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.
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 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!
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.
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.
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.