[1] The preserve's primary goals are to protect native plant and animal communities, as well as to uphold the campus's signature natural landscapes, all while providing an educational facility for the university.

Muir Woods is a heavily forested area covering 7 acres (0.028 km2) of land on the northern slope of Bascom Hill.

[6] Triangle Marsh, located just to the east of Walnut Street, is a small pond connected to the Lake Mendota water system.

[9] Picnic Point is a nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) long peninsula that reaches into Lake Mendota just north of University Bay.

Formerly known as "The Portage" because the narrow strip of land was a prime location for crossing the peninsula, its extensive view has made it a favorite resting area along Lakeshore Path.

[11] Picnic Point Marsh is a relatively secluded inland pond densely covered with silver maple, elm, and box elder trees and reed canary grass.

[13] Bill's Woods, like many other areas of the preserve, is a restoration of the original forest that was cropped to make room for farming and agricultural research.

The canopy includes species such as white and red oak, sugar maple, basswood, black cherry, and hackberry.

Because of the area's location on a slope and its recent inclusion as part of the preserve, trails have not yet been constructed and entry by the public without a guide is discouraged.

The land in this area slopes quite dramatically toward the lake, which means that it receives less direct sunlight in comparison to other parts of the preserve.

Those fields have since grown over during the second half of the twentieth century, which has left a distinctive division between the older core of the woods and the newer vegetation at its perimeter.

[17] Frautschi Point, the northernmost part of the preserve, is a heavily wooded area that extends from Lake Mendota in the north to agricultural fields in the south.

Species in the southern portion of the point include silver maple, hackberry, green ash, box elder, and cottonwood trees.

Several hardwood trees round out holes in the forest, including sugar maple, hackberry, basswood, and black cherry, along with red elderberry shrubs.

Three years after Young's death in 1948, the northern portion of the woods was sold to Thomas Brittingham Jr. who then donated the land back to the university.