Fox-Wolf Receives WDNR River Planning Grant

The Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance was recently awarded a 2020 River Planning grant from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR). The grant, titled Celebrating Green Infrastructure through Public Awareness, is a project that will work to recognize privately-owned stormwater best management practices (BMPs) throughout Northeast Wisconsin Stormwater Consortium (NEWSC) communities. Funding through this grant will allow Fox-Wolf to purchase educational signs, promote these practices within communities in the region, and involve the public through voting, media outreach, and creating an educational experience at the project site.

The project was developed to generate lines of communication between our cities, private businesses, and area residents, along with tracking these practices throughout our communities, and celebrating the benefits of these green infrastructure developments.

Specific project activities include developing printed educational materials focused on stormwater ponds and biofilters to include their design, function, maintenance, and impact on local waterways, compiling GIS data for private BMP practices in NEWSC communities, and designing permanent educational stormwater signs for our ten sign winners. The signs will be placed by the private BMP locations for public viewing. Additional components of this grant include, creating a Google Map displaying the ten sign winners, developing green infrastructure literature for public outreach, drafting nomination letters, coordinating with the press for the sign winners, and purchasing promotional items for urban non-point awareness. We look forward to working with our NEWSC partners to begin work on this project.