Back to the Beach
Presented by Clean Lakes Alliance & Madison Community Foundation’s Year of Giving
Clean Lakes Alliance is pleased to announce a partnership to bring our community “Back to the Beach,” fostering increased attention and care for our community’s vibrant public beaches.
Why “Back to the Beach”?

Our community has over 20 beaches and dozens of street-end parks on our five lakes, set along 58 miles of shoreline. Our Greater Madison beaches are vibrant places, but they have the potential to be so much more. Water quality issues and algae blooms have driven some people away from the water, and many of our lakeshore parks could use stormwater and infrastructure improvements.
As part of “Back to the Beach,” Clean Lakes Alliance is working to reignite community passion for our beaches and reimagine them as showcases for sustainability, function, and natural beauty.
We hope you can join in, starting with some exciting new projects:
Taking stock of what we have
Our local beaches and lakeshore parks are invaluable community assets. Clean Lakes Alliance will be completing a beach inventory to identify what we already have, and what condition it’s in. Email volunteer@cleanlakesalliance.org if you would to help with the inventory.
Reimagining what Madison beaches could be
We hosted the first “My Favorite Lake” student art contest open to first-through-eighth graders in Madison and surrounding communities. The contest gave kids a chance to share their vision of our lakes. Special congratulations to winners Elia, Zuri and Thavida! Visit the contest page to see the winning art.
In May, Clean Lakes Alliance renewed a partnership with UW-Madison Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. The partnership serves to support and sponsor the student capstone course focused on improving our beaches. Read more here.
Our beaches have so much potential. What could we achieve if we reimagined our beaches as healthy, sustainable, accessible community gathering spots? Browse below to see all the entries, and congratulations to our Reimagining Warner Beach design contest winners!
- “The Living Edge” – MSR Design Team
- “Water Threshold” – Andrew Schoenherr
- “Places That Are Loved Are Taken Care of” – Andrew Zientek
- “Beaches from the College Perspective” – Carly Amstadt, Cody Gartman, & Connor Myse
- “Warner Beach: City Park & Ecosystem in Harmony” – Brad Bertram, Christian Burnson, & Chris Qualle
- “The Great 58” – Edgewood College, BWZ Architects, and Danforth Illustrations
- “Beacon + Canvas: A Vision for the Madison Lakefront” – Drew Kemp-Baird
- “Warner Beach – Proposal for Renewal” – Mendota Community PUPS Design Team
- “Lighter Footprint: Lake Focus” – Dorschner Associates Design Team
- “The Beach at Warner” – Brenda Williams & Dan Williams
- “Renewing Warner Park Beach” – Erin Foley
- “Warner Beach: A Prototype for Expanding Community Connections” – Eric Schuchardt
- “Reflect / Reclaim / Reimagine Warner Beach” – Helen John & Carol Richard
- “43°89° Mendota | Expanding Warner Beach” – Joshua Brooks & Anna Cawrse
- “ARTiculate” – Conservation Design Forum Team
- “Warner Beach – A Case Study in Urban Ecotones” – Saiki Design Team
- “Warner Beach Experience” – Jim Schaefer & Julia Schaefer
- “Warner Beach – Embrace the Wave” – Jacqueline Steinhauer
- “Elevating Warner” – Amy Ewing & Kirstin Jones
- “Connect at Warner” – Mead & Hunt Design Team
- “Romance & Recreation: Reimagining Warner Beach” – LVBrown Studios LLC
- “Re-imagining Warner Beach” – Megan Garry
- “Water’s Edge: Connecting Community & Nature” – Edge Consulting Engineers Design Team
- “Wilder Warner” – Sarah Close
- “Reimagining Warner Park Beach” – Colin Anderson, Adam Ellis, Connor Gallagher, Cole McCraw, & Taylor Slabaugh
- “Kids in the Lake” – Jess Bernstein & Zeke Bernstein