Category Archives: Parks

December 28, 2012 · 1:11 pm

Seven Bridges Update … And It’s Not Good

The following is from Milwaukee County Supervisor Pat Jursik, in her monthly news Update.

Throughout December 2012, a contractor repaired the large lakeside bridge at Seven Bridges trail in Grant Park. Many of us were alarmed at the lack of erosion controls; at the excessive removal of trees and walls to access the site; and at the road that was built to lower a back hoe to the bridge level. This was all outside the job description.

At this point, I am working with the Parks Department and engineering staff to demand the best remedy for this sad situation. Milwaukee County will not make further payments until the contractor repairs the damage, plants trees and takes other steps. We will do our best to get this rectified.

Jursik’s monthly newsletter also includes updates on the 794 extension, Mill Pond repairs, Bender Park and a variety of county issues.

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December 5, 2012 · 10:02 pm

Dredging Up Positive Memories: Debating The Future Of The South Milwaukee Mill Pond

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a story on the effort of former Alderwoman Mary Nelson — and many others — to “Restore the Magic” of South Milwaukee’s Oak Creek Mill Pond.

Check it out here. Among the new information in the article …

Cost of dredging the pond and disposing of the sediment starts at $830,400 and climbs as high as $1.5 million, according to preliminary estimates from the county’s Department of Administrative Services and released by Jursik. She represents the 8th supervisory district, encompassing St. Francis, South Milwaukee, Cudahy and a portion of Oak Creek.

State and federal grants could help pay part of the dredging costs, she said. …

The state Department of Natural Resources last week ordered Milwaukee County to complete some long-neglected dam maintenance and hire an engineer to evaluate the structure by June 2014.

The dam is made of dolomite stone blocks and it stands 18 feet tall in a ravine at Mill Road, according to DNR water management engineer Tanya Lourigan in Milwaukee. Water from the shallow pond spills over the top of the 35-foot-wide stone wall.

On Oct. 26 and Nov. 19, Lourigan inspected the dam and earthen embankments on each end.

An engineering analysis of the wall is needed since stones are missing on each end of the dam where it meets the embankment, Lourigan said in a Nov. 27 report to the county Department of Parks, Recreation and Culture.

Among the maintenance to be completed by June 2014: remove all trees and brush, including stumps, from the embankments and fill in holes; and repair an inoperable sluice gate needed to raise or lower water levels on the pond. A valve controlling the gate must be tested annually in the future to ensure it will work in an emergency, such as creek flooding, or for dam repairs, Lourigan says in the report.

She rated the condition of the dam as “conditionally fair” because of the extensive tree growth on the embankments, deterioration of the masonry wall and inoperable valve.

Where do I stand on this? My previous post on the petition effort sums up my position.

I feel strongly about this issue. I hate to see the Mill Pond and its surroundings in the state they are in. They could be so much more, and they have been so much more in the past.

We need a path to making the Mill Pond a recreational treasure for South Milwaukee once again, a community gathering place. That’s why I am 100% behind all of the work being done by Pat Jursik, Mary Nelson and others to find a solution here — one that involves the city, county, Friends groups and other parties. It’s complicated, and likely costly, but I think an investment in the Mill Pond is a good one — and one that is long overdue.

What do you think? Post your comments below!

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November 4, 2012 · 11:25 pm

Parks Update: Lakefront Parks Joint Meeting, Seven Bridges Repair

Milwaukee County Supervisor Pat Jursik’s eNews update has a couple of updates involving Grant Park, including word of joint meeting of lakefront park Friends groups set for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Grant Park clubhouse.

The goal: increased cooperation around common issues like erosion, beach health and safety.

There is also good news on Grant Park’s Seven Bridges:

The Parks Department plans to restore the large lakeside bridge at Seven Bridges soon. The contractors hope to begin construction in late November and complete work by the end of 2012.  While Seven Bridges shall remain open to the public, some areas will be obstructed to accommodate heavy machinery.  Reconstruction of the large lakeside bridge will be prioritized.   The crew will then repair the footbridge by Wil-O-Way.

To protect this sensitive area, we need to use the official paths.  Unfortunately, visitors have climbed down and eroded the ravine while the bridge has been out of service.

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October 29, 2012 · 5:01 pm

Grant Park Closed Due To Concerns Over Hurricane Sandy’s Waves

Update: Bender Park is also closed until Friday, according to the Oak Creek website. Here is some YouTube footage of waves at Grant Park.

In an amazing testatment to the power of Hurricane Sandy, weather officials are predicting waves higher than 15 feet on Lake Michigan on Tuesday. Winds are expected to gust to 40 mph or more.

In preparation for the storm, the access gates to Grant Park were going to close at 5 p.m. Monday, according to Milwaukee County Supervisor Pat Jursik.

“We are doing our best to keep visitors away from the dangerous waves,” she wrote in an email.

Here is Milwaukee Journal Sentinel coverage of the storm’s local impact.

I’ll keep you posted.

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October 11, 2012 · 8:15 pm

Guest Blog: Oak Creek Cleanup Is Saturday

I just got this email from Nancy Wucherer from the Friends of the Mill Pond and Oak Creek Watercourse …

It’s that time to round up the volunteers for the Fall 2012 Cleanup of the Oak Creek this Saturday October 13th, 2012 from 8am to 12 noon.  We’ll meet at the South Milwaukee High School parking lot – North End.

