Lodi School District becomes Wisconsin’s first K-12 Ice Age Trail Campus

Just north of Madison, the Ice Age Scenic National Trail winds through the campus of the Lodi School District. 

“Teachers see the Ice Age Trail as their outdoor classroom,” said Bill Welch on WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”

Welch is a longtime volunteer with the Lodi Valley Chapter, which operates under the Ice Age Trail Alliance. The chapter maintains nine of the 1,200 miles of Wisconsin’s historic trail.

For the past 15 years, chapter volunteers have collaborated — informally — with Lodi students to provide outdoor learning opportunities such as day hikes, backpacking trips and service learning related to land restoration and trail construction. 

“We spend a lot of time promoting and working on the trail physically, as well involving youth,” Welch said. 

Now, the Lodi School District is the first K-12 Ice Age Trail Campus in Wisconsin. The partnership formalizes the more than decades long relationship between students and trail volunteers.

“The administration, teachers, and staff within the school district are great partners and it made perfect sense to formalize our relationship,” Ice Age Trail Alliance CEO Luke Kloberdanz told WPR via email.

Kloberdanz intends this official partnership to be an example for other K-12 institutions across the state to similarly recognize the Ice Age Trail Alliance as a partner in getting youth outdoors.

“It is one thing to study a glacial feature — such as an esker — in a textbook,” he said. “It is a completely other experience to walk across an esker while following the yellow blazes of the Ice Age Trail.”

Lodi High School junior Juniper Schmidt is one of several students who built a new section of Ice Age Trail to celebrate the official partnership last fall.

“I have always had a fantastic appreciation for nature,” Schmidt said.

The avid hiker said the opportunity provided a way for them to connect to a trail they love. 

“The actual paving of the trail was a lot of fun,” Schmidt said. “We used rakes and other tools to pave the way and clear brush.”

Welch added that part of trail maintenance includes students learning to better understand the pragmatics for trail building and removing invasive species — a nature subject that’s all too familiar to Schmidt.

“I’ve known how to point out invasives since I was pretty young,” they said. “I’ve gone out with various groups and helped remove different kinds of plants, like garlic mustard and honeysuckle.”

According to Welch, the trail runs through campus and offers easy access to learning and hiking. He said that thanks to Schmidt and district efforts, there are hiking clubs for preschool, primary, middle and high school students in Lodi.

“I ended up working with Bill on our middle school hiking club to pave that trail,” Schmidt said. 

About 4.6 million people used the trail last year, according to a study by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Kloberdanz called 2024 a “stellar” year with record-breaking visitors and volunteer hours.

Welch hopes the official partnership can develop the next generation of volunteers and nature advocates.

“I think we’re a small part of helping these students become more effective adults,” he said.

Looking ahead, Schmidt said they see a future career in nature.

“I can absolutely foresee myself volunteering on the Ice Age trail and helping out,” they said. “I’m thinking about going into environmental science in college.”