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January 29, 2008
Milwaukee Riverkeeper® works
to keep the river safe for paddlers
On January 25th, Milwaukee
Riverkeeper Cheryl Nenn, submitted her comments to the City
of Milwaukee regarding their proposed bank
stabilization project along the Milwaukee River near North Avenue
and Locust Street. FMR is concerned about the safety of
paddlers who portage around the rapids and other obstacles
in this area, and wants to ensure materials used to
stabilize the bank are safe to walk on, or that
clearly-marked paths are installed. FMR would also like to
see improved navigability in certain problem areas.
FMR's full comments [PDF]
January 29, 2008
Senate approves phosphorus
phase-out
On January 15th, the state Senate
passed SB 197, a bill to phase-out phosphorus lawn
fertilizers state-wide. Runoff from phosphorus-fertilized
lawns ends up in our rivers and lakes and can lead to algal blooms
and fish kills. Phosphorus is one of the biggest
pollutants in the Milwaukee River Basin.
SB 197 still needs to pass through the assembly
and can't become law without a public hearing. Contact
Rep Scott
Gunderson at 888.534.0083 and ask him to schedule a hearing before the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.
Or contact your assembly
representative and tell them you support SB 197!
More information on SB 197 [PDF]
Find your representative
January 29, 2008
Poll shows strong public support for
the
Great Lakes Compact
A UW Survey Center poll released last week shows
overwhelming public support for the Great Lakes Compact. The Compact was
introduced two years ago and seeks to protect Great Lakes water from
harmful diversions. It must be approved by all eight Great Lakes states
and ratified by Congress before taking effect.
The survey of 409 people found 80% of respondents supported
the Compact, regardless of political affiliation or geographical
location; 10% were opposed. Sen. Rob Cowles (R-Green Bay) and Sen. John
Lehman (D-Racine) are pushing to get the Compact on the state Senate
winter agenda and it will be a hot topic at Conservation Lobby Day,
taking place this Wednesday, January 30, 2008.
You can make a difference by contacting
your legislators and asking them to support a Strong Great Lakes
Compact!
Information on contacting legislators & sample letter
Poll press release [PDF]
List of supporters [PDF]
January 23, 2008
Friends of Milwaukee's
Rivers would like to thank our new members
Full list of new members from September-December 2007
January 23, 2008
Milwaukee
Central Park Photo Contest winners announced
The Milwaukee Central
Park Photo Contest sponsored by the Urban Ecology Center has been
judged. The list of winners may be found
here [PDF],
or on the
Urban Ecology Center Photo Club website. Photos will be on display
at the Urban Ecology Center starting April 6- check the
UEC Events Calendar for more details.
January 15, 2008
Urban Wilderness
exhibition opens Saturday
January 19, 2008: 1-5pm,
slide lecture 2pm
Milwaukee County Historical
Society,
910 N. Old World Third St.
Photographs from FMR board member Eddee
Daniel's Urban Wilderness project will be on display at the
Milwaukee County Historical Society from January 19-June 15th, 2008.
Join Eddee this Saturday for the exhibition opening and artist's slide
lecture. The exhibition is in anticipation of the publication of his
book, Urban Wilderness: Exploring a Metropolitan Watershed,
slated to be on shelves in June, 2008. For more information on the
exhibition and upcoming book, visit Eddee's
website.
January 15, 2008
Attend Conservation
Lobby Day 2008 and urge lawmakers to pass a Strong Great Lakes Compact!
January 30, 2008: 9am-6pm
Inn on the Park, 22 S. Carroll
St., and State Capitol, Madison.
Make sure state legislators
know you support a Strong Great Lakes Compact- take part in
Conservation Lobby Day 2008 and tell your legislators why you care about
the Great Lakes and other environmental issues. The event is free, but
participants must register by January 22nd. Friends of Milwaukee's
Rivers supports a Strong Great Lakes Compact, and this is the perfect
opportunity for you to tell lawmakers you do too!
For those unable to attend,
you can still help by contacting your state legislators and telling them
why a Strong Compact is so important. Don't have time to write your own
letter? Feel free to use our
sample letter!
