Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park
| Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park | |
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Floral Colour Garden trail at QEII Botanic Park, Grand Cayman
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| Type | Botanical garden |
| Location | North Side District, Grand Cayman Island |
| Coordinates | 19°18′57″N 81°10′04″W / 19.31596°N 81.16788°WCoordinates: 19°18′57″N 81°10′04″W / 19.31596°N 81.16788°W |
| Area | 65 acres (26 ha) |
| Created | 1994 |
| Operated by | Cayman Islands Government and the National Trust for the Cayman Islands |
Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park is a non-profit outdoor garden and wildlife facility located in the North Side District of Grand Cayman Island in the British West Indies. The park is owned jointly by the Cayman Islands Government and the National Trust for the Cayman Islands, a group dedicated to preserving natural environments and places of historic significance in the Cayman Islands. Opened in 1994 with only the Woodland Trail completed, the park now also contains the Floral Colour Garden, a Cayman Heritage Garden, a lake, an orchid boardwalk exhibit, and a Blue Iguana Habitat. Also inside the park is a gift shop and a visitor's interpretive center, the starting point from which visitors can enter the Woodland Trail and other garden grounds.
Planning for the botanic park began in the late 1980s with master plans being drawn up by landscape and cultural heritage planner Carl Bray. The park was officially opened in 1994 by Queen Elizabeth II. At the time of the park's opening, only the Woodland Trail was completed; the remainder of the park was completed section by section in the ensuing years.
The park also serves the natural conservation needs of the Cayman Islands as a protected area. The forest surrounded by the Woodland Trail and south of the lake area is protected in order to assist in conserving flora and fauna native to the Cayman Islands. Plants unique to the Cayman Islands have been planted and cared throughout the managed areas of the park. The park forms part of the Botanic Park and Salina Reserve Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because it supports populations of several threatened or restricted-range bird species. It is surrounded by the Frank Sound Forest Important Bird Area.
The park's Woodland Trail was the first natural exhibit to open when the park was dedicated in 1994. It currently is estimated to hold more than 50% of flora native to the Cayman Islands. The trail was built to allow those visiting a unique and safe view of the natural landscape that takes up much of Grand Cayman Island. The four-fifths of a mile long trail encompasses approximately 40 acres and showcases several habitats that feature the rare and native Cockspur trees (Erythrina velutina) and Bull Thatch palms (Thrinax radiata). The trail winds through areas that contain swamp, dry soil, and areas where Mahogany trees can be seen reaching across the trail and overhead.
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