The next project for Friends of Grant Park

The Seven Bridges ravine trail is a historic and unique feature of Grant Park in South Milwaukee, winding down to the lakefront alongside Ebbs Creek. As visitors can observe, it has been such a popular destination that the trail, creek, walls, steps and slopes have deteriorated to a great degree.  With the generous support of foundations and donations by our membership, funds were raised to hire landscape architects to prepare a preliminary concept plan to address those issues. We have collaborated with Indigo Ecological Design, Geosyntec Consultants and Milwaukee County Parks to develop a conceptual master plan to prioritize restoration efforts and prepare grant applications. The assessment will address several areas of concern including creek conditions and water quality, egress, vegetation, and structural management for trails and walls.

The Friends invite the public’s support in achieving our restoration goals.  

Below is the Restoration Concept Plan from Indigo Ecological Design and Geosyntec Consultants. It is a 17 page document. If you click on the document, you will be able to scroll through the entire report.

Please join us on Thursday, Dec. 12th for our Holiday Party and Cookie Exchange. We’ll have snacks, beverages, and some seasonal music to enjoy with a toasty fire burning in the clubhouse fireplace. The party starts at 6:30 pm and follows a brief FOGP meeting.

The Cookie Exchange is optional. To participate, bake 2 dozen homemade cookies and bring to exchange table area. Please provide cookie name and list of ingredients for 12 exchange bags. We’ll provide paper and pencil if you forget the list.

We will also have Friends of Grant Park merchandise for sale. The FOGP 2025 Calendars are $15 each; Friendly Face T-shirts for $20; 4 pack Greeting Cards for $7; cash or personal check only. Dues paying members receive a 10% discount.

Hope you can join us! All are welcome!

Since 2016, we’ve hosted Trek ’n Treat, a family-friendly nature hike sending kids through the Seven Bridges Ravine trail. We had 244 kids participate this year. They stopped at a dozen nature stations along the way and learned something about things like the habitat of animals, the wild flowers that grow there, and the birds, butterflies and critters that make Grant Park their home. To top that, they collected treats at each station as they went along!

Thank you all for making Trek ’n Treat a success. Each year, we ask for help and many local area businesses responded. A huge thank you to the following for their generous donations!

• Ace Hardware, SM
• Blaine’s Farm & Fleet
• Cousins Subs
• C3 Designs
• Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors Youth Foundation
• Guardian Credit Union
• MJ Media, LLC
• Remy Battery
• Skyline Catering
• TiPrint Inc.
• Walgreens, SM
• Walmart, SM

Here are some photo highlights of the day that treated us with fantastic weather. Hope to see you all next October! Thanks to Violette Wood for snapping these photos.

Once again, various organizations in the South Milwaukee community will welcome the public to tour their buildings, facilities, and grounds. From 10am to 3 pm on Saturday, Sept. 7th, many locations will open their doors for you! The Friends of Grant Park will open Wulff Lodge for visitors to explore, along with information about the history of the lodge and its early residents, the family of Frederick C. Wulff: the German arborist and horticulturalist hired by Milwaukee County. You can tour the gardens behind the lodge, and learn about the nursery and greenhouse he created that generated stock for all the county parks, as well as Grant Park.

The complete list of locations can be found on the City of South Milwaukee’s website, https://www.southmilwaukee.gov/447/Open-Doors

What were the chances that our second Friends of Grant Park Art Fair would have great weather two years in a row? It could have been 90º that day, or raining, or both.

The art fair was held Sunday, July 21st in Area 5A Picnic Shelter. We had food, refreshment, a raffle and music!

The Art Raffle offered one piece of art from each of our artists. Tickets were $1 each; or 6 for $5. Winners were announced at 2 pm.

As a special treat, we were treated to Celtic tunes floating on the air played by FOGP member Deb Wilhelm on violin and Jerry Connor on guitar. Thank you both!

Other FOGP volunteers were helping out as well: Lyn Weber, Robert and Judy Kempke, Carla Uphill, Mary Fortier, Debby Pizur, Lynn Meidam, Pam Uhrig, Catcher and Lil Uhrig, Anne Schlimgen and Jody Johnson.

We are all so appreciative of the many attendees who came to support our mission statement. What are the chances that a third Friends of Grant Park Art Fair would have great weather three years in a row?

