UW-Madison: Arboretum review seeks to strengthen iconic research program

CONTACT: David Drake (608) 890-0445, ddrake2@wisc.edu

MADISON – The University of Wisconsin Arboretum’s position as a world leader in ecological research will be strengthened as recommendations of a review committee are implemented, according to UW-Madison leaders.

The review committee, comprising seven faculty and staff members from across the UW-Madison campus, this past year engaged in a thorough study of the historic 1,200 acre research and education center, which was dedicated in 1934 and has served as a laboratory for generations of field ecologists, including in its earliest days the iconic conservationist Aldo Leopold.

Its final report recommended the formation of a new research committee, representing departments and programs from across campus, to broaden affiliations with UW-Madison faculty and build a larger community of scholars with overlapping interests in ecosystem research and restoration.

“This is a watershed moment in the history of the Arboretum,” says David Drake, a UW-Madison professor of wildlife and forest ecology and chair of the Arboretum Committee. “The UW Arboretum is a resource of international stature in the context of restoration ecology and it’s essential that we preserve and strengthen its program of research for the current as well as future generations of researchers.”

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