The University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum is a teaching and research facility of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the site of historic research in ecological restoration. In addition to its in Madison, Wisconsin (located about four miles from the main campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison), the Arboretum also manages of remnant forests and prairies throughout Wisconsin. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2021, in recognition for its role as a pioneer in the field of ecological restoration. History In 1911, landscape architect John Nolen proposed an arboretum for Madison based on Boston's Arnold Arboretum. The UW Arboretum was founded on April 26, 1932, when the University Board of Regents accepted the deeds to 6 parcels, 246 acres of land on the southwestern end of Madison's Lake Wingra, creating the "University of Wisconsin Forest Preserve Arboretum and Wildlife Refuge". The acreage at the time was mostly farmland fields and pastures. In 1933, G. William Longenecker was named Arboretum Executive Director. Longenecker Horticultural Gardens would be named after him. Aldo Leopold was named Research Director and also was the first professor of game management in the U.S. He was also the first chair of the Department of Game Management at the University of Wisconsin. Leopold and other members of the first Arboretum Committee, especially Professor Norman C. Fassett of the Botany Department, proposed a research agenda around re-establishing "original Wisconsin" landscape and plant communities, particularly those that predated European settlement, such as tallgrass prairie and oak savanna. Between 1935 and 1941, crews from the Civilian Conservation Corps provided most of the labor to accomplish this task under the supervision of Ted Sperry, an ecologist and prairie plant root specialist who had studied with Arthur G. Vestal at the University of Illinois. Such work would eventually become known as ecological restoration. Some of the first tall-grass prairie restorations in the United States took place at the Arboretum. In 2020, Curtis Pond was rehabilitated, and an invasive prairie plant was removed. In addition to its long-standing commitment to ecological restoration, the Arboretum also features traditional horticultural collections of labeled plants arranged in garden-like displays. Today the Arboretum manages the oldest restored tall grass prairie in the nation along with an extensive collection of restored ecosystems that are referred to as "ecological communities": woodlands, savannas, prairies, wetlands, springs, and the Lake Wingra shoreline. Prairies and savannas More than 300 species of native plants