Explore South Milwaukee’s Grant Park by air, including Grant Park beach, Grant Park golf course. Filmed in spring 2019, videography by F & J Productions.

The film is about 16 minutes long.

After years of hosting beach cleanups in the park, we’ve noticed a serious problem. One of the most common items of trash in the park and on the beach is empty plastic water bottles. The plastic is labeled as recyclable, which is good if it actually gets recycled. But littering the beach, or tossed in the woods, the plastic will not break down… true, it will eventually be crushed, flattened, and break into smaller and smaller pieces. The smallest bits will become so small they are referred to as micro-plastic. Guess what? Invisible micro-plastics are entering your drinking water because they are not removed by our public water utilities. Scientists have yet to determine the health consequences of consuming micro-plastics. Don’t forget the BPA chemicals in the plastic bottles…

So, why are we spotlighting plastic water bottles, when there is a lot of other trash on the beach/in the woods? Reducing or eliminating bottled water is one of the easiest ways to reduce a significant amount of trash each year in the environment. Consider using other water carriers: reusable stainless steel, aluminum, and thermos bottles. Plastic bottled water is necessary for communities lacking access to safe drinking water, but for many of us, it’s a convenience and could be used sparingly, when other methods cannot be adopted.

Plan ahead when you are spending time in Grant Park. If you bring water bottles in, then pack them out when you leave, because the park does not have a recycling program in place.

If you would like to dive deeper into plastic’s effect on the environment, our health, and social justice, author Daniel Jaffee, associate professor of Sociology at Portland State University has written a book: Unbottled: the fight against Plastic Water and Water Justice. You can hear Jaffee on Wisconsin Public Radio’s Central Time program… https://www.wpr.org/shows/central-time/american-girl-dolls-bottled-water.

Once again, Eaton Corporation’s South Milwaukee facility management chose to make a donation to Friends of Grant Park for 2023. Human Resources Manager Nate Schoepp and Continuous Improvement Technician Tony DeHoyos presented the check for $2,000 to Debby Pizur and Jody Johnson. The donation will be applied to our purchase of trees to be planted later this fall in Grant Park. We are grateful for the support.

The following is an excerpt from a blog post by Eddee Daniel entitled “Milwaukee County Strengthens Protections for Natural Areas” from the website awealthofnature.org, posted on July 29, 2022.

Here, in abbreviated form, are the new provisions:

(A) No person shall harvest, collect, deface, or disturb, in any manner, any portion of a native plant or native fungi within the Park System.

(B) Invasive species can be removed within the Park System only by Dept. of Parks, Recreation and Culture (DPRC) staff or those authorized through written permission from the DPRC. Planting of any vegetative material within the Park System without the written permission of the DPRC is prohibited.

(C) The harassment, capture, injury, or killing of native wildlife within the Park System is prohibited. Introduction or release of any animal, wild or domestic, within the Park System without the written permission of the DPRC is prohibited.

(D) Natural areas designated by the Southeastern WI Regional Planning Commission as “Natural Areas of Local, Regional, or State-wide Significance” or designated as “Critical Species Habitat Areas,” will receive a heightened level of protection. Only hiking, biking, running, bird watching and similar passive recreation activities are allowed and only on designated trails.

According to Natural Areas Supervisor Brian Russart “the County Board did want Parks to be lenient on individuals walking along designated trails in the park system eating the occasional handful of wild raspberries as they are walking, because the impact would be minor and the plants are typically found along trails.” This does not allow people to bring a basket along to pick and remove more berries from the park for later use.

Russart would like you to know this: “Citizens that observe illegal foraging in the park system are encouraged to call the Parks Ranger Hot-line (414-257-7777) as they are observing these activities. This way Parks can respond immediately, and appropriately address the situation.

We were simply delighted to receive notification that Friends of Grant Park would be recipients of a $4,000 grant from the Green Bay Packers Foundation. Awarded on Dec. 8th, you can read about the foundation and the other recipients in this article from their website:

https://www.packers.com/news/packers-foundation-awards-record-1-25-million-in-annual-grants-2022

Our intent is to utilize the funds to offset costs for our various programs, such as WeedOut, Suburban Soles, tree planting and Trek ‘n Treat. We hope to continue these programs to benefit Grant Park, and these funds will support their continued success.

Thank you to the Green Bay Packers Foundation.