Please join us Thursday, Jan. 8th for a documentary examining Bank Swallow’s nesting habits along the Lake Michigan shoreline. The film, Beyond Our Senses: Bank Swallows will be shown at 7pm in the Golf Course Clubhouse. Discussion follows at 7:30pm led by David Busse, local film producer.

“Each spring, thousands of Bank Swallows return to the Lake Michigan bluffs to build colonies, mate, and raise their young. Guided by extraordinary perceptions like tetrachromatic vision, magnetic senses, and aerial master, they navigate predators, rivals, and the relentless demands of survival in a hidden world beyond human perception.”

Donations appreciated…

Please share with others! All are Welcome!

As we close the books for 2025, we are pleased to announce we have received 2 grants. One grant is from the Green Bay Packer Foundation in the amount of $3,500 for program costs. Specific plans to utilize the funds are listed in our meeting minutes for 12-11-25.

The second grant is from the Wisconsin DNR. FOGP worked with Parks administration to obtain the grant for funding to purchase 70 trees and fencing materials. Parks staff will supervise the planting of the trees and we are to supply volunteers to help do a variety of tasks. Stay tuned for tree planting volunteer opportunities in 2026.

Two wooden heads were carved and installed by Bryan Lorentzen, former owner of Parkway Floral, at the pavilion in Area 5A. They were copied from two heads that were removed due to years of UV and insect damage. At our December holiday gathering, he elaborated on the process. He discovered the structural beams the heads were carved on were made of pine wood. For the replacements he decided to use basswood instead. He had some difficulty reattaching the new carvings and finding an exact paint color match. We are very grateful for his time, exceptional talent and overall perseverance. Be sure to look for his work among the 40 different heads in the same pavilion the next time you visit! (He signed his carvings)

We will be hosting our Holiday Party on Thursday, Dec. 11th at 6:30 pm in the golf course clubhouse. Bring your memories of Grant Park and share them with all of us. We’d love to hear those!

Prior to the party, a brief monthly meeting will be held from 6 to 6:30 pm. Guests are welcome to attend either the meeting, party or both.

Calendars for sale

We want to share more historical photos with you! In 2019 we produced our first historical calendar, and since then we’ve received multiple requests to create another. We scoured the archives of photos from the South Milwaukee Historical Society and Milwaukee County Parks, and sprinkled in some treasured family photos from the Liebsch family, to create this year’s calendar. The cost is $15 each.

Attached is the flyer for purchase with participating South Milwaukee merchants. All purchases must be made with cash or personal check only (payable to Friends of Grant Park).

Once again, various organizations in the South Milwaukee community welcomed the public to tour their buildings, facilities, and grounds. From 10am to 3 pm on Saturday, Sept. 13th, many locations opened their doors for you! The Friends of Grant Park opened 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 first horticulturalist hired by Milwaukee County. Visitors toured the gardens behind the lodge, and learned about the nursery and greenhouse Wulff created that generated nursery stock for all the county parks, as well as Grant Park.

Sept. 20, 2025 — 9am to Noon; Area 5 parking lot

Thank you to all who helped on Saturday, Sept. 20th. Here is the tally of the beach cleanup litter removed:

Attendance: 14
Litter weight: 66 lbs.

Top litter types:
• Plastic Pieces: 769 collected (including 70 pieces of plastic shotgun wadding)
• Foam Pieces: 313 collected
• Cigarette Butts: 207 collected

Each fall we partner with Alliance for the Great Lakes to hold the Seven Bridges beach cleanup. Alliance for the Great Lakes collects data from cleanups around the Great Lakes to assess the extent of pollution from various types of trash collected by volunteers. This data supports their mission to advocate for protections to keep our waters clean.

Five years ago today we lost this majestic Sugar Maple that had likely graced an old farm road, then a park road, and then Grant Park’s Area 7-8. It was undoubtedly a climbing tree for many generations, hosted many a nest of our wild companions, and created a shady picnic spot. We are most grateful that the Friends of Grant continue in our twentieth year to replace lost Ash and Elm or invasive species with these important and beloved species of trees. Please join us if you can.

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 Ebs 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. Alternatively, you can download the document by clicking the link below.

Since 2016, we’ve hosted Trek ’n Treat, a family-friendly nature hike sending kids through the Seven Bridges Ravine trail. We had 280 kids participate this year. They stopped at a dozen nature stations along the way and learned some cool 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!

• Blaine’s Farm & Fleet
• Cousins Subs
• C3 Designs
• Dr. Todd Connell
• Guardian Credit Union
• Huddlewood
• MJ Media, LLC
• Skyline Catering
• 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.