Research at the UW-Madison Arboretum

CONTACT INFORMATION

Dr. Joy Zedler

Research Director, Aldo Leopold Professor of Restoration Ecology
(608) 262-8629 | jbzedler@wisc.edu

Brad Herrick, M.S.

Ecologist and Research Program Manager
(608) 263-7344 | bmherrick@uwarb.wisc.edu

Please contact Brad Herrick regarding Research Permits for individual, multi-investigator, and class reseach projects at the Arboretum.

The UW Arboretum consists of a 1200-acre reserve in Madison that was set aside for ecosystem restoration, research and teaching, plus eleven outlying properties that serve as reference sites for restoration activities. Leaflet 18 (click on image to download) is a compilation of maps and aerial images which illustrates the Madison core property, as well as some of the challenges the Arboretum faces in restoring native communities in its urban setting.

The Arboretum's Curtis Prairie is often revered for being restored nearly 75 years ago, but Leaflet 16 (click image to open) shows that it also has a long history of adaptive restoration--the testing of alternative approaches in field experiments and subsequent use of knowledge to improve restoration efforts. Research underway aims to document and solve contemporary problems with invasive plants (especially reed canary grass and gray dogwood).

Click on image above to view the final report on restoration of the eastern Arboretum wetlands prepared by the 2007 Water Resources Management (WRM) Practicum from the University of Wisconsin.

Click on image above to view the research findings of the 2007 Botany 670 course from the University of Wisconsin, which was conducted in the Arboretum.

UW-Madison graduate students conducting research in Curtis Prairie in August 2007. Photo by Brad Herrick

Research at the Arboretum

IN THIS SECTION

Staff, students and volunteers planting the new Pond 4 with native aquatic vegetation.

Planting a New Stormwater Pond

On a windy day at the end of April, 2010, ten wetland enthusiasts pulled on boots, acquired a trowel, filled a bag with carefully-chosen native plants, and proceeded to plant the bare shoreline of a new stormwater retention basin within the Arboretum's Southeast Marsh. Known as "Pond 4" this new facility for treating urban runoff covers six acres; it is several times larger than the pond it replaced.

Stormwater Project Assistant Jim Doherty planting the shoreline with native plants.

The group of volunteers was led by Arboretum Ecologist Brad Herrick and our Stormwater Project Assistant Jim Doherty. Two graduate students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison who previously assisted the Arboretum by evaluating plans for stormwater management were especially eager to help plant the basin shoreline; these were Sally Gallagher (M.S. 2009 in Botany, now working on the Ice Age Trail) and Erik Olson (M.S. 2010 from the Nelson Institute).

Sally Gallagher volunteered to help the planting effort.

Olson organized additional volunteers from the UW's Nelson Institute, and from our Wetland Ecology lab. Chun Ma came the farthest to experience restoration ecology first-hand; she is a doctoral student at the College of Environmental Science and Engineering at Nankai University, near Beijing, China. Thanks to all for your help!

Arboretum Ecologist Brad Herrick works with Chun Ma on the shoreline of Pond 4.

Watch this site for updates on the progress of our new experiment in vegetating a stormwater basin with native plants. The bare shoreline will either spring to life with emergent aquatic plants or provide easy pickings for hungry geese, who are notorious for their ability to dig up the rhizomes of aquatic plants. Also, please suggest a more poetic name than "Pond 4."

The shoreline of Pond 4.

Go to a document with additional information on the adaptive restoration approach to research at the UW-Madison Arboretum.

If you have a question about research at the Arboretum, please send us a message through our online contact form and we will direct it to the appropriate staff member.