This week, Wisconsin Sea Grant and Midwest Environmental Advocates launched Public Trust, a new podcast miniseries that explores Wisconsin’s response to PFAS contamination. Host Richelle Wilson visits communities impacted by these toxic “forever chemicals” to understand how local residents have been affected and what they’re doing to secure their rights to clean water. The miniseries is presented as part of the award-winning The Water We Swim In podcast.

Wisconsin Sea Grant video and podcast producer Bonnie Willison traveled with Richelle to French Island and Peshtigo to conduct interviews with community members. Many of us take clean drinking water for granted, so hearing from these Wisconsinites on the front lines of PFAS contamination is sobering. I’m glad I’m able to help bring these voices to the public through our partnership with Midwest Environmental Advocates,” said Willison.

Preview the podcast series here.

The first episode of Public Trust takes listeners to the small town of Campbell on French Island to find out what it’s like when an entire community can no longer safely use its tap water. French Island resident and local official Lee Donahue takes listeners on a tour of the neighborhood and tells the story of how local drinking water was contaminated by PFAS-containing firefighting foam used at the La Crosse Airport.

Not only are Lee Donahue and her neighbors telling their stories, they’re also actively engaged in advocating for new environmental health protections, including a statewide groundwater quality standard for PFAS. While Wisconsin has a water quality standard that limits the level of PFAS in municipal drinking water, there’s no equivalent standard for groundwater. That’s a problem for communities like French Island, which depend entirely on private wells for their drinking water.

Later in the series, Public Trust takes listeners to the communities of Peshtigo and Marinette, where for years, local residents have been engaged in a David-and-Goliath battle with a major firefighting foam manufacturer that has polluted their drinking water and created one of the largest sites of PFAS contamination in the country. 

The series concludes with a trip to the northwoods, where Wisconsin Sea Grant emerging contaminants scientist Gavin Dehnert is working with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission to look for PFAS in tribally-harvested goods like wild rice, maple sap, and walleye.

Public Trust can be found here or wherever they get their podcasts.

The post Podcast Miniseries Highlights Stories of Wisconsin Communities Impacted by PFAS Pollution first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/publictrust/

Bonnie Willison

What did you do this summer?

A red children's toy buried in beach sand

A red toy buried in sand at Bradford Beach. Photo credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

It’s a question that, in the middle of August, might prompt panicked reexamination of how you spent the long, warm days of a fleeting season. For Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Summer Outreach Opportunities Program scholars, the answers come easily.

This summer, 12 undergraduate students from across the country spent a jam-packed 10 weeks collaborating with outreach specialists on coastal and water resources projects across Wisconsin. Scholars conducted research, engaged kids and adults and shared the stories of Great Lakes science, all while working alongside mentors to explore careers and graduate education in the aquatic sciences.

Whether they wrangled fish in Green Bay or researched green infrastructure in Ashland, scholars have much to share about how they spent their summers. Here’s the first snapshot of four projects.

 

Project: Beach Ambassador Program for Great Lakes Water Safety

When Alan Liang and his fellow beach ambassadors push their powder-blue cart across Bradford Beach in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, curious beachgoers often approach with a question: What are you selling?

Alan Lian g pushes the blue Beach Ambassador cart from the shed.

Alan Liang pushes the beach ambassador cart as he starts a shift at the beach. Photo credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

Liang explains they’re not peddling cold treats. The brightly colored cart is filled with pamphlets about beach safety, not paletas, and the team is working to build awareness around the changeable water conditions of Lake Michigan.

“Our mission is to spread information as educators about how to keep yourself safe on the beach since there are no lifeguards,” said Liang.

A collaboration between Wisconsin Sea Grant and Milwaukee-area partners, the Beach Ambassador Program began in 2021 in response to an increased number of drownings at Milwaukee beaches. Ambassadors, like summer scholar Liang, are trained to share water safety information with the public, including how to properly wear a life vest, escape a rip current, recognize water quality conditions and determine whether it’s safe to swim. Social Science Outreach Specialist Deidre Peroff serves as one of the program’s mentors.

