Outdoors
Schmeeckle revels in 30 years of conservation
The Pointer
Rnech142@uwsp.edu
Thirty years after a $25,000 LAWCON grant that made it possible, Schmeeckle Reserve is planning to celebrate its growth and development over the past three decades in a celebration from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 26.
Anyone may join the festivities, which will take place underneath the boughs of the Berard Oak area beginning at 6:00 p.m. in the northeastern corner of the reserve.
“It is a chance for everyone to celebrate this natural area that is right in the middle of Stevens Point,” remarked Schmeeckle Assistant Director James Buchholz. “At the anniversary celebration it’s a real chance to celebrate 30 years of expanding this ‘island of green.’”
Speakers John Jury (Green Circle Trail), University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Chancellor Linda Bunnell and Fred Schmeeckle’s daughter Wilma Waterstreet will start the ceremony.
There will be hor d’oeuvres and drinks will be sponsored by the College of Natural Resources and live music from Carmen Lee and the Tomorrow River Two Band throughout the night. The UW-SP Fire Crew, Wildlife Society, Wisconsin Center for Environment Education and Central Wisconsin Environmental Station will also have educational booths on the premises. All will commence with a scheduled candlelight hike throughout the reserve from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
It is fitting that Waterstreet will speak for her father Fred Schmeeckle, a professor and agriculturist who arrived at the university in 1923 and brought a conservational interest to the university. He single-handedly began one of the largest natural resources programs in the nation.
Schmeeckle walked his students through the farmlands that were destined to become the reserve and said in his time at UW-SP that “some day this area will serve as an island of green in the City of Stevens Point.”
He was right. The reserve’s 275 acres are proof of the committment to preserving Wisconsin’s native ecological communities, serving as a educational tool and offering recreational opportunities. “It’s one of the gems in the Stevens Point area, I think. There are very few campuses that have a natural resources area,” said Buchholz.
See previous issuses of the PointerOnline!