The Nature Preserve Committee held its first public meeting Tuesday in the main lounge of Chadbourne Residential College to present information and gather input on how the preserve should be conserved, restored and used at the University of Wisconsin over the next quarter century.
The 325-acre preserve runs two miles along the Lake Mendota shoreline from the Lakeshore Path to Picnic Point and Eagle Heights Woods, encompassing many UW lookout points and natural sights.
The area is a site for many educational and social activities, as well as stewardship and educational-outreach activities.
UW-Madison Director of Planning & Landscape Architecture Gary Brown and UW professor and Lakeshore Nature Preserve Committee Chair William Cronon presented an overview of site analyses and draft recommendations as part of their master-plan process. The two proposed several plans that involved preserving, restoring and interpreting natural plant and animal communities in conjunction with the UW educational mission, projecting new landscapes and establishing management priorities.
Committee members said they would like to restore and manage natural environmental processes, encourage green planning and policies and manage rainwater as a resource. Additionally, the group plans to prevent damage to land, water and cultural resources and mandate sustainable-design principles in planning and constructing amenities.
Brown and Cronon agree that the preserve, an area that holds special meaning to them, needs to achieve a place on people's "mental maps."
"Instilling this is important," Brown said. "We want future generations to understand that [the preserve] is something we need to preserve and maintain."
One change that the committee hopes to make is selectively removing invasive vegetation from Picnic Point so the skyline of the city may be easily viewed.
The vegetation not only obstructs prime views, but also out-competes native vegetation, displaces rare plant species and has prompted visitors to walk through the plants to catch a glimpse of the Capitol, causing severe erosion, Brown said.
Other ideas proposed at the meeting included such improvements as enhanced circulation for pedestrians, bikes and large groups and creating a preserve center that may act as a central point where the community can obtain information about the preserve.
The center could offer classroom facilities, hold exhibit space for maps and displays and ultimately create a coherent identity for the preserve.
Advocates of Friends of the Natural Campus Areas worry that a preserve center may pose a "slippery slope" that will only grow in size and take away from the naturalistic preserve.
Although there was a clear absence of students at the meeting, Cronon said he believes undergraduates are a critical factor in the progression of the preserve and would like to see them represented.
"Our ability to care for our preserve is an expression of our core values as an institution," he said.
One of the few students at the meeting, Adventure Learning Program Services Co-coordinator Noah Annes, a UW senior, attended to suggest designing an on-campus ropes course in the preserve.
"I don't think the presentation touched on as many educational opportunities for students as I expected," Annes said.
This was the first of several meetings planned that will continually refine a master plan for the preserve.