Weather permitting, ambassadors rove the beach Thursdays through Sundays and begin each shift by gathering at their “shed” on the beach. The team then records the weather and water conditions for that day on a whiteboard: wind speed and direction, water temperature and quality and UV index. Those data then inform the conversations ambassadors initiate with beachgoers.

“For example, yesterday we had very strong winds from the northeast, which would generate a lot of longshore currents,” said Liang. “So that’s what we would talk about because that was the big concern for that day.”

Liang, a sophomore at UW–Madison majoring in computer science and environmental studies and a former math tutor, was drawn to the program because he likes teaching. “I wanted to do something a little bit more education-based, and I thought this was a great fit for me because I’ve also spent a lot of time around water.”

Approaching people, however, can be difficult. It helps that beach ambassadors move as a group, but Liang said this summer has challenged him to get outside of his comfort zone. “I feel like I’ve learned to overcome those awkward, uncomfortable situations,” said Liang.

A Beach Ambassador shows a informative flyer about longshore currents

A beach ambassador holds a factsheet about longshore currents. Photo credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

Not all outreach happens near water. In addition to pulling ambassador shifts at Bradford Beach, Liang tabled at the Green & Healthy Schools Conference and talked with other Milwaukee-based, environmental justice-focused organizations. The goal is to connect with more audiences. “This helps to promote beach safety among those who may be hesitant to go to the beach at all,” said Liang.

He is also designing a website for the program that will launch in early fall. He likes that the project melds both of his interests and shows a possible path forward in both the environmental and computer science fields.

Although the future is on his mind, Liang is also enjoying the present moment, spending the summer along Lake Michigan in his hometown.

“It’s nice to just be where you’re from and interact with the people from your community.”

 

Project: Restoration and Monitoring of Coastal Habitats

Isabelle Haverkampf and Gweni Malokofsky spent their summers the way many of us wish we could: on the water. Under the mentorship of Fisheries Specialist Titus Seilheimer, Haverkampf and Malokofsky have been working on multiple projects in the Lake Michigan watershed, including surveying fish and manoomin (wild rice) in Green Bay and collecting water quality and site assessment data at Forget-Me-Not Creek between Two Rivers and Manitowoc.

Isabelle Haverkampf in waders releases a fish into the water.

Isabelle Haverkampf releases a fish back into the water. Photo credit: Isabelle Haverkampf

A highlight of the summer was fish monitoring. For one week each month, the scholars worked with partner organizations at four sites in the bay of Green Bay in Lake Michigan, setting fykes and hauling seine nets to collect data on the species, size and number of fish caught. Prior to this summer, neither had much experience handling fish.

“I was uncomfortable holding and measuring bigger fish at the beginning, but I’ve definitely gotten much better at it,” said Haverkampf.

Gweni Malokofsky in waders holding up painted turtles

Gweni Malokofsky holds painted turtles she encountered during fish  monitoring. Photo credit: Gweni Malokofsky

Together, the team netted banded killifish, yellow perch, gar, bowfins and bullheads. Some species, Malokofsky learned, were more cooperative than others.

“The bowfins are definitely the hardest to deal with,” Malokofsky said. “If they don’t want to sit there, they won’t.”

Overall, the experience affirmed the scholars’ interest in working in the natural resources field. Haverkampf, a water science and geology double major who will graduate from Northland College in December, gained clarity about what she wants to study in graduate school.

The team measures fish caught during their survey

The team measures a fish. Photo credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

“I’ve found I really want to go into the water sciences sector, specifically in restoration or resource work,” she said, adding that she’s interested in how contaminants move through aquatic food webs.   

Malokofsky, a sophomore at UW–Green Bay majoring in biology with an emphasis in ecology and conservation, appreciated the hands-on introduction to field work. 

“I’m glad that I’m learning how to use different kinds of probes and tools and field equipment I previously haven’t had experience with,” she said.

