As the year draws to a close, DNR invites stakeholders of the Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern to review the 2013 draft of the Remedial Action Plan (RAP). This document serves as DNR’s primary tool for documenting and communicating progress to agency partners and technical stakeholders. This year alone, the Milwaukee Estuary received $1.5 million from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to conduct necessary assessments for fish and wildlife communities, benthic and planktonic organisms, and to determine how much sanitary waste still makes its way into local waterways. Additionally, several AOC partners also received funding for necessary fish and wildlife projects in the AOC, totaling approximately $1.5 million from a variety of sources, including the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the Fund for Lake Michigan, and the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund. For 2014, we intend to continue to make good progress on assessing impairments and implementing projects to work toward delisting the Milwaukee Estuary from the list of Great Lakes Areas of Concern.
The documents are located under the “AOC Plans” section on the DNR’s Milwaukee Estuary website. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources prepares the RAPs in consultation with its partners. Wisconsin’s Area of Concern Program is guided by a set of core values, including strong citizen and stakeholder engagement, scientific defensibility, environmental stewardship, achieving timely progress, and documenting results. These values are reflected in the RAP, and your review and comments are essential in ensuring that your voice is heard. Of note this year is that the RAP includes a draft Fish and Wildlife Plan. While the draft plan does not at this time include a list of the priority habitat projects for 2014 funding (the Milwaukee Estuary Fish and Wildlife technical team discussions are still underway), the plan does outline priority habitat actions for the AOC and provides explanations as to why those actions are important for impairment removal. Priority projects will be listed later this year or early next year in the final version of the 2013 document.
Send comments on the documents by November 14, 2013 to:
Megan O’Shea, Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern Coordinator
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
phone: 414.263.8625
e-mail: megan.oshea@wisconsin.gov
web: http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/greatlakes/milwaukee.html
