Spring 1998

In a two-day span in 1992 Dane County Parks received phone calls from the Woodburn family and the Hitchcock Family. These families were neighbors in the town of Springdale. Each family owned land that they believed would make a wonderful county park, and each wanted to see their land become a park. "Surely this was more than coincidence" expressed the Parks Department staff, but coincidence (or fate) is exactly what it was.

Those phone calls led to a 105-acre donation from the Donald/Woodburn family, and the purchase of the 160-acre Hitchcock farm. Donald Park was on the map. Subsequent purchases of 62 acres from the Haack family and an additional 34 acres from the Woodburn family have pushed the park to 362 acres in just three years.

Despite Donald Park's short history, there is already a long list of generous donations. Other donations include $5,000 by the Haack family, a donation from Trout Unlimited, $40,000 by the Woodburn family for master planning, and several thousand dollars from Patricia Hitchcock for conservation projects.

There is plenty of sweat equity in the park as well. Led by Bob Zimmerman, the Dane County Conservation League and the Deer Creek Sportsman Club (with guidance and assistance from Bob Woodburn and Pat Hitchcock) have cleared the banks of Deer Creek and assisted in burning the grasslands on the Hitchcock farm. Those same

grasslands have since been treated with Roundup, plowed and are ready for a prairie planting this spring. The seeds for that planting were gathered by volunteers, and who else but volunteers will help the county naturalist plant those seeds this fall (see announcement elsewhere in this issue). Pat Hitchcock has already volunteered to mow weeds on the prairie to help the young plants get a strong foothold. She also donated $2,000 towards the purchase of additional seeds for this spring's planting.

Even with all of this volunteer activity and the natural beauty of the cold water trout streams, rock out-croppings and stands of 100-year old oaks, Donald Park is still in its infancy as a county park. There is no good public access and there are no parking areas. Part of the land is still under a private lease and only accessible by permission of the tenant, and there is more land yet to acquire.

The park master plan should be completed over the next 12 months and we hope to acquire additional land over the next three years. Look for a grand opening for Donald Park sometime in 2003 and 2004. Till then, look for the many volunteer projects that will pop up as this new park slowly becomes one of Dane County's treasured public resources.