. . . Outdoor Learning is our Point!
Mission
The Lakeshore Nature Preserve shelters natural environments and cultural resources through active learning, research, and outreach in a place of respite and well-being.
Vision
To foster biodiversity on campus and cultivate lifelong environmental engagement.
Acreage
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Lakeshore Nature Preserve is a 300-acre natural area situated on the south shore of Lake Mendota on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. It represents about one-third of the main UW-Madison campus acreage.
Miles of Shoreline
The Lakeshore Nature Preserve extends 4.3 miles along the Lake Mendota shoreline from the Limnology Lab near the Memorial Union to Wally Bauman Woods next to the Village of Shorewood Hills, via Picnic Point, a peninsula that juts nearly a mile into the lake. One can walk the entire shoreline along the Lakeshore Path. The Preserve’s shoreline makes up roughly one-fifth of Lake Mendota’s total circumference.
Management and Governance
A small, full-time, professional staff manages the Lakeshore Nature Preserve. The UW-Madison Office of Sustainability provides administrative oversight for the Lakeshore Nature Preserve within the UW-Madison Division of Facilities Planning & Management (FP&M). The Lakeshore Nature Preserve Committee, an advisory board made up of faculty, staff, and student members, provides policy guidance.
Planning
The Preserve’s first master plan was completed in 2006 and updated in 2023 to ensure the protection of its distinctive natural features and increase visitor enjoyment and understanding.
Support
A community of donors supports land stewardship and capital projects, sustaining the Lakeshore Nature Preserve across seasons and generations, year in and year out. Please see our Donate page for details.
Generations of Advocacy
Only Muir Woods at the eastern end of the Preserve was originally part of the university campus. The university acquired lands farther west over many decades, sometimes on purpose, sometimes through generous gifts from alumni and other benefactors. Until the early 1940s, even Picnic Point was private property, and only in the 1990s (with an extraordinarily far-sighted and generous gift of the last remaining parcel of non-UW shoreline property by the Frautschi family) did the university come to own the continuous 4.3-mile corridor of green. In 2004, the university renamed these separate parcels the Lakeshore Nature Preserve, and it is now committed to their permanent protection. After decades of development threats, the Preserve has entered a new century with more protection than ever. Visitors to the Preserve today benefit from generations of land conservation advocates who came before us and are encouraged to make their own contributions to the challenge of passing this special place on to future generations.
Campus Icon
The beauty of the UW-Madison campus is renowned worldwide. Much of what makes the university so distinctive is its relationship to Lake Mendota, which means the Lakeshore Nature Preserve helps preserve some of the campus’s most celebrated features. It physically connects the campus to the lake.
Famous Views
There are a few world-famous views that arguably define the UW-Madison campus and the City of Madison. Almost all of these are at least partly framed by the Lakeshore Nature Preserve: the view from Observatory Hill, the view of the university and city skyline from the tip of Picnic Point, the views along the Temin Lakeshore Path, even the views from Bascom Hill and the Memorial Union Terrace.
Student Life
The Preserve has served as an outdoor classroom and place of retreat and recreation for generations of students, faculty, staff, and Madison residents. Through formal classroom activities and leisure activities ranging from walking to biking to canoeing to sailing, the Preserve has played a central role in most UW-Madison students’ lives. Picnics and campfires on Picnic Point contribute to all that makes UW-Madison such a special place to go to school, and Madison such a great place to live.
Romance
The Lakeshore Path and Picnic Point have long been celebrated as among the most romantic places anywhere. Many marriage proposals have been made and accepted here, and more than a few informal weddings have been held here as well.
Highest Point
The highest point on the south side of Lake Mendota – the bluff in Eagle Heights Woods – is located within the boundaries of the Preserve. As ecological restoration work continues in Eagle Heights Woods, views of the lake have reemerged, mostly in the winter months.
Wildlife Corridor
Migrating birds make landfall at Frautschi Point as they cross Lake Mendota on their way south, then follow the Preserve’s long ribbons of green through the woods and along the shore, traveling in relative safety even as they pass through Wisconsin’s capital city. The Lakeshore Nature Preserve is classified as a Wisconsin Important Bird Area. Many birding walks are hosted in the Preserve throughout the year.
Studying and Conserving Lake Mendota
The science of limnology – which studies the ecology and physical dynamics of freshwater lakes – was partly conceived by Edward A. Birge on the UW-Madison campus in the late nineteenth century. Lake Mendota is now unquestionably among the most studied lakes anywhere on earth. As one of the few terrestrial ecosystems on the lake where natural processes are encouraged to operate in ways that try to minimize human impacts, the Preserve plays an essential role in protecting Madison’s most famous lake.
Science
Some of the greatest scientists and scholars who helped shape an American land ethic drew inspiration from this place we call the Lakeshore Nature Preserve. The writer John Muir lived next to it in North Hall. The ecologist John Curtis studied and defended it. The soil scientist Francis D. Hole introduced students to exploring the world beneath their feet. Naturalists Jim and Libby Zimmerman practiced ecological restoration in it. And conservationist Aldo Leopold taught classes there. The environmental tradition at UW-Madison is as strong and deep as at any other university in the world, and the Lakeshore Nature Preserve has been central to that tradition from the beginning.
How to get involved
Volunteers are always welcome, no matter your background or experience. See our Volunteer page for more information. You can also become a member of the Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that supports the UW-Madison Lakeshore Nature Preserve and is for everyone who cares about this special place. The Friends conduct regular field trips, participate in volunteer activities, and publish a twice-yearly newsletter.