Dignitaries and volunteers gathered today for the kickoff of a private-public partnership that is meant to restore Native vegetation to reduce flooding and improve water quality, pollinator habitat, and outdoor education in the Bradford and Bullen area.

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The City of Kenosha is partnering with Root-Pike Watershed Initiative Network (WIN) to improve the stormwater retention area and surrounding natural spaces located on 39th Avenue West of Bradford High School and South of Bullen Middle School. The project is partially funded from grants from the Fund for Lake Michigan, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Microsoft. The existing dry pond will be improved to a high-quality prairie – one of the rarest land types in the Midwest. The 35-acre restoration presents a significant opportunity for the City of Kenosha to transform a low-performing mono-culture landscape to an ecologically vibrant Kenosha destination.

When complete, the restoration of the Shagbark Recreational Area will improve water quality downstream to Washington Park and the Kenosha harbor. The improved area will also provide outdoor classroom opportunities for Bradford and Bullen students, improve neighborhood aesthetics and experiences, and enhance natural functions for fish, amphibians, and endangered pollinators. The project marks the first major ecological restoration in the Pike Creek corridor, which primarily flows through some of the City’s underserved neighborhoods.

Dave Giordano, Root-Pike WIN’s Executive Director said, “We are grateful for the City of Kenosha’s support of this valuable prairie restoration project. Having an improved natural area, and a new place for Bradford and Bullen students to study native species while infiltrating more stormwater is a ‘win-win-win’. This project marks the beginning of our collective efforts to restore the Pike Creek watershed.”

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Pike Creek used to flow freely from the West through the Bradford High School property, into Washington Park, and ultimately to the Kenosha harbor. The “dry” retention pond, created decades ago, adjacent to the Pike Creek solves some downstream flooding problems and sediment issues, but still releases excessive phosphorus, nitrogen, and bacteria from grass clipping and geese populations into Pike Creek. These pollutants negatively affect water quality and habitats downstream. Returning the area to native prairie vegetation helps mitigate many of these watershed issues.

“We are excited to partner with Root-Pike WIN and appreciate all the grant contributions that will improve water quality and reduce flooding while lowering City mowing costs”, said new City of Kenosha Mayor David Bogdala. “More importantly, these are improvements that will provide richer outdoor experiences for the Bullen and Bradford neighborhoods, and improve water quality in our parks downstream and the Kenosha harbor.”

The prairie restoration will plant the dry pond with a rich mix of native vegetation that absorbs more stormwater, creates more habitat for pollinators, and reduces costly turf grass mowing. According to the Center for Neighborhood Technology’s Stormwater Management Calculator, planting the Dry Pond with native prairie species would reduce the parcel’s runoff by an estimated 33%. An average storm of 2.33″ of rainfall runoff would be decreased by about 21%.

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District 5 Alderman Rocco LaMacchia said, “Public-private partnerships like this one for the Shagbark Recreational Area make serving Kenosha so rewarding. The long-term benefits of this type of land restoration will be appreciated for generations to follow.”

Root-Pike WIN will facilitate the prairie restoration and four years of maintenance after the turf grass has been killed off and native prairie seeding has occurred. Restoration of the Shagbark Recreational Area will begin in late June and continue through the fall. Ongoing maintenance – including treatment of invasive species, will occur through 2028. Native prairies take about three years to fully establish, so the first few years, things may not appear fully grown or bloom with great intensity. However, once the area is fully restored, the rich biodiversity will create new experiences that have been lacking in this location since major sections of Pike Creek were put underground.

Root-Pike Watershed Initiative Network Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit that restores, protects, and sustains the Root-Pike basin by building partnerships, finding funding, and managing projects to improve some of the most impaired Lake Michigan tributaries in Wisconsin. The vision of the organization is to create places where people want to be through projects and programs that improve water quality, increase habitat diversity and decrease flood events. These projects are defined as recommendations in the Root River, Pike River, Oak Creek, and Wind Point Nine Key Element Watershed Restoration Plans championed by Root-Pike WIN and approved by the DNR and EPA. Some of Root-Pike WIN’s major restoration projects include Cliffside Park, Klema Creek, Pike River South Branch, Pritchard Park, UW-Parkside XC-Course, and Lamparek Creek.

www.rootpikewin.org

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