Nature Conservancy Donates 3,000-Acre Preserve to University of Florida for Expanded Research Station

Ordway-Swisher Biological Station grows to 9,100-acre site for scientific research and environmental education.

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FLORIDA — August 8, 2008 — The Nature Conservancy announced the donation of approximately 3,000 acres to the University of Florida Foundation Inc. to expand the Ordway-Swisher Biological Station. The donation expands the biological station in Putnam County to a 9,100-acre site for natural areas research and environmental education.

“In my career in higher education, I can’t think of a more significant gift in terms of its potential impact on our society and on the university,” said University of Florida President Bernie Machen.

The Ordway-Swisher Biological Station is a year-round biological field station established for the long-term study and conservation of unique ecosystems through management, research and education. The property is managed for the University of Florida by the University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation.

The Ordway-Swisher Biological Station property is a mosaic of wetlands and uplands that include sandhills, forests, swamps, marshes, and lakes. This diversity of communities offers outstanding habitat for numerous organisms. More than 500 species of plants and nearly 300 species of vertebrates have been catalogued for the station.

“The Conservancy’s transfer of 3,000 acres to the Ordway-Swisher Biological Station is an important milestone in the ongoing work at this outstanding conservation site,” said Jeff Danter, Florida state director of The Nature Conservancy. “Equally important to protecting this site is developing the next generation of conservation scientists and managers who will help make Florida and the world a more sustainable place for us all.”

The Nature Conservancy donated its ownership of the Carl Swisher Memorial Sanctuary to the UF Foundation and will retain a conservation easement over the entire 9,100-acre Ordway-Swisher Biological Station.
The Swisher sanctuary was originally donated in 1979 to the Conservancy by the Swisher Foundation. In early 1980, the UF Foundation purchased approximately 6,100 acres of upland pine sandhills from the Swisher Foundation, which was named the Katharine Ordway Preserve. Since 1980, The Nature Conservancy has leased the Carl Swisher Memorial Sanctuary to the University of Florida Foundation, Inc., under a joint stewardship agreement for both properties.

The biological station is the future site of the Natural Areas Training Academy, where Nature Conservancy scientists and University of Florida educators provide conservation practitioners with courses on land management skills and techniques, such as conducting prescribed burns and biological monitoring.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.