This year marks 35 years since the Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance was incorporated in 1991. But the organization’s story begins two years earlier, in 1989, when Jack Day and a group of community leaders began meeting to address growing concerns about the Fox and Wolf rivers, Lake Winnebago, and the Bay of Green Bay.
The issues were direct and measurable. Water quality data showed elevated sediment and phosphorus levels. Fish consumption advisories were in place. Green Bay and the Lower Fox River had been designated an Area of Concern under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
The sources were understood. Rain carried soil and nutrients off the land into streams and rivers, eventually reaching the bay. Historical wastewater discharges from manufacturing facilities and municipal sewage treatment plants had also contributed to the condition of the system. While regulations and treatment improvements were advancing, recovery would take time and coordinated effort.
In 1989 and 1990, community leaders worked with researchers to review existing data and define the scope of the problem. They focused on the watershed as a connected system and agreed that solutions would need to be practical, science-based, and cost-effective.
In 1991, those efforts became formal with the incorporation of Waters of Green Bay for Tomorrow. Shortly afterward, the organization was renamed Northeast Wisconsin Waters for Tomorrow (NEWWT). Its purpose was specific: develop a framework to analyze water quality data and identify the “least cost mix” of management options to reduce pollution and support recovery.
With limited resources and guided by Wisconsin DNR’s Green Bay Remedial Action Plan (RAP)—which outlined 120 goals—NEWWT focused on creating a study framework to fill critical data gaps and guide decisions that would target actions with the greatest impact.
In 1992, NEWWT formed the Fox/Wolf 2000 study group and hired researchers to identify pollution sources affecting Green Bay and propose cost-effective solutions. The study evaluated suspended solids and phosphorus yields in the Wolf-Fox drainage system and compared management strategies.
In 1993, the group published Prediction of Suspended Solids and Phosphorus Yields in the Wolf-Fox Drainage System. Preliminary results were released publicly, and the effort received the Clean Bay Backer Award. During this period, the organization also began forming a “Basin Council,” a precursor to Fox-Wolf Basin 2000.
When the study was complete, the original objective had been achieved. Rather than disband, the board chose to remain engaged and help advance implementation of the recommended solutions.
The incorporation in 1991 marked a formal beginning, but the foundation was laid in 1989 when community leaders committed to coordinated, basin-wide action.
And this is where our 35th anniversary series begins: with the moment Fox-Wolf’s story moved from concern to collaboration. In the issues ahead, we’ll follow what came next, from the early years of building credibility and capacity to the basin wide work, partnerships, and projects that continue shaping the Fox and Wolf rivers today.
Watershed Moments is a quarterly publication from the Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance, sharing true stories of people whose lives have been shaped by water—and the moments that sparked their care for it.
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