole and its pond and NATL’s most pristine hammock with the largest trees. On the south it abuts a three-acre stormwater facility that cannot be developed and on the east it connects with a 12-acre UF conservation area. Lastly, it occupies the northern third of a large karst basin that drains into a collapsed sink.

Enhancements and infrastructure
NATL’s value as an academic facility has been amplified during the past nine years by fencing its borders; developing trails; establishing a well-marked 50-meter grid system; making an early, grid-based photographic record of vegetation; completing a grid-based survey of soil types; making checklists of important components of the biota, such as plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies, moths, crickets, katydids, and nematodes; re-contouring and planting its retention basin (SEEP); initiating old-field plots; erecting and maintaining two kiosks; developing Natural Area Park; and constructing an academic pavilion. Of special note are steps taken to restore the upland pine ecosystem and to reduce the impact of SW 34th Street by construction of a 670 ft long, 7 ft high earthen berm.

The NATL website has more detailed information than could be referenced above. For a fuller appreciation of the value of NATL, direct your browser to http://natl.ifas.ufl.edu/.

Sincerely,
T. J. Walker (Tom)
Chair, Natural Area Advisory Committee