A proposed service road through UW–Madison’s Lakeshore Nature Preserve has been put on hold after the university learned that a berm along the route may contain the cremated remains of people who donated their bodies for medical education and research. The remains were buried in a large dirt pile near Bill’s Woods and the campus maintenance yard beginning at least in the 1990s, according to Cathie Bruner, who managed the preserve in 1998. Bruner said the UW medical school delivered a five-gallon bucket of cremains after families declined to have the remains returned. Additional burials were later placed in the berm, which separated the maintenance yard from the preserve’s woods and the Eagle Heights Community Gardens. Bruner raised the issue during a July 7 virtual public meeting about a proposed road connecting Lake Mendota Drive with the maintenance yard. The university had planned to include the road in construction work associated with the Frautschi Center, a visitor and education center planned near the entrance to Picnic Point. UW–Madison officials say they were previously unaware of the burials and have not found documentation identifying their precise location. The university’s body donor program, established in 1903, has received about 8,700 donations, according to Gillian Drummond, the university’s director of public affairs. Donors’ ashes are either returned to a person designated by the donor or scattered privately on university property away from the main campus, she said. The road is intended to provide large-vehicle access for maintenance work such as clearing fallen trees, repairing paths and servicing pit toilets. The current route to the maintenance yard is a paved road that also carries pedestrians and connects with the lakeshore bike trail near Picnic Point. That route is expected to become pedestrian-only after the Frautschi Center is built. The service-road proposal drew opposition at the July meeting, which was attended by about 40 people. Residents and preserve advocates questioned the project’s potential effects on plants and wildlife, stormwater management and safety in an area heavily used by people walking and biking. The Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve are also urging UW–Madison to consider removing the maintenance yard from the preserve, a recommendation included in the preserve’s 2023 master plan. UW–Madison has separated the road from the Frautschi Center project, allowing planning for the center to continue. Construction of the center is expected to begin in late 2026. The university says it has identified inaccuracies in a draft environmental impact assessment prepared by consultant Ayres Associates and will first correct that document. A full environmental impact statement would be required before construction of the road, officials said. The Wisconsin State Historic Preservation Office has identified the berm as an uncatalogued burial site. Under Wisconsin’s Burial Sites Preservation Law, ground-disturbing work at the site must be reviewed by the Wisconsin Historical Society. UW–Madison has consulted with the historical society and says it will continue that work, including conducting an archaeological survey if appropriate. The burial-site designation adds another legal and environmental hurdle to a road proposal already facing concerns about the preserve’s ecological health and public use.