By Anita Weier
Friends of Lake View Hill Park
The Friends of Lake View Hill Park continue to focus on honoring history by making sure plants in the park are those that were naturally present, not invasives, and by protecting cultural features of the park.
The Friends worked hard to make sure a veranda remnant of the Nurses’ Dorm was preserved. The dormitory formerly housed those who cared for tuberculosis patients when what is now the Dane County Human Services building was a sanatorium. The Friends will work with Dane County Parks Division to develop plaques telling the story of the sanatorium and to complete landscaping at the former site of the dorm.
Dane County staff has restored the fountain in front of the Human Services building.
“We also hope to clean out and prevent further decay of the cistern ponds and uncover remnants of what was known as Sputum Pond at the bottom of the hill,” said Sue Gleason, president of the Friends group. Other efforts will involve repairing the stone walkway down the hill in front of the veranda and repairing the rock wall and grotto below the former dorm site after a city water line project is completed in 2017. The Friends organization is pleased that a tunnel that could help protect bats threatened by white-nosed bat syndrome will not be disturbed.
The Friends welcomed the opportunity to work with the City of Madison and Dane County to keep a walkway open while work proceeded on removing and replacing the water tower.
Gleason and board member Nelson Eisman have conferred with Parks Division staff to update a work plan for the year. There will be continued work in the woods on native plant restoration — an ongoing project now into its second 10-year plan. This will include volunteer work projects to tackle invasive species, clean brush and plant seeds. This spring volunteer groups from AmeriCorps, Shabazz High School Green Teens, and Blackhawk Church Love Madison group helped remove
garlic mustard and spread native seeds.
For more information on the park, the 2016 work plan and upcoming events, visit www.lakeviewhill.org and find us on Facebook at Friends of Lake View Hill Park.