Another perk of the experience? Knowing the best places for a peaceful paddle. Malokofsky said her family just got kayaks and canoes this summer. “Now I know some places I’d like to take them to.”

 

Project: Harvesting Manoomin as a Climate Adaptation and Resilience Strategy

This summer, Elliot Benjamin and Lucia Richardson immersed themselves in the stories and science of manoomin, also known as psiŋ or wild rice. Manoomin is an important food source with cultural and spiritual significance to the Native nations of the Great Lakes region but has been declining in range and abundance. Working with Social Science Outreach Specialist Deidre Peroff and partner organizations in Minnesota, the scholars participated in field work, field trips and independent study to learn how manoomin is connected to human, plant and animal communities and how those connections can help the plant thrive—despite changes in climate, water quality, land use and hydrology that threaten its existence.

Elliot Benjamin

Summer scholar Elliot Benjamin. Photo credit: Elliot Benjamin

For Benjamin, a senior at Marquette University majoring in sociology and gender studies with a minor in English, this summer was an opportunity to take a deeper dive and learn more about the ecological importance of a plant they first encountered in a Native American literature course.

“I knew some of the cultural significance and had read a little bit on my own,” said Benjamin, “but I didn’t know a lot about the biology of the plant itself and the history of the Anishinaabeg culture and all the different factors that are harming [manoomin].”

Lucia Richardson holds up a snake.

Summer scholar Lucia Richardson. Photo credit: Lucia Richardson

Richardson, a junior at Northland College majoring in nature and humanities with a minor in Native American studies, was also familiar with manoomin, having made rice knockers and participated in harvesting. This summer, she learned more about the relationships between manoomin, water quality, wildlife and the overall ecosystem.

“Manoomin is a keystone species,” said Richardson. “Manoomin in a habitat means that it’s a healthy, thriving habitat.”

Both scholars worked on capstone projects that raise awareness of the plant but also foster relationships between people.

Benjamin wrote an essay blending what they’ve learned about manoomin with reflections on their identity as a trans person.

“I wanted to take a more personal reflection approach to it,” they said, noting the capstone was a good opportunity to tap into their training in the humanities. Benjamin plans to submit the piece to an academic journal currently seeking papers about trans perspectives and ecology.

Richardson built upon an oral history project she began at Northland College transcribing and digitizing interviews with Bad River and Red Cliff tribal elders and government officials. Recorded in the 1970s, the oral histories were recently found on cassette tapes in the Northland Indigenous Culture Center and feature both personal and tribal history. Richardson is returning the tapes to tribal governments and hopes to collaborate on a future project.

As humanities students, Benjamin and Richardson appreciated how the summer exposed them to scientific topics and field work while welcoming their perspectives as nonscientists. Both are considering futures in environmental studies. Said Benjamin, “[The summer scholar experience] made it feel more attainable.”

 

Project: Environmental Video Production

Jeremy Van Mill stands in waders in a wetland, holding a camera.

Van Mill out in the field. Photo credit: Bonnie Willison

Jeremy Van Mill knows that observation is a good teacher—a lesson his summer scholar experience has helped him appreciate in a new way. Alongside video producer Bonnie Willison, Van Mill travelled across Wisconsin filming and photographing Sea Grant-funded researchers, outreach specialists and fellow summer scholars in the field. With no formal training in the aquatic sciences, Van Mill learned by watching and listening with his camera.

“One of the things I really enjoy about this position is that I am exposed to topics that I don’t have any experience with,” said Van Mill.

Van Mill, a second-year student in visual communications at Madison College, profiled the work of Aquatic Invasive Species Outreach Specialist, Scott McComb, and edited a video about groundwater flooding research on Crystal and Mud lakes in Dane County. He also edited the audio for a live performance of “Me and Debry,” a Sea Grant-funded play about marine debris, and photographed numerous events and outings.

The experience invited Van Mill to practice different ways of telling stories and producing videos. “It’s forcing me to stretch and change and reconsider the way I do things,” he said.

Fisheries Specialist Titus Seilheimer holds up a tiny brown bullhead in a container.

