WAUKESHA – After 40 years with the same employer, Marlin Johnson admits that retirement is not on his radar screen. His accomplishments – as professor of biological sciences and manager of the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha Field Station – form a legacy for both students and community, however.

For 30 years he taught at the campus that was only a year old when he started in 1967. It was ripe for new ideas, and he joined colleagues in developing them. One of his proudest was Wilderness University, designed to probe human relationships with nature. Fellow founders included English, art, and philosophy faculty. An anthropology professor later joined the organizers and a geographer assisted.  They began talking in 1979 and started the programming in 1982 with a mere 1-credit course. It then flourished with many well-known experts visiting campus and finally foundered to a finis in 1995.

In his courses, he transferred his enthusiasm to his students, who formed an Ecology Club with him as advisor. It remains one of the most active clubs on campus. Sometimes, the meetings go off campus – way off to such places as the Smoky Mountains, Okefenokee Swamp, and the Ozarks, where he has taken groups on camping trips. They’ve gone backpacking and camping in the Upper Peninsula, as well, exploring the pristine nature.

Coincidentally, 1967 also was the year that Gertrude Sherman donated a former farm to the University so it would be preserved for all time from the encroachment of developers’ plans. The 98-acre Field Station on Waterville Road in Oconomowoc stands as a memorial to her foresight and generosity. Johnson, who has lived on the property since 1970, has been its only manager.  Over the years he has reduced the impact of 125 years of farming and has been restoring the prairie to something the first human eyes might have seen.

“I hope it will last forever,” Johnson says. As the trees age, they provide the environment needed for some of the wildflowers to thrive, bringing more beauty to the land. The weeds from long ago slowly disappear as native plants replace them, he explains.

In 1984, the Department of Natural Resources acquired the old railroad right-of-way that runs through the property and has developed it into a bike trail. Visitors on bikes and rollerblades come through in the warm months and snow-shoers and cross-country skiers in the winter. An adjacent snowmobile trail gets winter use as well.

A group of “Friends of the Field Station” annually assist with work: collecting seeds from prairie plants twice a year, burning the prairie in the spring, planting new seeds and seedlings, and, of course, pulling weeds. Many of the friends have a connection with the campus – students and faculty as well as their spouses and friends. They are devoted but aging. Johnson works to cultivate new “friends” and is finding some success through the Ecology Club.

He co-founded Waukesha County Land Conservancy in 1992 and has served on the board of directors since its inception. He’s also been named its senior biologist. The previously all-volunteer organization, which buys land and gives it permanent protection from misuse, hired its first property manager three years ago, a UW-Waukesha alumnus who had belonged to Ecology Club as a student and also helped at the Field Station. More than 2000 acres are under its care now.

Friends Johnson’s made now offer destinations for him to visit in such distant places as Australia and South Africa. They also are in California, Georgia, and Florida. In addition, he enjoys exploring his own heritage. Last year he traveled to Norway and this year he has a trip to Finland planned. These comprise the little vacation he takes, although he may not need much vacation:

“This is my dream world. It has been a very satisfying career.” To what could he retire from that?

UW-Waukesha has the largest enrollment among the 13 freshman-sophomore University of Wisconsin Colleges campuses. For information about programs, admission, or financial aid, contact the Student Services office at 888-2UW-WAUK (888-289-9285) or visit the Web at www.waukesha.uwc.edu.

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