Anyone who has gone for a run or a bike ride on the Lakeshore Path, taken a hike out to Picnic Point, played intramural soccer, walked up Observatory Drive between College Library and the Social Science building or spent any time at the Lakeshore residence halls has been in contact with some aspect of the Campus Natural Areas.
Starting at Memorial Union and spanning 365 acres along the lake and inland past Eagle Heights lie prairies, woods, marshes and water that are integral to the lives of students of the university, as well as citizens of Madison who spend time around campus. A vast difference exists between the atmosphere of State Street and that of the Lakeshore Path and the areas where it leads. These are the Campus Natural Areas.
UW-Madison sophomore Bailey Martin uses the Lakeshore Path as a place to walk to wind down after a long day of classes.
?I live off University Avenue, which is pretty loud,? she said. \So it's relaxing to go somewhere without pavement where it's nice and quiet.""
Chad Empey, a UW-Madison junior, also enjoys the peacefulness of the path.
?It provides a good place where I can run, away from traffic and stoplights,? he said. ?And it has beautiful scenery.?
He also likes the areas to which the path leads.
?Picnic Point gives students a place where they can go and sit around a campfire at night, and it's still pretty close to home,? Emprey said.
Jane Camerini, president of the FCNA, has been associated with the UW-Madison Department of the History of Science since she earned her doctoral degree here in 1987. A woman with a passion for nature, she has great hopes for the Friends of the Campus Natural Areas, an organization still in its early phases.
Although Camerini is relatively new to the world of volunteer group administration, she is very enthusiastic.
?It is extremely heartening to work together with other adults who are willing to give of their time and expertise to help support this new organization,? Camerini said.
The FCNA is an organization dedicated to the preservation of the natural areas on campus, including Picnic Point, Frautschi Point, Bill?s Woods, the Class of 1918 Marsh, Eagle Heights Woods, Muir Woods and the North Shoreline Footpath. They are protected by the FCNA for the enjoyment of the students and community.
The FCNA is barely a year old. A faculty-comprised Arboretum Committee was the governing body for the natural areas on campus as well as the UW Arboretum until fall 2000, when John Wiley, then-provost of the university, appointed a joint governance committee consisting of three faculty, three academic staff and three students to be the overseer of policy and management for the CNA. This made a clear distinction between the CNA and the Arboretum in terms of management, allowing them to be treated as the separate areas they physically are.
The CNA were acquired by the university gradually, and many of the purchases caused controversy among the faculty because they were expensive. Evem before the land was university owned, however, students have enjoyed the areas.
Many classes in the departments of ecology, entomology, botany and many others have made use of the CNA. However, the lands are much more than just a place for study. Depending on the time of year, on a given day passersby can see families having a picnic, young people playing frisbee, people walking dogs, children engaging in a snowball fight or elderly couples out admiring the autumn colors.
?They have never been limited to formal classroom use or research,? Camerini said. ?They have always been enjoyed by a very wide range of people. The Campus Natural Areas function as a sanctuary?a place you can turn to for getting away from the hustle and bustle of the campus and the city. That?s what we want to protect.?
Picnic Point has long been used as a favorite recreational area by university students. Before a road provided access to the point, students paddled canoes across the lake to spend a day or an afternoon hiking, birdwatching and otherwise enjoying the outdoors.
Both citizens of Madison and UW-Madison students have long appreciated and made good use of the lands.
?We are a group of citizens,? Camerini said. ?And although most of us have UW connections, our common bond is that we all have strong feelings about this place and we want to embrace it as an urban natural area?we don?t want to see it encroached.?
With a small group of passionate citizens and Wiley?s committee appointment in September 2000, the FCNA began to have meetings last spring. It wrote its charter and bylaws this summer, and is in the process of applying for tax exempt status as an organization. At present, donations and membership dues are being accepted under the umbrella of the UW Foundation.
The one person employed to manage the CNA is Cathie Bruner. She is the full-time field manager of the CNA, and she works closely with the Campus Natural Areas Committee to set policy for and supervise the use of the lands. Unlike the Arboretum, which has an entire staff to direct its use, the CNA have just Bruner and the committee, which gives the FCNA a lot to do. Representatives from the FCNA attend CNAC committee meetings and vice versa to foster a constructive and cooperative relationship.
Once the FCNA acquires its tax-exempt status, it will be more independent and will be allowed to make official recommendations to the CNAC. Among other things, the CNAC grants permits to work groups wanting to clean up the area. Previously, there was no official means through which citizens could acquire permits for work parties. The FCNA are taking responsibility to organize many of these work parties, said Camerini, who was at the volunteer fair at the Union last week.
?I had dozens of students sign up for work parties or to be on our mailing list,? Bruner said. ?It?s such a positive thing to see, because these areas belong to the students.?
She stressed that students do not have to be a member of the FCNA to participate in a work party. Fraternities, dormitory floors and other university groups have expressed interest in organizing a work party as a volunteer opportunity.
In all likelihood, these parties will begin this October in Bill?s Woods, an area just north of the Class of 1918 Marsh and Nielsen Tennis Stadium, near Eagle Heights. The FCNA?s goal for Bill?s Woods is to plant native ground cover spanning from the prairie to the open woodland, replacing the weeds and non-native buckthorn. Some of Bill?s Woods has been used as compost holding and dump area, and has been littered with trash. This fall, volunteers will revive parts of the Woods, planting grasses in the prairie area and bur oak acorns in all areas.
Also this fall, the FCNA will hold an event where people can come take short hikes, birdwatch, sign up for late fall and spring work parties and enjoy being outdoors before the cold weather sets in. A date has yet to be set, but will be posted on their Web site. Their mailing list, so far 550 names long, consists of people from all sorts of backgrounds living in and around Madison?families, students, faculty at the university and community groups?and they will be contacted during the FCNA?s first official membership drive Oct. 6. The FCNA are also planning on setting up a nursery to grow plants to be planted outdoors in some of the CNA during the growing season.
?When people who maybe don?t know each other get together and do some constructive work, that not only generates good feelings of community, it improves the land and serves to build support for ongoing endeavors such as the Friends,? Camerini said. ?It is such a positive thing to get out there [and] share your time with others while doing something worthwhile.?
Meetings are open to the public and will be held at a location to be announced. The group?s elections are next spring.
