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Applied Ecological Services, Inc.
Wisconsin Office
17921 Smith Road,
P. O. Box 256
Brodhead, WI 53520
Phone: 608.897.8641
Voicemail: 608.897.4898
AES Fax: 608.897.8486
TCRN Fax: 608.897.2044
Info@AppliedEco.com
Illinois Office
120 West Main St
W. Dundee, IL 60118
Phone: 847.844.9385
Fax: 847.844.8759
Info.il@AppliedEco.com
Kansas City Office
1904 Elm Street
Eudora, KS 66025
Phone 785.542.3090
Fax 785.542.3570
Info.ks@AppliedEco.com
Minnesota Office
21938 Mushtown Rd
Prior Lake, MN 55372
Phone: 952.447.1919
Fax: 952.447.1920
Info.mn@AppliedEco.com
East Coast Office
1100 E. Hector Street Suite #398
Conshohocken, PA 19428
Phone: 610.238.9088
Info.pa@AppliedEco.com
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Using natural landscapes for urban stormwater control:
AES part of $96 million project to control flooding in Milwaukee
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Residents of Wisconsin streambank neighborhoods along the Menomonee River are no strangers to the wrath of Mother Nature. The most recent heavy flooding along the river came in 1997, putting the first floors of many homes in Valley Park and surrounding areas under water, and was followed by another deluge in '98 when the river again rose over its banks at Piggsville on Milwaukee's west side. And the situation is expected to get worse - an analysis by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission found that stream flows generally will be from 10% to 15% greater in 2020 than they are today.
Last fall, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) set in motion a $96 million project to reduce and control flood damage along the Menomonee River. The plan is aimed at preventing an estimated $15.3 million in damages that could result from each "100-year flood" that rushes down the valley. In Milwaukee, the 100-year flood is happening roughly every two years!
The district's long-term solution is to develop and implement a conservation plan to identify, protect, and restore key parcels to maximize water retention and infiltration. To accomplish these goals, MMSD is working with The Conservation Fund (TCF), a national nonprofit conservation organization, to establish a conservation easement program for the Menomonee River, Root River and Oak Creek watersheds - in other words, buying easements to restrict development of open space in the rivers' floodplain areas. TCF will identify open space or abandoned industrial sites in each of the three watersheds that could temporarily store water whenever the streams top their banks. TCF, in turn, has subcontracted with Applied Ecological Services (AES) to facilitate the plan development by collecting existing ecological and hydrologic data on the watersheds and recommending actions for flood reduction.
While the main emphasis of the project is to reduce flooding, the team hopes to achieve a variety of goals through their efforts, including linking greenways, improving water quality and wildlife habitat, and creating recreational and educational opportunities.
According to AES Senior Ecologist Mark O'Leary, this project is particularly exciting in that MMSD has funds not only to complete a comprehensive study, but also to actually purchase property and easements.
"This project is really the brainchild of MMSD officials who were inspired by other communities taking a green approach to managing stormwater," said O'Leary. "They recognized that there is only so much you can do using conventional stormwater management strategies, and that protecting remaining open spaces helps to ensure that nature can take up the slack from the more traditional engineered solutions."
"It's a wonderful opportunity to look in-depth at our natural resources, and to make good conservation purchases," agreed Project Director Margaret Kohring, Midwest director of TCF. "Cities usually turn to more concrete engineering solutions to urban flooding problems rather than letting natural, long-term storage take place the way we plan to.
"We chose to work with AES on this project because of their experience using natural landscapes for stormwater control and their experience with low-impact conservation development," she added.
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The Conservation Plan
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According to Kohring, the Milwaukee Conservation Plan is currently in its early stages, with plans for Phases I and II expected to be finalized by September, 2001. In Phase I "Completing the Inventory for the Conservation Plan," AES will collect existing data on hydrology and watershed studies. AES will also work to identify data gaps in the hydrologic data and ecological systems data, to determine what field investigations are needed.
Based on the ecological systems study, AES will create detailed ecological land cover type maps of the watersheds and summaries of biological and water quality data.
In Phase II "Developing the Conservation Plan," AES, MMSD and TCF will work together to prioritize actions for flood reduction, and to develop recommended strategies for land protection. Objectives in producing the plan will include identifying storm water management areas, designing conceptual restoration plans for priority parcels, and determining which properties are best protected by which techniques - acquisition, easements and restoration.
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