By Dan Tortorice
Friends of Lake View Hill Park

There are many reasons we visit parks. Perhaps we are looking for a certain bird passing through or a plant we know is blooming.

But in times of national crises, when so many of our problems seem self-inflicted, maybe that park experience can give us an even greater return — a feeling of hopefulness.

You may be looking over a field of blooming wildflowers that was under snow and ice a few weeks ago. The sandhill cranes barking overhead and the bald eagle soaring over the lake are thriving species that were facing extinction a generation ago. The resilience of nature, working with intelligent people on the local and national level, can turn crises into spectacular results for everyone.

In Lake View Hill County Park, right here on Madison’s Northside, you will soon see a demonstration garden of native plants that benefit the insects and animals who pollinate plants. These species are in serious decline, creating a potential crisis for all plant life, including agriculture. By learning about these plants and even planting them in our own yards, we can do our part in benefiting pollinators.

Check out the pollinator garden and its new sign on the trail leading from the west park kiosk to the beautiful old chapel.

You will soon find three more signs on the trail circling the upper woods. Two of the signs point out the efforts of Lake View Sanitorium.

In 1930 Dane County moved against tuberculosis, one of the greatest health scourges in human history. In the face of the Great Depression and World War II, they succeeded in creating health and hope on this
very ground.

Maybe we can learn from them to turn crises into hope.