University of Florida Conservation Area Land Management Plan
Blue Wave Wetland
Blue Wave Wetland is a 2.1 acre forested wetland and pond system located adjacent to the Coastal
Science Engineering building on what is generally considered the P. K. Yonge campus. This area was
designated as Academic on the Future Land Use Map of the 2000-2010 Campus Master Plan. The
Conservation Study Committee determined that based on this area's wetland features (pond and forests) that
it should be designated as Conservation.
Natural Areas Inventory
Blue Wave Wetland is in a headwater area of Bivens Arm Marsh (Nature Park owned and managed by
the City of Gainesville), connecting into the marsh through a series of sloughs, culverts, intermittent creeks
and ponds. The marsh is connected via culvert under US 441 to Bivens Arm Lake and drains into Paynes
Prairie and eventually Alachua Sink. 1940s historical photography indicates that this area was part of a
riparian corridor that wound its way to Paynes Prairie through what is now known as the Kirkwood
subdivision. At some point since this time, it appears that portions of the corridor were dug out and ponds
were created, one of which is located within this Conservation Area. The main creek that this area flows
into is called East Tumblin Creek.
Blue Wave Wetland is comprised primarily of two natural community types. The center of the
Conservation Area is composed of an enhanced pond that transitions into a bottomland / floodplain
forest. Currently, there are no plans to inventory mammals, herps, and birds for this Conservation Area.
Plants typical of these systems include: arrowheads, pickerelweed, bladderpod, common reed, coreopsis,
glasswort, water primrose, pignut hickory, winged elm, sweet gum, loblolly pine, basket oak, basswood,
laurel oak, cabbage palm, slash pine, red maple, swamp chestnut oak, hop hornbeam, water oak, live oak,
red maple, sweetgum, cypress, loblolly bay, swamp tupelo, spruce pine, American beech, dahoon holly,
wax myrtle, swamp dogwood, and Florida elm
Animals potentially occurring on site include cricket frog, pig frog, leopard frog, American alligator,
eastern mud snake, banded water snake, striped swamp snake, northern harrier, red-tailed hawk, turkey,
yellow-billed cuckoo, screech-owl, great-horned owl, ruby-throated hummingbird, acadian flycatcher,
pileated woodpecker, hermit thrush, cedar waxwing, yellow-throated warbler, raccoon, river otter, gray
squirrels armadillos, slimy salamander, Cope's gray treefrog, bronze frog, box turtle, eastern glass
lizard, green anole, broadhead skink, ground skink, red-bellied snake, gray rat snake, rough green snake,
coral snake, woodcock, barred owl, pileated woodpecker, shrews, eastern mole, wood rat, cotton mouse,
gray fox, mink, bobcat and white-tailed deer.
F :' 1 16A ..
The following soil information for on-site soils was gathered from the Soil Survey of Alachua County
Blichton Sand (5-8% slope)
This sloping poorly drained soil is on the rolling uplands. The areas are irregular in shape and elongated
and range from about 5 to 45 acres. Typically, the surface layer is dark gray sand about 5 inches thick. It
is about 2 percent nodules of ironstone and fragments of phosphatic limestone. The subsurface layer is
sand to a depth of 31 inches.
Newnan (0-3% slope)
This nearly level, somewhat poorly drained soil is in small to relatively large areas in flatwoods.
Typically, the surface layer is dark gray sand about 5 inches thick. The subsurface layer is light
brownish gray sand to a depth of 12 inches.
Cultural and Passive Recreational Resources
Blue Wave Wetland does not have any public access or associated amenities and with its lack of upland
areas and distance from the main campus, probably does warrant these types of efforts in the future.
There are no known archeological sites within the Conservation Area.
Portions of this Conservation Area should be considered as an Academic Preserve, with little public use
improvements. However the land around the pond, particularly on the eastern side, should be treated as a
Nature Park. The only improvements identified for this Conservation Area are the removal of invasive
exotics and some signage.
Maps on the following pages:
1. Aerial Photo
2. Water Resources
3. Natural Communities
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