In its 1997 Natural Areas Plan, the Southeast Wisconsin
Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) identified 447 key remaining natural
areas in southeastern Wisconsin. More than 25 percent of these natural
areas are in the Milwaukee River Watershed. The SEWRPC Plan also identified
environmental corridors, and highlighted their importance in maintaining
watershed health and wildlife habitat. Friends of Milwaukee’s Rivers (FMR)
embraces the SEWRPC Plan because it speaks to our overall goals to restore,
protect, and conserve the Milwaukee River Basin.
FMR initiated our Milwaukee River Corridor Project (Corridor
Project) in 2002, with support from the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program
and the Wisconsin DNR, to address the protection needs raised in the SEWRPC
Plan. The Corridor Project is a comprehensive watershed outreach effort to
promote the importance of natural areas and river corridors in protecting
water quality and wildlife habitat.
The Corridor Project has four educational components for
outreach into the Milwaukee River Basin: meetings with watershed communities
to discuss corridor protection and sound land use planning; a corridor
biology curriculum for high school students; an educational brochure on
corridor biology and the SEWRPC Natural Areas Plan; and an interactive
website with links to watershed organizations, corridor biology information,
and data collected by high school students participating in the corridor
biology curriculum.
The overall goals of the Corridor Project are: to generate
interest and action to better protect river corridors and natural areas; to
conserve wildlife habitat and movement pathways; and to improve water
quality within the Milwaukee River Basin. FMR also hopes that this project
will help connect local residents to our rivers and river corridors, and
provide them with a greater sense of place within their watershed. By
involving government agencies, municipalities, students, organizations, and
citizens, the Milwaukee River Corridor Project creates a model approach for
cooperative watershed management that can be replicated in other watersheds.
Corridor Sponsors
Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers would like to thank the
following agencies, corporations, organizations, and individuals that
supported the Milwaukee River Corridor Project:
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Wisconsin Coastal Management Program
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Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
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Philip Morris Companies, Inc.
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We Energies
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Dorothy Inbusch Foundation
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Supporters of Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers
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Individuals and volunteers who provided support and
valuable feedback on the Milwaukee River Corridor Project
