Public forum slated April 26 for campus natural areas

The Campus Natural Areas Committee will hold a public input session on Tuesday evening (April 26) to solicit views on the future of the Campus Natural Areas. The meeting will take place from 7-9 p.m. in the Main Lounge at the Chadbourne Residential College, located at the corner of University Avenue and North Park Street.

The committee is in the process of producing a master plan to determine how these special places should be conserved, restored, managed, and used over the next quarter century. There are 14 Campus Natural Areas in all that comprise one-third of the university’s total acreage. They include some of the most heavily used and beloved lands in Madison, including Picnic Point, the Howard Temin Lakeshore Path, Muir Woods and the Class of 1912 Marsh. The committee hopes to rename them collectively as the Lakeshore Nature Preserve.

At Tuesday night’s session, the committee will present a brief overview of the current state of its planning efforts, and then ask those attending to comment on a number of key issues ranging from biological restoration plans to trail design, viewshed management, physical infrastructure and amenities, and educational and recreational activities.

“Our overall goal is to assure that the continued use of these lands by everyone who loves them does not degrade the very qualities for which we cherish them,” says history and geography Professor William Cronon, chair of the natural areas committee.

Citizens who are unable to attend may send written comments to Cathie Bruner at cbruner@fpm.wisc.edu or mail them to her c/o Facilities Planning & Management, 700 Service Building, 1217 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706.