Innovative Milwaukee Program Garners National Attention

One of our very own has just received national recognition in the Wall Street Journal for the innovative work they are involved in.  You can read the full article here.

We applaud our member, the River Revitalization Foundation! The Foundation is one of six environmental groups in the Milwaukee area that is a part of the Conservation Leadership Corps.

The Conservation Leadership Corps is the brainchild of Johnson Controls in partnership with Student Conservation Association and Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board. The program aims to provide local youth with leadership training, a strong work ethic, and a sense of environmental stewardship through participation in new trail development, planting of native trees, grasses and flowers, invasive plant species removal, and erosion control.

The 60 Milwaukee-area high school students selected for the Corps are an elite crew chosen out of a 2 month interview process and over 250 applicants. Students are selected based on leadership, work ethic, civic engagement, and commitment to the environment.

First jobs don’t usually lead directly to dream jobs, but they do build a strong foundation of basic job skills and work ethic that will help these students fulfill their career goals later in life.

We’re so excited to learn that the River Revitalization Foundation is helping meet real needs defined by the Milwaukee community while at the same time instilling a sense of environmental compassion and advocacy in these young adults; they are after all, our future.

Photo: Johnson Controls

Restoring the Great Lakes: River Revitalization Foundation’s Wheelhouse Property

This post is the second in a series that details the innovative Wisconsin conservation projects that are having a positive impact on Great Lakes water quality and that will be featured on our August 10th Great Lakes Restoration Tour.  (The first post can be read here.) The tour is open to the public.  For full event details and to register please visit our website. 

In late 2009, after eight years of negotiation, the River Revitalization Foundation (RRF), Milwaukee’s urban rivers land trust, purchased the 2.8 acre Wheelhouse property – a developed site along the Milwaukee River on the east side of the city that included the abandoned, former Wheelhouse restaurant.  Since then, the restaurant has been torn down and RRF has been working hard to restore the once blighted urban riverfront to preserved green space and increase shoreline stabilization and floodplain protection.  The restoration of this site will ultimately contribute to a decrease in urban runoff into the Milwaukee River, only a mile from where it flows into Lake Michigan.

In addition to the benefits of shoreline restoration, the site’s 642 feet of River frontage links to the Milwaukee River Greenway and offers public open space and recreational opportunities.  The site is connected to the Beerline Trail (also a project of RRF), a segment of Milwaukee County Parks’ Oak Leaf Trail System located on an abandoned railroad line formerly known as the “Beerline,” and provides bike commuters with access to downtown.  The site also provides public access to the River for low-impact recreational activities like fishing and canoeing with the recent construction of the Kiwanis Boat Landing.

RRF received a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Stewardship grant award in the amount of $700,000 for the acquisition. An additional $400,000 easement purchase through the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District’s Greenseams program is a partial match to the DNR grant.

Please make plans to join us for the Great Lakes Restoration Tour on August 10th and visit this, and other significant Milwaukee-area sites, that are enhancing Great Lakes restoration efforts.

The Milwaukee River Basin Like You’ve Never Seen It

We were so impressed by the field trips our member land trusts offered at the Land Trust Alliance’s Rally that we’re giving you a glimpse of the action.  Last week we featured some gorgeous shots of the Ice Age Trail in the Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest near Parnell Tower and today it’s a trip along the Milwaukee River with the River Revitalization Foundation.  Join the lucky Rally participants and see what this organization has done for the Milwaukee’s riverfront!

These photos are part of a three-part series.  Check back next week to see our final set of highlights from Rally in Wisconsin.