The UW-Madison Lakeshore Nature Preserve is currently updating their decade-old master plan by creating a comprehensive strategic planning process to guide the use and management of the preserve.
In 2006, the preserve created a master plan with the goal of protecting its natural features and providing enjoyment for the community. Now, with hopes of improving the preserve, UW-Madison students are being asked to contribute to the planning process by completing a survey about their use of the preserve.
The survey includes questions about students’ experience with the preserve in order to gain information on their understanding of the space. Gary Brown, director of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve discussed the main goals of the survey by outlining its analysis on student awareness of the space.
“We want to do more with students and find out if they are aware of the preserve, if they understand who we are and what we do, and determine if we can do more to support the student learning outcomes for all students across the university,” Brown said.
Brown highlighted the importance of students’ input during the process to make improvements to the preserve and update its master plan.
“We want to help reduce stress and learn how the natural world around our students can help promote health, wellness and environmental awareness,” Brown said. “We would love to hear ideas from our students on how we can better achieve those goals.”
The planning process is also working to highlight the key features of the preserve and provide information on the research done in this space. Brown said the preserve’s key features are its teaching opportunities on campus.
“We like to call the preserve ‘the university’s largest outdoor laboratory right on campus,’” said Brown.
