Behind the scenes: Sprucing up campus for spring

As the days get warmer and the school year draws to a close, many students find refuge on UW–Madison’s famous climb. They reduce the stress of upcoming exams by playing Frisbee bare foot, laying down in shorts, taking a nap in the sun and studying on the lush, green grass of Bascom Hill.

However, that lush, green grass doesn’t appear just because summer and finals week are approaching. Behind the scenes, the UW–Madison Grounds Department works to maintain and beautify the campus. And it’s perfectly fine with them if students and staff are too busy enjoying their surroundings to think of the crew’s efforts.

“If we’re not seen and not heard, we’re doing our job,” says Bob Scott, greenhouse and lawns supervisor.

The grounds crew is led by several individuals with a similar mentality. Like anyone, they appreciate a little bit of recognition, but they are mainly concerned about how campus looks, and, more simply, they love their jobs.

Gene Turk, environmental services supervisor, has been a member of the department since 1968. Having worked in nearly every position the department has to offer, Turk eventually took on a management position to have more input into what takes place on campus.

“You can look at 900 acres of what you’ve done. We’ve all had a big part of this entire campus,” Turk says. “That’s a pretty big visual picture for people to have and to be happy about what they’ve done and to see what they have yet to do.”

Like Turk, concrete crew supervisor Gary Simonson also worked his way through just about every position of the crew. Simonson and Scott grew up on farms and both love working outdoors.

“I enjoy the type of people that do grounds work and enjoy working outside,” Scott said.

Talking with four of the more than 20 full-time professionals who are employed by the Grounds Department, one can sense the enjoyment of working together, a feeling of camaraderie and satisfaction in accomplishing a hard, often overlooked job.

One thing that wasn’t recently overlooked was the return of a special Library Mall feature after a long winter.

“Quite a few people were very excited to see the fountain going,” says trees and shrubs crew supervisor Ellen Agnew. Agnew fell in love with the campus as a student and graduated in 2002 with a degree in horticulture. Agnew stayed and now helps others fall in love with the campus.

“I love making things look beautiful,” Agnew said. “I like springtime when things cometo life.”

In addition to plants and flowers coming to life, the grounds crew projects come to life in the spring. The crew is currently working on the Carillon Tower, redesigning and renovating landscapes and planting, pruning and moving shrubs.

For the gardeners, their plans are also springing to life. Planning for individual flower beds begins at the end of summer and continues through fall and winter. Gardeners tend to the more than 30,000 flowers and plants atcampus greenhouses. Although some beds, such as the “W” design outside the Mosse Humanities building, generally stay the same from year to year, the gardeners have the opportunity to make changes to other areas of campus.

“The individual beds can be credited to the skill of the person taking care of it,” Scott says. “The gardeners are constantly planning.”

It takes a special group to plan constantly and always be looking at what you have yet to do. Yet, for the grounds crew, it’s the knowledge that they are making the campus a wonderful place to live and work — especially in springtime.

“It’s nice to see the students out, laying around in the lawns,” Turk says. “Everybody’s starting to enjoy it, not just us.”