Milwaukee Central Park

Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers, acting as part of the Milwaukee River Work Group, has been working to create a Central Park along the Milwaukee River Corridor between North Avenue and Silver Spring Drive.  The Milwaukee River Work Group seeks to create a special zoning district that would limit new developments along the river, keeping the wild character of the area intact.  The river corridor would become Milwaukee's own Central Park.

Milwaukee Riverkeeper Program

Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers is the licensed Riverkeeper for Milwaukee.  As the Milwaukee Riverkeeper, we identify sources of pollution on our rivers, respond to citizen complaints and concerns, and work to find solutions to water quality hazards.

Our Riverkeeper Boat allows us to conduct weekly patrols of the Milwaukee River estuary.

Citizen Based Water Quality Monitoring

Friends of Milwaukee’s Rivers is working to establish a watershed-wide network of trained citizen volunteers who monitor streams and rivers, collecting information in a consistent and useable format.

We launched our program in 2006 and currently have 58 volunteers monitoring sites throughout the watershed.

River Cleanups

Our river cleanups engage hundreds of volunteers each year, who pull literally tons of garbage out of our rivers.

Coverage of our Spring River Cleanup

Upcoming river cleanups (and other events)

Milwaukee Urban Water Trail

An important part of protecting rivers is helping people to enjoy rivers.  That's why Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers created the Milwaukee Urban Water Trail.  The Milwaukee Urban Water Trail is a trail and map for canoes, kayaks, and other small non-motorized boats on the “urban” portions of our three rivers.