UW-Madison Announces Plans to Build Walmart in Lakeshore Nature Preserve

MADISON, WI - Controversy struck campus over the weekend as UW-Madison’s Facilities Planning and Management Division announced plans to build a Walmart Supercenter on land currently occupied by the Lakeshore Nature Preserve (LNP). The store, which would lie along the Lakeshore Path adjacent to Eagle Heights Graduate Housing, is expected to cover 180,000 square feet with a 900-spot parking lot. Campus leaders believe it will provide a much-needed source of cheap groceries and general shopping near the Lakeshore neighborhood, but critics are raising flags about the potential environmental impacts.

Peter Cathwick, an Economics PhD student, was excited about the store, explaining to the Misnomer the difficulty of getting groceries while living in Eagle Heights. “It’s a big challenge having to plan out a bus trip somewhere just to run my weekly errands, and groceries are so expensive nowadays. Luckily, this store is going to be a huge boon to students and provide easy access to such a crucial need. Walmart is an amazing, equitable, and environmentally conscious company, and there are no downsides to the proposed Lakeshore store.” When I inquired about the expensive new Rolex he was wearing, he immediately got defensive and refused to answer where the watch came from.

Some members of the campus community were not so enthusiastic, however. Dr. Irving L. Orax, a professor in the Soil and Environmental Sciences Department, spoke about the role the LNP plays in supporting vulnerable organisms. “The Lakeshore Nature Preserve is currently home to several at-risk animal and plant populations, and razing that land to build a department store would wipe out a crucial habitat in an already dense urban area. Not to mention, Walmart’s dodgy environmental track record means a great deal of indirect environmental degradation will occur in the building and development process of this store.”

After a 3-hour hitchhiking trip, I made my way to a Walmart Regional Distribution Center in Beaver Dam, where I identified myself as a New York Times reporter using press credentials I made on Photostop while hungover from the night before. My authentic press pass got me an interview with a Regional Manager, who responded with the same five Walmart slogans over and over when questioned about the motivation for the proposed store. After being discovered and promptly kicked out, I sent an email to Walmart’s Corporate Sustainability Team about potential environmental impacts, and was met with a message informing me of “Walmart’s vision to consistently improve and implement regenerative, sustainable, and eco-friendly practices” along with a link to calculate my carbon footprint.

It appears the news of the store has already prompted a flurry of other developments; local campus megalandlord JD McCormick Properties and failed senatorial candidate Eric Hovde’s Hovde Properties have announced plans for a new housing development in the same area, promising to transform the University Bay Marsh and Picnic Point into “a stunning expanse of single-family suburban homes”. The plan calls for 300 homes, each complete with its own 12-car garage, along with a 150,000 square foot strip mall with stores like Lululemon, GameStop, and at least eight cell phone dealerships. Company officials have also commented on the possibility of a Trans-Lake Mendota Highway connecting Tenney Park with Picnic Point, providing even greater road access to the area. 

Now I’m sure many of you who consider yourselves to be passionate about protecting the environment will no doubt be organizing and taking part in the protests that will ensue. And I absolutely respect that. However, I do tend to respect my wallet a little more. So if you’re like me and sick of getting price-gouged by Fresh Madison Market and the State St. Target, it may be best to make a deal with the devil and support this Walmart. You can make up for it by taking the bus instead of a car or using a plastic straw or something. It all cancels out that way, right?