This award supports a strategic planning effort by the Treehaven Center, the primary field station of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point's (UWSP) College of Natural Resources (CNR). Located in northern Wisconsin 121 km north of the main campus, the station includes large indoor facilities and 560 ha of varied northern hardwood-conifer forest, wetland, and aquatic habitats. Annual use of the Center totals nearly 16,000 person-days. A nationally recognized summer field program has provided rigorous field experience in natural resources management and ecological research methods for approximately 185 CNR undergraduates annually for two decades. These students have worked with faculty and other researchers on topics ranging from carnivore and plant community dynamics, to habitat disturbance and restoration studies, and to ground- and surface-water quality monitoring. Because of growth in its programs and in its user base, the Center has exceeded the original design limitations of its facilities and operations, which are now over 20 years old. With support from the award, the Center will undertake a 24-month collaborative planning process consisting of a targeted series of five workshops (two at UWSP, three at Treehaven), two site visits, and two breakout sessions following each of the five workshops. The planning process will involve UWSP and Treehaven faculty and non-UWSP stakeholders, including station directors, school teachers, administrators, college students, agencies (local, state , federal), environmental organizations, industry, architects, planners, Treehaven Board of Advisors, and other community members. A series of interviews, workshops, site visits, breakout sessions, and other interdisciplinary collaborations are intended to produce a master plan with both 5- and 10-year time horizons. The effort is aimed at reestablishing seamless linkages between education and research programs at the field station. The Treehaven Center mediates the synergistic juxtaposition of varied groups seeking understanding to promote sustainability through conservation. Programs aimed at K-12 teachers and students, and other programs aimed at the public, share both the facilities and a sense of purpose with the college students and researchers who also use the facility. Treehaven hosts the nation's largest field camp for natural resources undergraduates and also provides an abundance of nationally acclaimed K-12, adult, and teacher-training programming.