A Tan Hyundai Sonata will have vests, gloves, bags and water.  If you have boots that would be great, bring extra socks or shoes in case you get wet.  If your students come we ask that some adults participate in the cleanup.

Our targeted area is N Chicago Ave going west to Rawson Ave.  We may go beyond that depending on how many people come.  Lunch will be provided by FOMP down at the Mill Pond Warming House.  We would appreciate knowing approximately how many will be volunteering so we’ll have enough food. 

The debris will be pick up by Milwaukee County Parks Dept.  Hope for good weather!!  Any questions please drop me a line at NancyWucherer@gmail.com or give me a call at 414-571-1191 and leave message.

Thanks again to Nancy and all the great work her group does.

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September 11, 2012 · 7:44 pm

Park Friends Update: Beach Cleanup, Beach Walk Saturday

I got this email from Jody Johnson of the Friends of Grant Park group last week …

Hello Friends of Grant Park!

On Saturday, Sept. 15th from 9  to 11:30 a.m., Friends of Grant Park will host an Adopt-a- Beach Cleanup in conjunction with the Alliance for the Great Lakes.  We will meet at the lower beach parking lot just west of the beach house, and volunteers will be asked to bring back what they find to a sorting area so that we can tally the trash.  Beach Cleanup Volunteers must sign up via http://www.greatlakesadopt.org and plug in Grant Park as the location to do so.  They may contact Betsy Abert by phone or email as well:  betsyacorn@aol.com and 414-764-9244. 

Thus far, we have 19 volunteers, but considering the high level of beach use during this long hot summer, we could use many more.  We hope you will pass the word to others and invite groups or individuals to participate. Volunteers should wear long pants for protection and although gloves will be provided, please don’t hesitate to bring your favorite pair from home.

There will be ongoing Family Day activities taking place near the beach lot, including volleyball and an early evening Beach Walk sponsored by the Friends of the Mill Pond.  Lots to do on September 15th!  

On Saturday, October 6th, our Fall Weed-Out begins. We’ve located plenty of removal areas across from the golf course where the buckthorn is thick.  Meet us at 9 a.m. in the parking lot next to the tennis court. An afternoon session is also scheduled, so if the morning doesn’t work, please meet at 1 p.m. at the Tennis Courts lot.  Even an hour of dedicated removal will make a world of difference to the health of our woodlands.  Tools and gloves will be provided.  Not suitable for children.

Also, the Friends of the Mill Pond and Oak Creek Watercourse are holding their annual Beach Walk and Star Gazing event on Saturday, starting at 5 p.m. From the group’s Facebook page is this description: A sunset beach walk stroll along an illuminated path, campfire, s’mores for purchase, and gazing at the stars with stargazer Greg Gonia and telescopes. Fun for the whole family.

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September 4, 2012 · 10:07 pm

Oak Creek Fish Kill Update: Test Results Are Back, And They Confirm Cause May Never Be Known

I got the following update today on the Oak Creek fish kill from Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources senior fisheries biologist Will Wawrzyn … and, while disappointing, it’s not surprising.

The upshot: Test results from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District are back, and we’ll likely never know what led the death of hundreds of fish in Oak Creek near 16th and Rawson Avenues in South Milwaukee on August 15.

From the update …

The MMSD maintains an extensive monitoring network in local streams and near-shore Lake Michigan and produce high quality data. I appreciate the assistance they provided during this investigation.

Unfortunately, those results do not suggest any killing agent or decreasing trends in water quality between sample sites. While the list of analytes is extensive, there is an almost infinite number and type of potential killing agents that could have caused the kill. All of the results were within the range of water quality criteria or standards protective of fish and other aquatic life. Unless we hear of an after the fact report by others that may suggest what caused the fish kill, we may never know. I am confident that the fish kill was not caused by natural factors. Extended dry conditions and lack of runoff preceding the incident suggests it was not caused by non-point sources of pollution but most likely a discharge or spill of a toxic substances.

My recommendation if for fisheries staff to conduct brief synoptic electrofishing surveys at multiple sites in the near future to assess short-term impacts of the fish kill and gage the recruitment or repopulation of fish from un-impacted reaches, and make qualitative observations of other aquatic life along the impacted stream reach.

I’ll keep you posted on this, if there are any updates to provide. I hope there are — that we can figure out what happened here and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Here is my previous post on this.

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August 28, 2012 · 5:35 pm

$2.6 Million For A Cleaner Grant Park Beach (And Others, Too)

Update: Here is Racine Journal Times coverage.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is turning its eyes to South Milwaukee and Grant Park with significant grant funding announced Tuesday.

A portion of $2.6 million in federal grants will go towards “reconfiguring” Grant Park Beach and select other beaches in Wisconsin and Michigan. The goal: Reduce bacteria levels.

Here is the press release.

See the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story here. From it:

It includes a $1 million grant to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh to work to reconfigure eight state beaches to reduce bacteria levels. The beaches on the list include Grant Park in South Milwaukee as well as swimming areas in Marinette, Algoma, Manitowoc and Kenosha.

“These Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grants will improve water quality, allowing people to enjoy more days at Great Lakes beaches,” Susan Hedman of the Environmental Protection Agency said in a news release. “The projects will make beaches safer, by eliminating harmful bacteria and other sources of contamination.”

Learn more about the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative here.

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