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Natural Area Teaching Laboratory Annual Report 2007-2008 Doug Levey Chair, 2007-09 Slide 2 NATL-West NATL-East Archer Rd 34 th Street Slide 3 Academic Use Only Public Area Slide 4 What we Proposed to LVL Committee for 2008 Complete nature trails & signage Finish fencing (CITF funds) Advertise trials to public (work with Cultural Plaza group) Update and implement Upland Pine Restoration plan Complete re-starting of 10-year old plot rotation Establish a surveyed grid system in NATL-east; take vegetation photos from grid points for permanent record. Recruit volunteers to help eradicate invasive species & pick up trash (especially along new fence lines) Recruit classes to do management/restoration experiments in NATL Use GPS to map trails Use GPS to map locations of invasive species Slide 5 What we Proposed to LVL Committee for 2008 ~ALL DONE! Complete nature trails & signage Finish fencing (CITF funds) Advertise trials to public (work with Cultural Plaza group) Update and implement Upland Pine Restoration plan Complete re-starting of 10-year old plot rotation Establish a surveyed grid system in NATL-east; take vegetation photos from grid points for permanent record. Recruit volunteers to help eradicate invasive species & pick up trash (especially along new fence lines) Recruit classes to do management/restoration experiments in NATL Use GPS to map trails Use GPS to map locations of invasive species (50m grid system works fine for this) Slide 6 Self-Guided Nature Trails Slide 7 SEEP Trail Slide 8 This photo was taken in August 2008. What has changed since then? Slide 9 CITF Upland Trails Slide 10 Slide 11 Slide 12 Slide 13 Brochure for nature trails Slide 14 Fencing for NATL Corral fencing Field fencing 6 Chain-link fencing Slide 15 Slide 16 Slide 17 Slide 18 Slide 19 Even new sidewalks Slide 20 Several Volunteer Events Pulling invasive species (Ardisia) Planting native plants Picking up trash Slide 21 Alpha Phi Omega Slide 22 GIS maps are available on web Layers include trails, grid points, vegetation Slide 23 Development of NATL-East NATL- West NATL- East Archer Rd 34 th Street Slide 24 Other activities in 2008 NATL operating manual created TA manual created Longleaf Pine Restoration plan adopted 2000 plugs of wiregrass planted Earth Day event Two burns completed (spring and summer) New chair lined up (Jack Putz) Graduate TAship line secured (4 TAs in 4 semesters) Support from Provosts office secured Slide 25 Thanks to lots of folks, including: Slide 26 Proposed Activities for 2009 Finish developing NATL-east Build new walkway (200 ft across wooded marsh) Produce content for kiosk Finish basic trail guides for all trails Host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for trails Advertise NATL to departments; record use of NATL Continue eradication of exotic species Continue pine restoration (burning & planting) Revise kiosk content and signs (as needed) Slide 27 Budget Report and Spending Plan [The chair of NATL] will annually submit a spending plan to the Lakes, Vegetation and Landscaping Committee (LVLC) for its approval, and the Chair of NAAC will submit an annual report about the uses of endowment funds to LVLC. See handout Also available on the web at: http://natl.ifas.ufl.edu/NAACmin9sep08.pdf