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March 29,
2007
The Beauty of an Urban River
 Eddee
Daniel, professional photographer, teacher and FMR board member, has
written an essay about the Menomonee River that is featured on the
River Alliance of Wisconsin (RAW) website. His essay, "The Beauty of
an Urban River" was chosen to be part of their "River Words"
project, a collection of essays on rivers throughout the state.
Read the essay, or submit your own
March 16,
2007
Miller Park fiasco makes Keith
Olbermann's "Worst Persons"
Miller Park was on MSN’s Keith Olbermann
show Wednesday night as one of Olbermann's “Worst Persons”.
See segment
March
15, 2007
Miller Park Culprit in River Pollution
By Doug Hissom
A long-suspected source of human waste
flowing from Miller Park into the Menomonee River was discovered
this week after dye tests were done to determine the course of the
flow. Faulty sewer connections, or lack thereof, were found in a
luxury box area of the baseball stadium, thanks to the tests.
Recent water quality testing by the UW-Milwaukee WATER Institute
found unusual levels of evidence of human waste in the river, which
prompted the tests. Given the source, jokes could be made about the
connection between rich folk dumping on poor folk. But it's no
laughing matter, this stream of human feces in the streams. We all
know it's a health issue, or an unhealthy one. The bottom line is
that someone was overcome by pipe phobia during inspection time and
crapped out on the job. The pipe empties into a stretch of the river
south of I-94 that is a popular spot for anglers of trout and
salmon. Tests found the evidence off human waste in 12 water samples
taken from the Miller Park pipe in 2006.
Lynn Broaddus, Executive Director of
Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers, is glad that the problem has come to
light. “While I’m happy that we finally have the public attention on
this problem that many of us have suspected for a very long time, it
is frustrating that our region has waited so long to deal with human
sewage in our waterways.” Broaddus says that there are standard
procedures and practices that have been used by other cities to fix
these problems. Boston received a lot of attention for doing this in
a very systematic and successful way in the mid-1990’s. “The good
news is that these problems are fix-able, said Broaddus. “The
frustrating news is that it has taken this long.”
Cheryl Nenn, Milwaukee Riverkeeper for
Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers, says it was the state Department of
Commerce that was in charge of inspecting the sewer laterals so that
they went to the sewer and not directly to the public waterway.
So how does this bode for the rest of
the businesses in the Menomonee Valley and whether testing should be
done on their discharges?
"Often contractors don't follow the
plans provided to them, or don't have them provided to them to be
able to do their jobs correctly," offers Nenn. "The good thing about
Miller Park is that we know of the problem and it can be easily
fixed. At other locations with similar problems--79th St. and Mt.
Vernon for example--the city has done past testing and has been
unable to find a source for the problem."
The Mt. Vernon location empties into
Honey Creek. Nineteen of 20 tests there found evidence of human
waste. City crews will be smoke-testing the sewers there after the
ground thaws. Evidence of human waste was also found last year on
the Kinnickinnic River, Big Bay Park in Whitefish Bay and Bay View
Park on Lake Michigan.
Stadium district officials say that they
can find the problem and fix it by the April 2nd opening day. If not
we hope that they will declare the culprit toilets "out of order".
March
15, 2007
Rice is Nice
By Doug Hissom
Wild rice may soon be growing again in
the Menomonee Valley. Thanks to a Wisconsin Coastal Management grant
for $100,000 and a proposed $100,000 match by the City of Milwaukee, a rice
island could be developed in the Menomonee River that will not only
bring the valley back to its roots (As we all know, Menomonee means
wild rice in the Potawatomi language and the valley used to be full
of it.), but also keep a floating island of trash from developing on
a man-altered corner of the river near Emmber Lane. The corner
collects everything from soda bottles to plastic liners to used
condoms and the presence of the island–along with a pier for canoe
and kayak launching–will keep the trash at bay, making it easier for
a river skimmer to pick it up.
"It turns flotsam into fun," exudes Cheryl
Nenn, Milwaukee Riverkeeper for the Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers.
She says the island will provide for fish habitat and badly-needed greenspace in the valley. A small park with native plants and a
mini-riverwalk are also included in the plans. The total price is
expected to be about $250,000.
The City of Milwaukee is expected to
match the grant and a Common Council committee approved the
Wisconsin Coastal Management grant
last week. About $100,000 of the city share is expected to be paid
through a sewer maintenance fund. The Potawatomi, Cargill, and the
Menomonee Valley Business Improvement District will also hopefully contribute money to cover
the rest of the $50,000 for the effort, Nenn says.
March 1,
2007
Upcoming Vote on Farmland Protection
Program
On April 3rd Washington County residents
will be voting on a countywide Purchase of Development Rights (PDR)
program for farmland and natural area protection. If passed,
Washington County will start investing $800,000 per year over the
next 10 years to protect prime farmland and natural areas.
Over the past 4 years, the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust has spent a
considerable amount of time and effort researching land preservation
options and developing recommendations for a program in Washington
County. A special county task force submitted a detailed report to
the County Board in March 2006 that relies on the use of PDRs as the
primary land preservation tool. PDRs are proven to be an effective
tool to preserve prime farmland and natural areas in 27 other states
for several decades.
Join Land Conservation
Partnership for Kick Off Rally to Support the Washington County Land
Preservation Initiative
More information available from Land
Conservation Partnership
March 1,
2007
Pigeon Creek dam to be removed
Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers and the Wisconsin DNR have been
successful in urging the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary to consider
removal of their small dam on Pigeon Creek. FMR staff met with
the WDNR, Seminary staff, and Thiensville officials to pledge our
support for the project, and offer examples of other successful dam
removal efforts statewide. FMR has also been conducting baseline
water quality monitoring upstream and downstream of the Seminary Dam
as part of our citizen based water quality monitoring efforts. FMR,
along with our friends at Walleyes for Tomorrow, hope to involve our
members in debris clean-up and restoration efforts after the dam is
removed at this site.
Journal Sentinel article
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