Although the site for this prairie garden was chosen to avoid conflicts with other uses and other interests, a number of threats have arisen.  So far they have been avoided or negotiated around.  The threats have included:

-- Installation of communications cables.
The land in which the garden is located is classified as a transportation corridor and is viewed by the communications industry as a prime route for their communications networks.  Over the last 5 years several communications cables have been installed adjacent to the gardens.  This has resulted in repeated soil disturbance and establishment of weedy species.  In the summer of 2001 ATT gained permission  to install a fiber optic cable under the garden.  It took vigilance and effort to prevent destruction of parts of the garden during installation of the fiber optic cable.  In the end the fiber optic project supplied funds to replace lost plants and to begin the seeding of natives in adjacent blocks that have been dominated by weeds.

-- Storm sewer maintenance.
The corridor hosts major storm sewers that drain the Isthmus.  In mid-summer of 2001 the City of Madison replaced part of the storm sewer line in the Livingston to Patterson block.  This required removal of the woody vegetation and some of the grasses and prairie plants in the western half of the garden.  Once completed, the project resulted in a slight expansion of the garden and the disturbed area was reseeded with native grasses and forbes. Thanks go to Kari Nichols, City of Madison Engineer for making this successful resolution possible.

-- Unplanned Mowing.
The city has a mowing schedule that is designed to remove the coarse vegetation from right-of-ways and park-lands that are not regularly mowed.  The prairie garden was not scheduled to be mowed. Unfortunately there was mis-communication between city parks administration and the mowing crews and the prairie garden was mowed down in the fall of 2001.  The garden will regrow in the spring but the mowing unfortunately removed the prairie grasses in their fall prime.  There had been potential for a spring burn of the garden that would have enhanced the prairie plants but the mowing did not leave enough standing burnable material to sustain a fire.  The mowing schedule for the land adjacent to the Isthmus Bike Path has been clarified and unplanned mowing is no longer expected to be a problem.  Thanks go to the City of Madison Parks Department for making this work and for supporting the prairie garden.

-- Sanitary Sewer Installation.
In 2002 the Madison Metro. Sewer District (MMSD) will be installing a new force-main through the Isthmus.  The route chosen follows the Isthmus Bike Path.  The installation will result in the removal and replacement of the bike path with several improvements.  The original plan required ditching and heavy equipment activity for pipe installation on the north edge of the prairie garden.  Discussion with MMSD and the design engineers, in the summer of 2001, resulted in a minor redesign that shifted the pipe several feet to the north.  This move made disturbance of the prairie garden unnecessary and protected several trees from removal. Thanks go to Eric Hjellen of Earthtech and Bruce Borelli at Madison Metro Sewer District for helping to work this out.