Arboretum announces plans for council ring

Curtis Prairie in the UW Arboretum

Walking the trails of Curtis Prairie, surrounded by tall grasses and stalks of flowers, is already a special experience for visitors to the UW–Madison Arboretum. But thanks to a generous gift, a beautiful stone council ring will offer a restful place for reflection and a centralized site for groups to gather at the edge of the prairie.

The Margaret Hudson Council Ring is a gift of longtime Arboretum supporter and former naturalist Margaret Hudson Van Alstyne. The Arboretum’s master plan for physical improvements, completed in 1994, called for such a council ring near the McKay Visitor Center, but since that time the Arboretum’s landscape designers selected a more secluded spot accessible from the western end of the main parking lot.

The council ring was a signature element of the works of famed turn-of-the-century landscape architect Jens Jensen. The council ring design emphasizes the importance of human beings coming together as equals, and also symbolizes the council fires of native people in North America. The Arboretum already has one council ring, dedicated in 1938 in memory of Jensen’s grandson, Kenneth Jensen Wheeler, who died during his senior year in the landscape architecture program at UW–Madison.

Van Alstyne said her interest in Jensen’s work influenced her decision to give the council ring to the Arboretum.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the ideas of Jens Jensen, and the council ring offers a meaningful place for people to meet as they set out on a tour of the Arboretum,” Van Alstyne said.

The council ring will be set within a small grove of oaks at the edge of Curtis Prairie, according to Arboretum Director Gregory D. Armstrong. From this location visitors can enjoy a broad view of the 60-plus-acre prairie, and the surrounding trees will offer a glimpse of the savanna that graced the site before it was settled in the 1840s.

The design for the council ring calls for special limestone that is similar to the stone used in walls in other parts of the Arboretum. Bachmann Construction has already begun work on the ring, digging the earth for footings and the foundation wall. But the stonework may not begin until spring, depending on the weather. Completion of the ring by May 30, 1999, is anticipated, Armstrong said.