While munching on shrimp cocktail and cookies, guests gathered at the trailhead in Natural Area Park, behind the Phillips Center for Performing Arts, to watch a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new boardwalk extending into the wetlands portion of UF's Natural Area Teaching Laboratory.
About 55 people gathered Monday afternoon to officially celebrate the new self-guided nature trail at the site.
UF President Bernie Machen and Student Body President Kevin Reilly each grabbed a pair of hedge clippers to officially open the boardwalk. After about three vigorous snips each, the red ribbon, entwined with thick vines, was sliced to general applause.
In a speech, Machen called the natural laboratory a unique, valuable part of UF, though it is lesser-known than other campus landmarks.
"We frequently think of this university in terms of the Century Tower or maybe even the football stadium after this week," he said.
Machen said the 60-acre area was scheduled to become a street connecting Archer Road with Hull Road when he came to UF five years ago. He said his administration took another look at the property and saw the value in saving it.
About four years ago, $100,000 of Student Government's Capital Improvement Trust Fund was allocated for the project, said Doug Levey, chairman of the Natural Area Teaching Lab advisory committee.
"The boardwalk took the lion's share of that," Levey said.
The project took about two years, an effort that included adding informative signs and various kiosks along the trail, Levey said.
Apart from playing host to everyday visitors and visiting schools, the teaching laboratory is used by about 20 UF classes per semester, said Erica Van Etten, UF graduate student and the project's teaching assistant.
