University of Florida Natural Area Teaching Laboratory

Natural Area
Teaching Laboratory

Recent additions to this web site
Self-guided nature trails
2005-06 Report and Outlook (9 Oct 2006 PowerPoint presentation to LVL Committee)
NATL Super Volunteers
NATL Graduate Teaching Assistant
Long-range planning and UF Master Plan revision
Other UF natural areas designated for academic use
Minigrant program

The University of Florida Natural Area Teaching Laboratory (NATL) is dedicated to teaching students and the public about ecology and biotic diversity. It consists of 60 acres in two contiguous tracts in the southwest corner of campus. The larger tract, known as NATL-west, has 49 acres and is west of Natural Area/Surge Area Drive. The smaller tract, known as NATL-east, has 11 acres and is east of Natural Area/Surge Area Drive. NATL has significant samples of three upland ecosystems characteristic of north peninsular Florida: hammock, upland pine, and old-field succession. It has a variety of wetland habitats, including a 9-acre marsh in NATL-east that drains into a pond and sinkhole in NATL-west and a 3-acre ecologically engineered retention basin (SEEP) in the northeast corner of NATL-west. Click on areas of map below to go to descriptions of each ecosystem and wetland habitat.

     Click on thumbnail to see NATL
     boundaries superimposed on a
     2000 aerial photograph of the area.

Users and Uses

At least nine departments, in four colleges, use NATL for their courses. Kiosks at the east entrance to NATL-west and in Natural Area Park explain NATL to classes and the public. Self-guided nature trails, planned for the northern half of NATL-west, will explain significant features of SEEP and the three upland ecosystems, including five stages of old-field succession (see map above).

The NATL Advisory Committee has established Rules for Using NATL and Procedures for Projects in the Restricted Area. To help users define locations within NATL, a 50-meter grid has been surveyed and staked. A map showing the grid is available at the kiosk at the east entrance to NATL-west and here. To aid GPS users, the global coordinates of the grid points are listed in a spreadsheet.

Managment, Maintenance, and Funding

On 28 March 2001, Provost David Colburn approved the policies under which NATL currently operates:

Management
The Natural Area Advisory Committee (NAAC), consisting of at least one representative from each department or other unit making significant use of NATL and the Chair of the Lakes, Vegetation and Landscaping Committee, will recommend management plans and seek their implementation. Each fall the Chair of NAAC will send a written report of the Committee's activities for the previous school year to appropriate administrators and will report in person to the Lakes, Vegetation, and Landscaping Committee.

Maintenance
NAAC and PPD will work cooperatively to ensure the maintenance of NATL. Each will do those tasks that it can handle most efficiently. The Chair of NAAC will communicate directly with PPD and the Vice President of Administrative Affairs regarding maintenance of NATL.

Funding
NAAC will ask the Provost for funds to cover its routine operations. Each such request will be accompanied by a report of all NAAC expenditures not previously documented. For major projects, NAAC will also request the Provost's support, but with copies to the Vice President of Administrative Affairs, the Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the Deans of the Colleges of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Education.

History

Early history
Currently the earliest information about NATL's site is that it was purchased by the State of Florida in 1944. In that year, C. C. Richbourg and wife sold the State 192 acres in the southwest portion of section 12, township 10S, range 19E. A portion of this parcel is now NATL.

1944 to 1990
Aerial photographs from this period show how NATL's site changed greatly during the first 46 years of University of Florida's stewardship. These photographs are interpreted by George Freeman and Garry Lockerman in a 1999 interview.

Birth of NATL
In May 1993, the urbanization of areas north and east of what is now NATL stimulated the formation of a Planning Group, consisting of 15 persons who wanted 45 acres of the tract now known as NATL-west designated a “campus natural area and outdoor teaching laboratory.” The Planning Group selected Dana Griffin (Botany), Joe Schaefer (Wildlife Ecology & Conservation), and Tom Walker (Entomology & Nematology) to draft a proposal to that effect. A draft was completed, circulated, and revised. The final proposal was endorsed by faculty in all departments that were likely users of the area and submitted to Campus Planning in July 1993. It was endorsed by the University Land-Use and Facilities Planning Committee in May 1994.

With encouragement from IFAS Dean for Academic Programs Larry J. Connor, a Natural Area Advisory Committee, with members representing the principal users, was organized in September 1994. Its charge was to plan the development and management of NATL.

Additions to NATL

In 1997, NATL was allowed to annex about an acre of the Surge Area immediately north of the mini warehouses. In 2005, as part of the 2005-2015 update of the Campus Master Plan, NATL was expanded to include the 11 acres that became NATL-east and west of Natural Area Drive the boundaries of NATL were redrawn to annex about three more Surge Area acres. For a pictorial summary of the development of NATL, see Principal improvements to NATL: 1994-date.

Click on thumbnail to see Photo Gallery Menu

Address comments or suggestions about this Web site to natl@ufl.edu.