More information and RSVP instructions for Conservation Lobby Day
More information on the Great Lakes Compact and contacting legislators
January 11, 2008
FMR appeals ruling in MMSD
case
On Friday, January 11,
2008, Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers and Alliance for the Great Lakes
appealed the recent dismissal
of their Clean Water
Act lawsuit against MMSD. Friends of Milwaukee’s Rivers and the Alliance
for the Great Lakes seek to end continued illegal sanitary sewer
overflows into Milwaukee’s rivers and Lake Michigan. The groups, in a
suit first initiated in 2001, claim that the Milwaukee Metropolitan
Sewerage District illegally dumped nearly a billion gallons of sanitary
sewage into Lake Michigan and its tributaries since 1995, violating its
operating permit and the Clean Water Act. For more details, watch
www.mkeriverkeeper.org.
Full press release [PDF]
January 11, 2008
Lake Michigan may be
approaching all-time low
According to the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the surface
level of Lake Michigan is close to reaching a record low. Go
here to read the full article.
January 8, 2008
Cheryl Nenn celebrates five
years as the Milwaukee Riverkeeper®!
 Join us in
congratulating Cheryl Nenn for marking five years as the Milwaukee
Riverkeeper®.
Cheryl joined Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers on January 3rd, 2003. She
followed FMR's founder, Bob Boucher, to become our second Milwaukee
Riverkeeper®
and one of only two people on our staff at the time. Friends of
Milwaukee's Rivers has been growing, both in size and impact, with each
of those five years, and Cheryl's knowledge and passion have had much to
do with that growth.
Before joining Friends
of Milwaukee's Rivers, Cheryl consulted on Wisconsin environmental
projects, provided forestry and wildlife management planning for the the
Michigan DNR and Department of Agriculture, and helped manage forest
restoration and erosion control projects for the City of New York
Department of Parks and Recreation. She also served as a forestry
extension/environmental education Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador, and
as a Crisis Corps volunteer in Honduras, helping with community
rebuilding and reforestation projects after Hurricane Mitch.
As the Milwaukee
Riverkeeper®,
Cheryl identifies sources of pollution to the Milwaukee, Menomonee, and
Kinnickinnic Rivers, actively patrols the rivers for issues of concern,
and looks for collaborative solutions to these problems. She also
manages FMR's citizen-based water quality monitoring project, the
Milwaukee Urban Water Trail, and various restoration and stormwater
demonstration projects. Cheryl serves on the board of the Waterkeeper®
Alliance and Milwaukee River Basin Partnership, and on the Technical
Advisory Committees for SEWRPC's Regional Water Quality Management Plan
and the Milwaukee River Estuary Area of Concern Remedial Action Plan.
Everyone here at FMR
would like to extend congratulations to Cheryl for five years of work
well done. Thank you for all you do!
January 8, 2008
Stormwater PowerPoint
presentations available
Reduce polluted
stormwater runoff in 2008; invite a trained PowerPoint presenter to
speak at your next meeting or event!
As part of its Municipal
Stormwater Outreach Program, Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers has created
three PowerPoint presentations that train citizens to identify and
prevent polluted stormwater runoff. They are:
-Rain Gardens
and Landscaping for Stormwater Management
-Environmentally
Friendly Lawn and Yard Care
-Illicit Discharges and
Construction Site Violations: Recognition, Detection, and Reporting
For detailed
descriptions of these presentations, please visit
www.mkeriverkeeper.org/support/powerpointpresentations.htm.
To
request a presentation, please contact Outreach Assistant Jenni Reinke
at 414-287-0207 x35 or
jenni_reinke@mkeriverkeeper.org.
January 7, 2008
Shorewood Riverfront to be
publicly owned
This morning, the
Village of Shorewood
Community Development Authority met to discuss the proposed Sunrise
Senior Center and their plans for the redecoration of the river bluff.
The village plans to acquire the bluff from Sunrise, or any other
developer, should the Sunrise deal fall through. This would mean the
entire stretch of riverfront in Shorewood would be publicly owned.
Shorewood has also
earmarked $500k for bluff restoration along the parcel, and is looking
to find grant monies to augment their funds.
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