MMSD acquired land for flood control in ’16
251 acres cost about $551,000
The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District added 251 acres of wooded wetland and river floodplain in Washington and Ozaukee counties to its Greenseams flood management inventory in 2016 at a cost of $551,000, district officials said.
One of the properties acquired last year includes 74 acres of a hardwood swamp south of Cedar Sauk Road, and downstream of the Cedarburg Bog State Natural Area, in the Town of Cedarburg in Ozaukee County.
Another property encompasses 112 acres of the Sandy Knoll Swamp natural area, stretching from the northeast corner of Washington County’s Sandy Knoll Park to Green Lake, in the towns of Farmington and Trenton.
MMSD has protected a total of 3,433 acres in the four-county metropolitan area since 2001 for the purpose of reducing the risk of downstream flooding. The inventory includes 105 properties in 13 communities in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington and Ozaukee counties.
Total price paid for the properties was $24.6 million, records show. MMSD received more than $6.1 million in state and federal grants to lower its cumulative costs to just under $18.5 million.
The Greenseams program sets aside land with dark-colored soils, topped with a thick organic layer of slowly decaying vegetation, that serve as an absorbent sponge during heavy rains and melting snow, according to David Grusznski, program director for the Milwaukee office of The Conservation Fund.
Of the four properties added to the Greenseams inventory in 2016, 237 of the 251 acres are covered with such heavy organic soils, known as hydric.
The district hired the organization in 2001 to manage property purchases for Greenseams.
MMSD buys land or conservation easements restricting development of properties from willing landowners in the watersheds of the Milwaukee, Menomonee, Oak Creek and Root rivers.
At a Jan. 23 meeting, the MMSD commission is expected to approve a oneyear contract with the conservation group to manage Greenseams acquisitions in 2017. The proposed contract would pay The Conservation Fund up to $343,044 during the year.
The group also restores Greenseams properties, under its contract with MMSD. Last year, 90 acres were planted with native grasses and wildflowers, MMSD landscape architect Stephen McCarthy said.
A 14-acre property adjacent to Dumke Lake in Franklin received 20 different native plants, including switchgrass and big bluestem grass as well as blazing star and gayfeather flowers, McCarthy said.
MMSD paid $286,000 in September to acquire the 74 acres of hardwood swamp in the Town of Cedarburg. The district was awarded a state Stewardship grant of $143,000 to pay half of the district’s cost.
This lowland forest drains to Cedar Creek. Its dense canopy of silver maple, ash and American elm is part of a wide corridor enabling wildlife to move freely between the Cedarburg Bog and the creek.
In September, the district purchased a conservation easement that restricts development and other activities on 112 acres in the Sandy Knoll swamp at a cost of $132,500, records show.
This wooded wetland is part of a larger corridor designated as the Sandy Knoll natural area by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.
In October, MMSD purchased a conservation easement on 50 acres of Milwaukee River floodplain east of the West Bend Airport, south of state Highway 33, in the Town of Trenton in Washington County. Cost of this easement: $95,000.
The fourth addition to the Greenseams inventory last year was a 15acre wooded wetland in the Town of Fredonia within the state designated Huiras Lake natural area.
The district acquired the property in February at a cost of $38,392.