Lakeshore Nature Preserve Master Plan Update

View 2023 Master Plan

This project updated the 2006 Master Plan for the UW-Madison Lakeshore Nature Preserve.

This 300 acres is situated on Ho-Chunk ancestral lands and stretches along four miles of Lake Mendota shoreline from the Limnology Building to the Village of Shorewood Hills. The Preserve attracts more than eighty research and teaching projects annually and supports the University’s mission of teaching, research and outreach in countless ways and is a respite to many.

This planning process provides the opportunity to review the Preserve’s infrastructure, land use, broad land management strategies, and protection of its distinctive natural, cultural, and educational features. Taking an updated look at the needs and opportunities of the Preserve will lead to prioritized recommendations for the next ten years.

The master planning process steps generally include:

• Setting planning goals
• Reiterating the mission, vision, and guiding principles
• Inventory and analysis of the existing facility conditions of both land and amenities
• Inventory and analysis of land uses,
• Identify issues/needs and opportunities,
• Provide draft plan and final plan documents for public review,
• Engagement of stakeholders throughout the planning process.

Planning Goals for Master Plan Update:

• Create clear ecological direction – based on science, traditional knowledge, and adaptive management.
• Prioritize the many facility and management needs.
• Demonstrate how the Preserve is integral to the University’s teaching, research, and outreach mission.
• Enhance the welcoming feeling of the Preserve.
• Include diverse perspectives in the process.
• Understand and make recommendations for the Preserve that are relevant to its setting on an urban campus. 

Core Values and Guiding Principles:

Core Values (we believe in…)

Guiding Principles (therefore we will…)

1. Education and Research
   1. Provide students, volunteers, interns, the university, and larger campus community opportunities for teaching, research, and experiential learning in an outdoor setting.
   2. Share stories of the Preserve lands, it’s natural and cultural histories, and its management and care through multiple world views.
   3. Foster an understanding of the intrinsic value of nature and communicate the ecosystem services provided by healthy functioning landscapes.
2. Access, Engagement, Collaboration
   1. Engage with UW-Madison students, staff, and faculty to promote use of the Preserve in line with its mission and vision.
   2. Provide a welcoming setting for respite, wellness, and low impact recreation with consideration for safety, ease of navigation, and a quiet/peaceful user experience.
   3. Balance the provision of appropriate facilities for reasonable use and access for all with the cultural, ecological, and aesthetic integrity of the site.
   4. Promote a culture of inclusion.
3. Ecologically Sound Management
   1. Utilize scientific, indigenous, and local knowledge to guide restoration and management.
   2. Build diverse natural communities and ecological resilience through a diversity of management approaches and be adaptive to what is learned over time as we face a changing climate.
   3. Recognizing the Preserve’s setting in an urban context, deep indigenous history, and wide use for education & research, address the associated challenges and opportunities as a model approach for others to follow.
4. Respect
   1. Respect this place as ancestral Ho-Chunk land.
   2. Respect the sensitive natural and cultural areas within the Preserve.
   3. Promote an ethic of care and respect for the health of the land and the life which it supports.

Stakeholder/Public Sessions 

To develop a master plan that best serves the University and community, surveys and stakeholder input collected during the Preserve Strategic Plan will be reviewed and coupled with public engagement.

Currently three public sessions are planned to be in a hybrid of in-person/online arrangement and include the opportunity for online remarks.

PUBLIC SESSION #1, November 30, 2021 | 6:00 pm at Memorial Union: present and collect comments on draft goals and guiding principles, existing conditions, issues, needs and opportunities.

• Meeting recording
• Interactive map
• Public input survey

Note: The interactive map and the public input survey are no longer available for input. If you have comments to share, please send email to campus.planning@fpm.wisc.edu.

PUBLIC SESSION #2, April 26, 2022 | 7:00 pm at Memorial Union: present and collect comments on draft recommendations developed in response to public engagement session #1, site analysis, staff and committee input; also collect comments on prioritization criteria.

• Meeting recording.
• Meeting introduction. There were technical difficulties at the beginning of the meeting and the audio is missing from the recording.  The written text here is the essence of what was said prior to the audio correction.
• Presentation (PDF). Zoom to see details.
• Public input on draft recommendations: Lakeshore Nature Preserve Public Meeting 2 | Poll Everywhere  – PLEASE VOTE for your likes and dislikes and add specific notes you’d like considered.

PUBLIC SESSION #3, November 17, 2022 | 7:00pm at Memorial Union, TITU: present final draft recommendations.

• Meeting Recording
• Presentation (PDF)

REVIEW OF DRAFT FINAL LAKESHORE NATURE PRESERVE MASTER PLAN, June 28, 2023 – July 21, 2023

JOINT CAMPUS AREA COMMITTEE – informational item on February 22, 2024

DESIGN REVIEW BOARD – presented on March 19, 2024

View 2023 Master Plan