One of Van Mill’s favorite moments he captured this summer: Titus Seilheimer and a little, whiskery brown bullhead. Photo credit: Jeremy Van Mill

For example, letting the footage shape the story. In his previous film projects, Van Mill knew exactly what he was getting into: with script in hand, location scouted and actors rehearsed, he could plan out every shot in advance. That sort of control isn’t possible when filming in a poorly lit laboratory or on a boat in Lake Michigan, especially if your subjects move in unpredictable ways.

“You have to take a step back a little bit and stop trying to stage things or control different elements and seize the opportunities you have,” said Van Mill.

That means being present, paying attention and letting the story unfold on its own. “You’re sort of like a fly on the wall more than you’re producing video,” said Van Mill.

A close up shot of butterfly that shows all the little hairs on its body. Photo credit: Jeremy Van Mill

Van Mill’s macro photography captures small creatures up close, like this butterfly. Photo credit: Jeremy Van Mill

Speaking of flies, Van Mill films them, too. While in college, he started dabbling in macro videography and photography, meaning he films very small things. His subject of choice? Insects. Van Mill has spent hours finding and filming various critters going about their insectile agendas on beaches and in backyards.

“I learned a lot about insects by observing them,” said Van Mill. The videos reveal details people don’t usually see, like the tiny hairs on a fly’s leg or the coiling proboscis of a butterfly.

So much of the world opens up when you pay attention. Van Mill said it best: “Everyday things become extraordinary with a different angle or different perspective.”

 

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Jenna Mertz

The Water We Swim In is a multi-episode podcast series created and hosted by Bonnie Willison, Sea Grant’s digital storyteller, along with student Hali Jama. The series recently won two awards in the inaugural national Signal Awards competition.

colorful illustration with the title, The Water We Swim In

In the diversity, equity and inclusion category, the series won both a bronze award and the listener’s choice award.

“We had some really impressive competitors in the Signal Awards, and I’m honored to have even been a nominee. Also, it was great to see the support from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Sea Grant communities in the listener’s choice voting competition,” Willison said.

The podcast explores water equity in the Great Lakes region. Topics explored have been inequities in water infrastructure and racism that have resulted in, for example, the ongoing potable water crisis in Jackson, Miss.; the intersection of Indigenous sovereignty, water quality and wild rice restoration on Wisconsin’s largest inland lake; and access to water recreation by people with disabilities.

The title of the podcast was sparked by a comment from one of the guests, Co-Executive Director Brenda Coley of Milwaukee Commons, who, when taking about the legacy of segregation in swimming pools and swimming lessons said, “Racism is the water we swim in…sometimes we don’t understand how pervasive it really is.”

This is the first year of the Signal Awards, which attracted more than 1,700 entries. Entries were hosted by figures such as Trevor Noah and Jon Stewart and produced by organizations such as Bloomberg Media, AMC and Apple. Nearly 15,000 people voted for listeners choice awards.

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Moira Harrington

Smiling woman standing in front of a lake.Wisconsin Sea Grant’s videographer Bonnie Willison recently received two awards for her video production skills through a regional competition coordinated by an organization called Madison Media Professionals.

The group presents WAVE Awards, which honor excellence in the video production industry as well as in web, audio, video and graphic design. The 2022 competition received over 80 entries, including materials created for national entities like Toppers Pizza, Kohler, PBS Kids and American Family Insurance.

The Wisconsin Sea Grant video Nano- and Microplastics in the Great Lakes was awarded a WAVE merit award in the animation category. Willison created the scientific animations featured in the video by combining photography and motion graphics.

The second winning video is Clean, Drain and Dry Your Boat This Summer. It picked up a merit award in the branding and corporate image category. “We shot this video to raise awareness of invasive species in the Great Lakes,” Willison said. “It was great to partner with local professionals who helped direct, shoot and provide voiceover for this piece”

Viewers can subscribe to the Wisconsin Sea Grant YouTube channel to stay up to date with new videos about the program’s research, outreach and education.

