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 his 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 the 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.

• Management, maintenance, and funding

  When the Natural Area Advisory Committee [NAAC] was formed in September 1994 (see Birth of NATL above), it had no status with UF administration other than an IFAS dean and no official administrative oversight, but in 1996, when NAAC sought to put a fence along NATL's (and UF's) south border, it was discovered by Tigert Hall. The result was that NAAC agreed to be supervised by the Lakes, Vegetation and Landscaping Committee (LVLC), an official UF committee whose responsibilities include making recommendations to the UF Administration on the management of natural areas. NAAC would keep LVLC informed of its activities and plans and the Chair of LVLC would become an ex officio member of NAAC. This supervision brought no commitments for support, and the faculty members who founded NATL continued to see to its routine maintenance. For capital improvements to NATL, NAAC sought and received funds from administrators who supported NATL's academic goals.

  As NATL developed, its need for routine support increased. In March 2001, Provost David Colburn approved these policies: (1) 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. (2) 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 the maintenance of NATL. (3) 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.

Nature Trail Development

• Funding

  The original proposal (1993) to establish NATL envisioned a system of nature trails through the three upland ecosystems in the public portion of NATL. For more than a decade, no nature trails were established because of a lack of funds and the need to tend to more pressing aspects of NATL's development. In 2005, the Student Government and the Administration agreed to use $500,000 from the student-generated Capital Improvement Trust Fund for an Environmental Stewardship project to improve the University's 20-odd conservation areas.

  The Natural Area Advisory Committee [NAAC] asked for money from this project to establish four self-guided nature trails in the NATL-west Conservation Area--namely, the three long-desired upland trails plus a wetlands trail for SEEP, a stormwater retention basin re-contoured in 1998. In the spring of 2006, NAAC was awarded $100,000 for these trails with the understanding that the SEEP Trail would include a boardwalk. When it became apparent that the cost of the boardwalk and six contractor-built, trail-head kiosks would greatly exceed the amount awarded, additional funds were sought and received from several sources. Furthermore, the Florida Museum of Natural History agreed to help build the kiosks, with NAAC-supplied materials, saving NAAC about $6,000. Detailed plans facilitated the Museum's participation.

• Trail layout

  It was anticipated that a majority of those using the trails would be visitors to UF's Cultural Plaza and that the Florida Museum of Natural History's Outdoor Nature Programs would use NATL much more than in the past. Consequently, the layout of the trails was optimized for access to the trailheads from the Cultural Plaza and from the adjacent Natural Area Park. The last link in completing the trail layout was an access trail from the Cultural Plaza to the trailheads for the Upland Pine and Old Field Nature Trails. This trail was developed by UF's Physical Plant in cooperation with the Cultural Plaza Advisory Committee.

  The Natural Area Advisory Committee designed and funded the access trail's wayfinding signs, including a directional sign at the origin of the trail and a 3x2 ft sign highlighting the ecosystems traversed by the four nature trails--installed just north of where the trail crosses the Florida Museum of Natural History's service drive. Installation of these signs was completed in March 2010.

• Initial Content Development

  Six graduate students in Susan Jacobson's Fall 2006 class on Environmental Interpretation undertook the development of the explanatory panels for the six nature trail kiosks, for the stand-alone panels along the SEEP Nature Trail, and for the west side of the Natural Area Park kiosk. One trio (Josiah Townsend, Krystal Noiseux, Jeffrey Anderson) worked on the panels for the three upland trails, and the other (Kristine Hoffmann, Fred Fisher, Dara Wald) attended to the panels for the NAP and SEEP kiosks and for the signs along the SEEP Trail. To continue their design work during the Spring Semester of 2007, the two trios applied for and received $500 minigrants.

• Personnel

  Mark Clark, Advisor to the Wetlands Club, was in charge of the development of the SEEP Trail, and T. J. Walker, NAAC Administrative Assistant, saw to the development of the three upland trails. They were greatly assisted by NATL's Graduate Teaching Assistants Kevin Ratkus, Julian Resasco, and Jason Martin, by Undergraduate Assistants Tim Ruscello and Marissa Streifel, by members of the Wetlands Club, and by others who generously volunteered their time and talents.