A course of action, containing both humanistic and natural components, was revealed for the Lakeshore Nature Preserve at a presentation Wednesday night.
The Lakeshore Nature Preserve area, which stretches from near Union Terrace to three-quarters of a mile past Picnic Point has never been officially protected in the history of the university.
'What you're hearing tonight most of all is a very strong change in the university's relationship to the lakeshore nature preserve,' said William Cronon, chair of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve Committee. 'To say, we now need to take systematic responsibility if these are to survive, they need to be seen as an integral part of the campus. The university needs to take much more intentional responsibility for managing and caring for them and what you're seeing in this master plan is a vision for how to do that.'
Gary Brown of Facilities Planning and Management said vegetation management, restoring the original plant species wherever possible, one of the key points of the plan.
'Create the largest possible blocks of continuous natural vegetative area, maximize the native biodiversity we have within the different community types we're trying to create [and] obviously controlling invasive species,' Brown said. He emphasized the importance of keeping records on working methods as the plan proceeds.
But, the plan does not only favor the natural environment'human interactions with the preserve have also been planned for.
'Lakeshore Nature Preserve should be a showcase, obviously, for rethinking the city's relationship with natural systems, make human and non-human communities more mutually supportive of each other,' Brown said. He said things like signs, benches, and information posts would aid understanding of area history.
Yet, the largest proposed addition would be a two-story lookout tower placed near the entrance to Picnic Point.
According to Cronon the tower would merely serve as a welcoming site and orientation point, not an overwhelming structure. 'We don't want to build a large building at the base of picnic point,' Cronon said.
Alan Fish, associate vice chancellor for Facilities, Planning and Management, believes Lakeshore Path has a strong legacy and that these changes will help secure the Lakeshore Nature Preserve for future generations.
'When you talk to people who've connected at the University of Wisconsin,' Fish said. 'The Lakeshore Path, Memorial Union Terrace, walking out to Picnic Point ?? were part of the pieces of life that were tremendously transformative to a lot of these people.'
