SOILS Soils information for the Vilas Park Master Plan are from the Dane County GIS maps (Map 5.3).91 Supplemental information on classification and characteristics of the soil series is from the National Cooperative Soil Survey. 92 A majority of the site that would eventually become Vilas Park was originally a bog as described in early descriptions of the property from the Annual Report of the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association at the time of the donation of the land by the Vilas family.93 The soils in the low-lying areas of Vilas Park are Wacousta silt (Wa) silty clay loam. The Wa soil classification is very poorly drained with a 0 to 2 percent slope. These soils are described as located in broad depressions and swales on till plains, moraines and stream terraces that consist of very deep, very poorly drained in silty lacustrine sediments.94 The former City of Madison plat plan of the 1905 vacated lots in conjunction with the demarcation of the “old shore line” on the 1906 O.C. Simonds plan verify the location of a wet boggy area at the north end of Lake Wingra. Moving upward in a slight valley base toward the intersection of Drake Street and South Randall Avenue, the soils continue to be silt loams consistent with a broad depression as shown in the slopes section of this report. The predominant soil in this area, Batavia silt loam (BbA) has a gravelly substratum and is well-drained. This soils zone has relatively slight slopes of 0 to 2 percent. The Batavia silt loam (BbB), located in the broad depression, is similar to BbA in makeup but has a slightly higher percentage of slope at 2 to 6 percent. This soil lies along the edge of the formerly boggy area found on site. As with the Wacousta silt loam the Batavia soils consist of very deep, well drained soils on till plans, glacial outwash plains and stream terraces formed in loess silty materials and loamy stratified outwash or sandy loam till.95 Just north of the BbB soils moving toward Vilas Avenue and higher ground is Military loam (MhD2). The loam is eroded and well-drained in composition with steeper slopes of 6 to 12 percent. The Military series are formed upland in sandy loam till, are moderately deep and are underlain by sandstone bedrock.96 Most of the Henry Vilas Zoo falls within the Wacousta series similar to Vilas Park. The north east and east 91 92 93 94 95 96
Dane County GIS, www.dcimapapps.countyofdane.com, 2020 National Cooperative Soil Survey, www.soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov, 2020. Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association Annual Report, 1904 National Cooperative Soil Survey, Wacousta Series National Cooperative Soil Survey, Batavia Series National Cooperative Soil Survey, Military Series
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