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Moira Harrington

Wisconsin Sea Grant is announcing the launch of a new podcast series, The Water We Swim In. The trailer can be found here and it features stories about the Great Lakes and people working toward equity.

In the series, Sea Grant’s Digital Storyteller Bonnie Willison and Hali Jama, podcast intern, share inspiring interviews from community organizers, researchers and leaders navigating Wisconsin’s waters.

Sea Grant has long been invested in audio storytelling, starting in 1972 with the environmental news program Earthwatch Radio. In recent years, the program has produced a number of podcast series — Wisconsin Water News, Undercurrents: The Hidden Knowledge of Groundwater, The Fish Dish, and Introduced— several of which are award-winning.

On this upcoming season of the new podcast, Willison and Jama will:

  • Explore how redlining created the Great Lakes communities of today
  • Trace the alarming trend of swimming pool closures across the country and learn about the fight to save a Milwaukee pool
  • Talk with leaders who are working to make Wisconsin’s outdoors more accessible for people with disabilities
  • Travel to Lake Winnebago to hear about a culturally guided inter-tribal project focused on lake health and wild rice restoration
  • Cook fish and tofu soup and speak with a research group focused on the importance of fish to Asian women in Milwaukee
  • Go fishing with the Midwest Crappie Hunters, who are teaching Milwaukee’s central-city youth, elderly and veterans about fishing, the outdoors and aquatic resources
smiling woman in winter coat fishing

Jama attends a fishing clinic with Midwest Crappie Hunters in Milwaukee. Jama is a UW-Madison student studying marketing and international business with a certificate in environmental studies. (Photo: Bonnie Willison)

The series’ title, The Water We Swim In, was inspired by an interview with Brenda Coley, co-executive director of Milwaukee Water Commons. “Brenda had this great quote where she said that ‘racism is the water we swim in,’” said Willison. “People might not realize that systemic racism impacts everything in our society, just like a fish might not realize that it is swimming in water.”

The post Launch of new podcast about equity and the Great Lakes first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Moira Harrington

The Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals (ANREP) last week announced the winners of its 2022 national awards competition. Titus Seilheimer, fisheries specialist; Tim Campbell, aquatic invasive species specialist; Bonnie Willison, digital storyteller; and Sydney Widell, a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student in Freshwater and Marine Sciences and formerly an undergraduate employee of Sea Grant, won a gold award for their work on the podcast series “Introduced.”

“Introduced” spans two seasons with 18 episodes that explore stories of aquatic invasive species in Wisconsin, like rusty crayfish, purple loosestrife and spiny waterfleas.

Introduced cover art

Sea Grant’s Yael Gen designed the cover art for the podcast series.

“Creating this podcast was personally satisfying. It was the first time I’d done podcasting and the easy on-air rapport I had with Sydney made it all the more rewarding,” Willison said. “We learned a lot about the changes that invasive species bring to our cherished lakes streams and wetlands and we talked to many inspiring people who are devoted to protecting our waters.”

Willison also credits Campbell and Seilheimer for making the podcast so effective and educational.  

“When I heard Bonnie was going to lend her considerable talents to a new podcast series and that series would focus on aquatic invasive species, I was excited for the opportunity to dive deeper into some AIS topics and highlight voices and stories that could help us understand the complexity of those issues,” Campbell said. He appears in seven episodes and provided overall consultation on the series.

Seilheimer, too, welcomed the opportunity to participate—offering advice on the podcast series’ direction and featured in four episodes. “Podcasts are an innovative way to reach all kinds of audiences with the kind of prevention messages we want to share. Everyone can play a role in conserving our natural environments.”

Co-hosts Willison and Widell interviewed more than 60 people for the series. The guests included resource managers, recreational fishers and researchers, as well as people from nongovernmental organizations and private businesses.

The ANREP awards honor natural resource programs and people. The organization is a national association for cooperative extension service professionals working in environmental education, fisheries, forestry, wood sciences, range, recreation, waste management, water, wildlife, energy and related disciplines at the county, area, state or national level.

