CROSS PLAINS, Wis. (WMDX) – The Dane County Board approved a new master plan for Indian Lake County Park in northwest Dane County. Indian Lake County Park is one of the largest public parks in Dane County, and has never had a master plan.

Located north of Cross Plains off Highway 12, Indian Lake County Park contains Indian Lake, a historic chapel built in 1857 and log cabin warming house, and opportunities for hiking, cross-country skiing, fishing, and foraging within its 791 acres.

The master plan will help county parks staff to plan expansions to park facilities, and helps guide the protection of the natural, historical, and cultural features of the park. Master plans take several years to fully implement, and allows parks staff to make long-term decisions on improvements to the park.

The master plan outlines several major areas that need to be addressed, such as expanding access to land purchased by the county and added to the park in 2021, improvements to the off-leash dog park and lakefront, accessibility upgrades, and parking capacity.

While the master plan is just the guiding document for the future of the park, county staff say that their first priority will be upgrades to the dog park. They said that dog park improvements was something that was consistently brought up by the public when getting input for the plan. These improvements include installing a new perimeter fence, and creating a dog swimming beach area.

One slightly controversial aspect of the master plan is the recommendation of paving roads and parking areas that lead to the park’s youth group camp and sledding hills. Currently, those areas are only accessible by foot. Parks staff say they got many public comments opposing paving the roads.

Parks staff say that they are committed to making parks as accessible to everyone as possible, and that people who are unable to hike on the existing natural surface trail deserve to use those areas of the park too. The youth group camp area is the most used outdoor education venue in the entire county park system, they say, and the improvements will help make the area more accessible.

The master plan passed the County Board on a 27-4 vote, with six county supervisors excused.

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