prairie

June 6 Dedication highlights prairie progess

Black-eyed Susans, monarch butterflies and bluebirds won’t be the only ones on hand for the dedication of the prairie restoration at the UW-Whitewater Nature Preserve on Friday, June 6 at 2 p.m. Special guests include Native American Nick Hockings, who will perform an ancient pipe and water ceremony, and keynote speaker Nina Leopold Bradley, daughter of naturalist Aldo Leopold who authored A Sand County Almanac.

School children, community members, UW-Whitewater students and staff, project donors and others will also gather for the festivities at the prairie entrance located off Schwager Drive on the north side of campus. Chancellor Jack Miller and Vice Chancellor of Administrative Affairs James Freer will kick off the event.

A reception for those who have donated to the restoration project will precede the dedication in Esker Hall from 12:15 - 1:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served. The dedication ceremony will take place from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Guided tours of the prairie will be available afterwards.

PIPE AND WATER CEREMONY presented by Nick Hockings
The pipe symbolizes one of the important ways that traditional native people communicate and thank the Creator for the many blessings we have been given while we walk this beautiful land.

In the Ojibwe culture, the woman offers the water according to sacred directions symbolizing the harmony and balance between male and female, fire and water. The water is the blood of Mother Earth, that which gives life to creation.
During the actual ceremony, the full details will be heard. These spoken words come from the heart and will only be known at that moment in time.

NINA LEOPOLD BRADLEY keynote speaker
Dr. Nina Leopold Bradley, eldest daughter of naturalist and author Aldo Leopold, has undertaken ecological research throughout her life. She currently lectures widely on her father’s philosophy of the land ethic.

Nina and her husband, Charles, live in Baraboo and have directed research and ecological restoration at the Leopold Memorial Reserve since 1978. She holds an honorary doctorate in environmental science from UW-Madison and received The Wilderness Society’s Bob Marshall Award in 1995.