 

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Moira Harrington

The calendar has flipped to 2022. Our staff members are ready to tackle new projects in the coming 12 months, which also happens to mark Sea Grant’s 50th anniversary. Before they move more deeply into this anniversary, however, some staff members took a moment to retain the glow of their favorite 2021 project. Our resident fish and aquaculture maven—Sharon Moen who heads up the Eat Wisconsin Fish initiative—had a swimmingly successful effort to share for our last post in this series.

I dubbed my favorite 2021 effort, “Finding Fish in Wisconsin.” This quest for insights and interviews had me talking with commercial fishers, food-fish farmers and fish processors across the state in four bursts (see map). At different times, Wisconsin Sea Grant colleagues Bonnie Willison, Jennifer Smith, Titus Seilheimer and Marie Zhuikov were there, too.

My goal was to learn about the needs of Wisconsin’s food fish-producing industries and how Wisconsin Sea Grant could support their success, while gathering material to create fish producer profiles so that consumers can better understand who is producing their food and why fish from Wisconsin are safe to eat, a sustainable food choice and economically important.

While the conversations we had with fish producers are guiding Eat Wisconsin Fish activities in 2022, Willison has already turned some of the interviews into short videos that are available on Wisconsin Sea Grant’s YouTube playlist and elsewhere. If you are more into podcasts, Zhuikov wove interview excerpts into episodes of The Fish Dish, a new Wisconsin Sea Grant podcast.

This map, adapted from the Eat Wisconsin Fish website, shows Moen’s travels for the Finding Fish in Wisconsin effort. #1: Finding fish in Bayfield County (June) focused on Lake Superior commercial fisheries and processors. #2: Finding fish across the diagonal (July) spanned visits to farms raising shrimp, salmon, trout, yellow perch and more. #3: Finding fish near Sheboygan (August) was inspired by a tilapia farm and broadened to include visits with trout farmers, a fish smoking business and a commercial fisher. #4: Finding fish around Door County (November) included insights into the international fish roe trade and commercial fishing in Green Bay and Lake Michigan.

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Wisconsin Sea Grant

Wisconsin Sea Grant’s videographer Bonnie Willison recently captured a video award through a regional competition coordinated by an organization called Madison Media Professionals.

The group presents WAVE Awards, which honor excellence in the video production industry as well as in web, audio, video and graphic design. The 2021 competition received over 90 entries, including materials created for international and national entities like Yamaha, BBC America, Google and PBS Kids.

The Wisconsin Sea Grant video Geo Rutherford: Voices of the Coast was awarded a WAVE merit award in the video editing category.

Woman holding small plastic bag walking along water with trees in the background.

Artist Geo Rutherford draws inspiration for her work from the Great Lakes. Image credit: Bonnie Willison.

“It was fun to meet Geo, interview her in her home studio, and then go beachcombing with her in Milwaukee,” Willison said. “It was a rewarding challenge to edit hours of footage into a short, 5-minute documentary-style piece.”

The winning video is a light-hearted, buoyant profile that matches the spirit of Wisconsin artist Geo Rutherford, who creates prints, collage and sculpture that explore the hidden elements of the Great Lakes. Showcased in the video are Rutherford’s colorful installations, which highlight small synthetic or natural objects that are washed ashore by the waves. Rutherford also draws attention to microplastics like nurdles, which are a growing marine debris problem in Great Lakes ecosystems.

Rutherford’s work also focuses on aquatic invasive species. She hand-prints images of alewives, sea lamprey, and invasive mussels and collages the images into chaotic, mesmerizing works of art.

The video is part of the Voices of the Coast series, which tells the stories of individuals who live, work and recreate around the Great Lakes. Their experiences provide a lens for larger topics that touch on the lakes such as social justice, fisheries and conservation. The ever-expanding series can be found here.

The post Sea Grant recognized for video production first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Moira Harrington

Sea Grant won two communications awards in an international competition sponsored by Apex. Awards are based on excellence in graphic design, editorial content, and the ability to achieve overall communications effectiveness. APEX Grand Awards honor the outstanding works in each main category, while APEX Awards of Excellence recognize exceptional entries in each of the individual subcategories.

