Southwest Bicycle/Pedestrian Path

2009 Path Committee: Overview & Activities

Our History:

The current DMNA Path Committee and its SW Path Community Restoration Project* have evolved from several organizations and efforts: the initial and multi-neighborhood Friends of the SW Bike Path (2001), the Replanters of the Path (2003), the Friends of Lake Wingra/Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood SW Path Habitat Restoration Project (2005), and the more recent focus of the DMNA Bike Path Committee on the section parallel to Gregory Street.

(*in partnership with the Friends of Lake Wingra, the city of Madison Engineering Division, the UW Arboretum, MG&E, and the Therese Foundation.)

Our Basic Goals:

The current DMNA Path Committee aims to:

Maintain neighborhood interest in/and projects for controlling invasives and restoring native habitat as appropriate along the neighborhood path corridor.
Increase neighborhood involvement in path stewardship.
Encourage public and private partnerships to better manage the path
habitat as part of the Lake Wingra watershed management area.
Contribute to neighborhood enjoyment and appreciation of the path.

Our Typical Projects:

Activities along the Dudgeon-Monroe path corridor include:

(1) seasonal management of invasives such as garlic mustard, burdock, thistle, ragweed, hedge parsley, buckthorn, and honeysuckle;
(2) clean- up of deadwood and debris along the path corridor;
(3) planting of native seeds, plants, shrubs and small trees’ earlier, along the entire corridor, but more recently from Glenway east;

(4) planting/maintaining two small prairies along the path.

2009 Project Season:

Work Events are posted at the Glenway/Path site & at www.dmna.org

We typically work one Saturday morning a month, but welcome those who desire a more flexible schedule.

Spring: expanding the Glenway Prairie in place of removed invasives

Summer and Fall: tackling knotweed, burdock, and gathering prairie seeds

Early Winter: sowing seeds

Contact for DMNA Path Committee is Sandy Stark, 2720 Gregory Street,

255-4195, sestark (at) wisc.edu

Opportunities to Help:

1. Join project crews/volunteers on one Saturday of each month, April-October, at the Glenway/Path site for work along the path corridor. Dates/times will be posted.

2. Organize your own small groups to tackle pre-determined weeding and planting tasks (coordinated by the Path Committee) on your own schedule. Groups should check in with the committee chair to avoid duplication of efforts.

3. Work solo to continue a project started by the volunteers as needed. This might mean helping to water new plantings, mulching, and weeding dense populations of invasives seasonally. Watering crews, especially, need to coordinate with each other and the committee chair.

4. Educational/outreach opportunities: help your Dudgeon-Monroe neighbors (especially those who live along the path) appreciate the importance of removing invasives and encourage them to participate in projects along their sections of the path.

2005 Bike/Pedestrian Path Planting

Common Sense Courtesy For Users of the SW Bike/Ped Path

Bike/Pedestrian Path History