I looked up the definition of "legacy" and found in The American Heritage Dictionary legacy is described as 1) money or property bequeathed to another by will 2) Something handed down from an ancestor or predecessor.

In the case of the University of Wisconsin Arboretum this pristine piece of property is a legacy. In 1934 it was bequeathed to the people of Wisconsin. A gift from Wisconsin's conservation leaders handed down to generations to come and the lessons learned on this property are still being gifted forward.

When the University of Wisconsin Arboretum was first founded the Arboretum committee introduced a groundbreaking concept known today as "ecological restoration." The focus is on re-establishing historic landscapes, with native plants and animal communities. But the work today is not about returning to the past but rather improving on Aldo Leopold's experiment known as Curtis Prairie.

So I invite you to join us for an all new In Wisconsin special called "Landscape Legacy", airing at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 2 (tonight) on Wisconsin Public Television. If you are reading this blog at a later date you have another chance to watch the encore presentation at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 30.

As In Wisconsin first reported back in August 2009. The PBS series American Masters will air a documentary about Wisconsin's own John Muir. (Father of the National Park System)

A freelance producer and crew were shooting on the former Muir property in Marquette County (Fountain Lake Farm) last fall for the upcoming documentary called, "John Muir in the New World." The documentary is in editing right now and will be ready to air on Earth Day in mid-April 2011 right here on Wisconsin Public Television.

For more information about the documentary and to hear from the series producer you can watch our web extras. Also, only on the web you can learn about Muir's strict religious upbringing, the biggest threats to the Muir property today and find out what the current landowner would say if he ever met John Muir.

For more on John Muir's legacy and the Wisconsin man who's walking in his footsteps you can watch our In Wisconsin report about the former Muir property. Click here to watch!

In the category of, you learn something new every day, I now know another reason why it's important to install rain barrels and create rain gardens in your lawn. I have a rain barrel and knew that this water was better for my garden than tap water. What I found out while videotaping at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum this week is that urban development, with its rooftops, sidewalks and parking lots, is wreaking havoc on this world class environmental laboratory. Stormwater flows into the Arboretum from the surrounding city on its way to the low point in the landscape, Lake Wingra. Along the way it deposits nutrients that fertilize invasive species and drags in road salt and heavy metals attached to a swirl of sediment. The experts tell me that if everyone took action on their own property it would improve not just the Arboretum's precious plantings but lakes everywhere that break out with smelly algae blooms. The key is finding ways to let rain water soak into the ground right where it falls. And everyone has the power to help.