The Trash Trunk, marine debris teaching tool, won a Grand Award in one-of-a-kind publications. The material was designed by Yael Gen, edited by Elizabeth White and written by education specialist Ginny Carlton, with contributions from other educators throughout the Great Lakes Basin.

The video Past, Present and Future Ciscoes: Wisconsin Sea Grant Research, produced by Bonnie Willison, won an Award of Excellence about this prevalent and varied fish species in Great Lakes waters.

“Both Yael and Bonnie are masters of their craft. They understand how best to reach audiences with engaging and informative pieces,” said Moira Harrington, assistant director for communications. “We are so proud of them. These awards only serve to confirm what we already know—they help us act as better stewards of the Great Lakes because they elevate our collective understanding of the freshwater seas.”  

An invitation designed by Yael Gen for an event commemorating Groundwater Awareness Week also won an Award of Excellence that went to Sea Grant’s sister organization, the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute.

The competition drew nearly 1,200 entries from around the world, including from Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits and academic units.

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Moira Harrington

Sea Grant won two communications awards in an international competition sponsored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, an association that shares strategies and tactics to engage alumni, donors, prospective students, parents, government officials, community leaders and those in the private sector to support education.

The podcast series Introduced, produced by Bonnie Willison and student Sydney Widell about aquatic invasive species, won a gold award. Judges said, “We loved that the hosts reported their stories by finding interesting leads and then going into the field to investigate and interview the people involved…The back-and-forth between the hosts is comfortable and welcoming, and there’s good use of music throughout.”

The 2018-20 Sea Grant biennial report won a bronze award. The report was designed by Yael Gen, edited by Elizabeth White and written by Moira Harrington. Judges said, “Such a fun and creative design! The signal flag theme and visual identity are smart and unusual, and we agree with the nominators that the design captures the zeitgeist of this time period. Rough waters indeed! The graphic elements added inside flowing type are hard to pull off, but pull them off they did, creating something that’s not just visually interesting but rewards the viewer upon their closer inspection. For not being able to commission photography, they have done a wonderful job of creating visual excitement on each layout; it’s like a master class in how to get around COVID photography restrictions.”

An invitation designed by Yael Gen for an event commemorating Groundwater Awareness Week also won a bronze award that went to Sea Grant’s sister organization, the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute.

The competition drew 2,957 entries from around the world, including from prestigious Ivy League schools and respected international institutions.

The post Sea Grant wins communications awards first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Moira Harrington

In a concise and informative video released today, Wisconsin Sea Grant presents the science behind the effectiveness of green infrastructure—rain gardens or green roofs, for instance. Green infrastructure can turn down the heat and improve water quality and habitat by absorbing heavy rainfall and diverting it from a sewer system. The question is, what combination of curbside gardens, verdant roofs—or other approaches—packs the most punch.

The video explores the interplay between widespread green infrastructure, urban heat islands and rainfall. “You get this heat bubble around cities and that has some health consequences for people living in the cities,” said Steve Loheide, University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of civil and environmental engineering. “It also affects the weather around the cities.”

In Milwaukee, for example, storms typically come from the west and hit the city where the temperature is warmed by lots of pavement and asphalt roofs. Then, that stormy warm air rises. What rushes into the void left by the warm air is water-laden air from over Lake Michigan, known as an urban sea breeze. This, said Dan Wright, “Turns it (the city) into a hotspot for thunderstorms that tend to cause urban flash flooding.” Wright is also a civil and environmental engineering professor on the Madison campus.

Loheide, Wright and other research team members Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Water Resources Science Policy Fellow Carolyn Voter and UW-Madison Ph.D. student Aaron Alexander are using models to gauge how a suite of one of the nation’s most ambitious green infrastructure plans, with numerous greening goals, might affect temperature and precipitation.

