Taming the call of the wild
Campus natural areas need maintenance to survive
 Class of 1918 Marsh
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See also: Natural areas need friends The Friends of the Campus Natural Areas are looking to add to their numbers. Read more |
Howard Temin Lakeshore Path
In the hinterland of the UW–Madison campus, on a crisp and clear morning in early April, a small group hikes up a footpath.
The path is in Eagle Heights Woods, a 28-acre patch of trees in the Campus Natural Areas, a combination of woods, restored prairie and wetlands located mostly along the shore of Lake Mendota.
Sunlight penetrates the trees, revealing that bloodroot, Dutchman’s breeches and other early spring plants and flowers are starting to bloom. Chunks of black-fly ash underfoot testify to the path’s previous life as a road around the turn of the century.
The tranquillity of the morning is interrupted as a mountain biker suddenly appears on the path.
Bicycles are not allowed in this part of the Campus Natural Areas (though they are in other places), a fact that the group shares with the young man on the expensive off-road machine. The bicyclist pleads ignorance.
It is a scene that is indicative of the challenges facing the campus naturalists enjoying the spring stroll. Natural areas of campus must be restored and preserved, but they must also be used, fulfilling their three-fold mission of providing teaching, research and recreation opportunities on campus.
“The Campus Natural Areas are some of the most precious resources and distinctive features of campus,” says Robert Goodman, professor of plant pathology and chair of a new campus subcommittee charged with restoring and preserving the Campus Natural Areas. “We need to raise awareness about their presence and at the same time integrate them into the life of the campus community.”
Joining Goodman on the walk this day are Cathie Bruner, field manager of the natural areas; and Tom and Kathie Brock, coordinators of the Friends of the Campus Natural Areas volunteer association. Their hike comes as part of an effort to call attention to the need for increased stewardship of a part of the university that, at 325 acres, comprises more than one-third of the main campus.
“This whole effort of maintaining, much less restoring, the natural areas is a huge undertaking,” Goodman says.
The importance of the Campus Natural Areas — and the need for a more focused approach to their preservation — is recognized by many university leaders. A detailed management plan for the natural areas was created two years ago, and the Campus Master Plan — the university’s guide to long-range development — notes that the natural areas are a jewel that must be preserved.
“Setting up the subcommittee is a very important move as we look to the future,” Robert Hendricks, assistant director of planning and construction for Facilities Planning and Management, told the Campus Planning Committee April 23.
At least 10 academic departments are using the natural areas for instruction in land management and other topics, and several research projects are operating concurrently, including the Biocore prairie restoration project, part of the Biology Core Curriculum. Thousands of students, UW employees and citizens walk, run, bike, in-line skate, bird-watch, picnic and explore in the natural areas each year.
The most conspicuous element of the Campus Natural Areas is one of Wisconsin’s best-known pieces of real estate: Picnic Point, a narrow peninsula protruding one mile into Lake Mendota. But the natural areas also include Muir Woods, on the north side of Bascom Hill; Howard Temin Lakeshore Path; Class of 1918 Marsh; Bill’s Woods; Caretaker’s Woods; Second Point Woods; Frautschi Point; North Shore Woods; Wally Bauman Woods; and the Eagle Heights Natural Area, commonly known as Eagle Heights Woods.
These areas — some acquired recently (such as Frautschi Point), others obtained more than 100 years ago — are managed by the UW Arboretum in cooperation with the Physical Plant and its Environmental Services personnel. Bruner’s position is funded jointly by the partnership.
Historians say the land comprising the Campus Natural Areas was first enjoyed by ancestors of Native Americans as early as 1000 B.C. Remnants of their existence remain to this day, including three burial mounds in Eagle Heights Woods and other burial sites on campus.
Preserving the rich history of the land is the goal of restoration efforts in the natural areas, the most recent of which are focused on Eagle Heights Woods.
Led by Tom Brock, an emeritus professor of bacteriology, and his wife, Kathie, the Friends of the Campus Natural Areas volunteer group since October has removed buckthorn, honeysuckle and mulberry, all invasive woody plants. The fruit of their work forms many large piles that rest in the middle of the woods waiting to be removed.
“Our philosophy is go where things are in the best shape first — and keep them that way,” says Bruner while walking along the path in the woods.
Goodman says removing the woody plants helps return Eagle Heights Woods to its natural state and at the same time opens up ground cover for more wildflower growth.
And these efforts will likely guarantee that, just like Goodman and his group, people will be able take long, sunny, mostly tranquil walks through the natural areas for years to come.