Campus Involvement
Student Agricultural Gardens
The Agronomy-Soils Club maintains the Ag Gardens located on the University of Florida campus near Lake Alice. Club members have assumed the responsibility to manage and maintain the Ag Gardens as a public service project for the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Student Council. The Ag Gardens, 49 garden plots located north of Lake Alice and immediately adjacent to the Bat House in the southwest area of campus, are tilled, marked and rented on a contractual basis to members of the campus community. Priority privileges are extended to students, faculty and staff of the University of Florida, and at-large community members when plots are available. Agronomy-Soils Club members help with the preparation, measuring, and maintenance of the plots and the surrounding area. Proceeds from rental of the plots provide funding for College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Student Council activities.
While many of the gardeners are there for the relaxation and enjoyment of growing plants, the Ag Gardens have become especially important to members of the international community who grow vegetable crops not readily available in the local markets. A visit to the Ag Gardens, within walking distance of central campus, reveals an interesting blend of crops, languages and cultures.
This part of the campus, consisting of the Ag Gardens, the Bat House and the northwest shore of Lake Alice, is a popular destination for students, staff, faculty and campus visitors, especially in the evening when some 60,000 bats leave the Bat House en masse. This area provides an excellent opportunity for UF personnel and campus visitors to experience diverse aspects of nature just a short walk from the main UF campus.
McCarty Woods Restoration
In 2007, the Agronomy-Soils Club chose to help take ownership of their campus community and wrote a grant to help protect one of UF's most visible and widely used preservation areas. The McCarty Woods is a natural forest area situated between Museum Road and McCarty Drive with picinc tables and walking paths within it. The Agronomy-Soils club was awarded an Environmental Stewardship grant to help protect the areas natural elements and promote conservation areas through clean-up events and teaching elements. The Conservation Area Land Management plan for the McCarty Woods can be found at http://www.facilities.ufl.edu/cp/clmp/clmp.htm. For more information about the restoration, please contact the Project Coordinator, Tom Tidyman.
