Visiting Putnam Park

Putnam Park is one last green space that has been left relatively undisturbed in the heart of a busy and expanding city. For the university the park provides diverse natural habitats for teaching and research that are available right on campus. For the community it is a quiet place for solitude, walking, relaxation, and nature study. For teachers in the Eau Claire area it can provide one of several local destinations for outdoor education. Collecting is prohibited, much of the park is a State Natural Areas, but visiting, listening, smelling, seeing, and touching are all encouraged. Because of the extreme erosion caused by climbing the sandy slopes, please stay along Putnam Drive or the developed trails.

Best times to visit and a few suggested activities
May: excellent for spring wildflowers, especially along the drive and loop trail; trees leafing out; spring bird migration.
Summer: a succession of wildflowers continues until frost, but the intensity of the bloom is much less than during spring; tree identification.
September: tree turning color, wildflowers in the aster family.
Rest of the academic year: winter botany, animal tracks in snow.

Places to visit
1. Putnam Drive
The drive extends through the park from Garfield Avenue by the Chippewa River east for about a mile and half where it leaves the park and enters the Third Ward neighborhood three blocks east of Farwell Street. Easy access from the university is provided by a wooden footbridge from the Phillips parking lot. The wide drive is ideal for working with large groups like a class, but be alert for traffic as the drive is a city street.

On your left heading eastward along the drive is a hardwood swamp forest. The soil is mucky so be prepared for wet muddy feet if you enter the swamp. There is no poison ivy but plenty of nettles, especially along the margin of the drive.

To your right heading eastward along the drive is a steep north-facing slope. The very sandy soil erodes rapidly if disturbed so please don't climb the slope. Poison ivy occurs only just east of State Street and at the far eastern end of the drive. Most of the slope is covered with a mesic forest community.

2. Loop Trail
The trail begins at the small parking lot off Garfield Avenue across from the entrance to Putnam Drive. It goes down a slight incline and across a stone bridge over Little Niagara Creek to a crushed gravel trail. Take the trail to the right and continue along the edge of the bluff. Eventually the bluff recedes from the edge of the river and the trail gradually descends to a lowland hardwood forest where the trail forks. Either fork may be taken as the trail forms two connected loops. Just before the fork there is a short trail off to the right that goes down to the edge of the Chippewa River.

3. Prairie
Accessible from top of hill off University Drive across from the Saint Francis Apartments or by walking up the service road from the loop trail at the bottom of the hill. There is a considerable amount of poison ivy in the prairie area, which may make it unsuitable for many groups. This area was once a ski jump and the concrete supports for the jump tower are still present. Although the area has been degraded by invasion of Eurasian grasses and weeds, there are many species native to North American dry prairies present. The best times to visit are late summer and early autumn.