Schmeeckle Reserve is a 280-acre natural area on the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point campus that combines preservation, education, recreation, and wildlife habitat. Once marginal farmland that farmers began abandoning by the 1950s, the land was gradually acquired by the university beginning in 1956. Plans for a natural area took shape in 1974, and excavation tied to a nearby road project created the artificial Lake Joanis. The reserve was formally established in 1976 with grant support, then expanded with trails, boardwalks, a visitor center, and later the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame. Named for conservation-minded professor Fred Schmeeckle, it fulfills his vision of an “island of green” in Stevens Point.