New group works to protect UW’s natural areas

Glenda Denniston has always loved spending time in the natural areas of campus, whether she is bird watching, tracking coyotes or simply strolling on a forest path.

Now, on a sunny, crisp morning in November, she is hard at work on a restoration project, working to replant and restore damaged areas of Bill’s Woods, just west of Picnic Point.

“The harder it is, the more fun it is,” she says of her work, which includes removing exotic weeds and replacing them with native woodland plants. “It’s very rewarding, and it sure beats exercise class.”

Denniston is active as both an advocate and a frequent user of the campus natural areas — the woodlands, wetlands and prairies that cover 325 acres of campus. Though she previously worked privately toward their preservation and restoration, Denniston now lends her support to Friends of the Campus Natural Areas, for which she also serves as a committee chair.

The non-profit organization focuses on preserving the biological ecosystems that serve the recreation, research and teaching needs of the university community. Though still in its infancy as an official organization, the group has existed informally as a mindset for as long as students and community members have enjoyed the Campus Natural Areas.

“The Friends of the Campus Natural Areas is an organization that really wants to help protect this place as an urban natural space,” says friends president Jane Camerini. “Our members tend to be those who have walked there and have loved it for one reason or another.”

Officially formed in the spring of 2001, the friends group offers a network of support and activities for anyone who has ever experienced and enjoyed the natural areas, including Bill’s Woods, Picnic Point, Frautschi Point, the Class of 1918 Marsh, Eagle Heights Woods, Muir Woods and the North Shoreline Footpath. The group works toward preserving and restoring the areas, which serve as valuable teaching grounds for numerous departments, including anthropology, biology, botany, art and zoology. Members volunteer through organized work parties in various parts of the natural areas.

According to Camerini, the friends group is the result of the combined efforts of community members who feel inspired to take care of the rich campus resources for instruction and enjoyment.

“We feel strongly that this sanctuary of quiet and trees and fields is something not only worth protecting, but also enhancing and taking care of,” Camerini says.

A longtime outdoor enthusiast, Camerini is particularly passionate about the natural areas and the organization she now leads.

“There’s a real sense of caring about that place. It has personal meaning to me,” she says. “I’ve felt very encouraged by being around adults who care, and there’s a general feeling that we all want to look out for this place.”

The FCNA was created from a desire to gather community support and to help set the agenda for the natural areas, Camerini says. The natural areas are governed by the Campus Natural Areas Committee, which is made up of three faculty, three academic staff and three students, to help oversee natural areas policies and management. The friends have ex-officio status on the CNAC, allowing a non-voting representative of the friends group to participate in discussion and lend insight into the decision-making process. In return, a CNAC chairperson has ex-officio status on the friends board, allowing for both parties to remain independent while working together for the benefit of the natural areas.

Cathie Bruner, the field manager of the natural areas, works closely with the friends group and is responsible for the overall coordination of the research, teaching and management aspects of the areas. As a liaison between the parties involved with the CNA, she says her role involves connecting the CNAC, friends group and the Physical Plant to reflect the natural areas’ mission of preserving plants and animals through education and research, while keeping education and preservation in balance. “The FCNA has brought not only knowledge and energy to the areas, but has put in a lot of work,” Bruner says.

The melding of education and preservation is evident in many of the friends’ projects. Denniston and friends secretary Roma Lenehan have compiled 25 years’ worth of bird data for the creation of a monthly natural areas bird list, and are in the midst of a three-year breeding study to track the effects of habitat changes on bird populations and migration patterns.

The various FCNA studies allow for the convergence of ideas and experiences in working toward common goals, Bruner says. The friends group includes 80 members, and an additional number of non-members volunteer and lend their services to various projects. Camerini expects membership to reach 200 by the end of the organization’s first year.

Blair Mathews, an FCNA board member, says the unity created by the natural areas is significant. People of all ages, backgrounds and experiences are involved with the friends group. “We have students and faculty coming from different places, but all with similar interests,” he says. “We’ve just scratched the surface.”