This year, Earth Day will leave a permanent mark on Santa Fe College's campus.
On Monday morning, the school dedicated five acres of the northwest campus to conservation, which signaled the beginning of its Earth Week 2009 celebrations.
About 40 people attended the ceremony, and guests were given guided tours of the wooded area afterward.
"It was a beautiful day, a beautiful event," spokeswoman Bennye Alligood said, adding that the rain held off just long enough for the day to be a success.
The natural area is part of the campus' North Woods, which contains live oaks, loblolly pines and sinkholes and serves as a field laboratory for Santa Fe faculty and students.
Albert "Bud" Mayfield, chairman for the Suwannee chapter of the Society of American Foresters, expressed the organization's support of the dedication as a teaching tool and conservation effort.
The woods are often used by Santa Fe's botany, ecology, geology and art programs because they're close by, Alligood said.
"It was just the perfect habitat," she said.