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) and city of Milwaukee plan to increase tree canopy, depave parking lots and schoolyards, and install green roofs, rain gardens and porous pavement.

Porous pavement in Milwaukee captures rainwater for infiltration versus running into surface waters or as untreated water into the sewer system. Photo by: Kevin Miyazaki.

Sea Grant Videographer Bonnie Willison spoke to the researchers over Zoom and toured Milwaukee’s green infrastructure sites with MMSD’s Bre Plier. “After hearing so much about the considerable benefits green infrastructure can bring to a city, it was great to be able to visit and get footage of these sites,” Willison said.

 Her favorite quote from all the conversations was an uplifting one from Voter, who said, “I really like this project because it feels very hopeful to me. It feels like we’re not just thinking, “Well, what’s going to happen when we have heavy rainfall.’ We’re thinking, ‘Can we change this? Can we take matters into our own hands and reduce our risk.’ ”

The post New video explores greening of Milwaukee to combat heat island and flooding first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/new-video-explores-greening-of-milwaukee-to-combat-heat-island-and-flooding/

Moira Harrington

Once niche, podcasts have gone mainstream. According to figures cited in Forbes, 62 million Americans now listen to podcasts each week.

Sea Grant’s Yael Gen designed the cover art for the new podcast.

While Wisconsin Sea Grant and the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute have been involved in podcasting for years—from the current series Wisconsin Water News to older programs like Earthwatch Radio—there’s a new kid on the block: a podcast called “Introduced” that will be devoted to aquatic invasive species (AIS). Its tagline is “aquatic invaders and stories from our changing waters.”

“Introduced” is the brainchild of Sea Grant Video Producer Bonnie Willison and student employee Sydney Widell, a UW-Madison geography and geosciences major from Shorewood, Wis.

The series will span seven episodes, with one per week released beginning May 27. Listeners can find it on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify and on Sea Grant’s website.

While the simple name for the series conveys a bit of mystery, it also makes perfect sense. Said Willison, “As Sydney and I started learning more about invasive species, we noticed that there is a tendency for people to villainize these species. But we also noticed that humans are the ones introducing all these species to new environments. The title for our series puts the agency on people, which is something that we focus on in the podcast.”

Sydney Widell, one of the creators of the new podcast, on a visit to an electric fish barrier in Illinois in February. The barrier helps keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. (Photo: Bonnie Willison)

Guests interviewed in the series include representatives from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Geological Survey, UW-Madison, the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and a rescue organization focusing on exotic animals. Several Sea Grant staff also make appearances.

Topics are wide-ranging, from Asian carp to the trade in invasive species on the Internet. Because the AIS field is so rich, Willison anticipates doing a second season of the “Introduced” podcast. Stay tuned!

Original Article

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/introducing-introduced-sea-grants-newest-podcast/

Jennifer Smith

Chuck Shea, with the USACE, explains the 120-year history of the canal and its charge from Congress to stop the spread of AIS through the canal — a charge that came in 1996. Image by Moira Harrington.

Last Friday, I went to the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, which is outfitted with a set of thrumming electrical barriers. These barriers churn out an alternating current 34 times per second, each with a duration of 2.3 milliseconds. The goal is to turn back any invasive Asian carp set on making the journey into the world’s largest freshwater system. If established, it’s theorized the voracious eaters would decimate food sources at the expense of larger native fish.

I went with Bonnie Willison, Sea Grant’s digital storyteller, and Sydney Widell, an undergraduate with our program. Fisheries Specialist Titus Seilheimer and Southeast Wisconsin Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Specialist Molly Bodde met us there, as did Chris Hamerla, a regional aquatic invasive species specialist with Golden Sands Resource and Conservation Development Council Inc., and Paul Skawinski, citizen lake monitoring network educator from the University of Wisconsin-Extension Lakes Program. Both are based in Stevens Point.

Willison and Widell are working on a multipart podcast series with a focus on AIS. Willison was tenacious in her efforts to secure permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for our visit to Romeoville, Illinois. These are the folks who manage the site of what’s been called the world’s largest electric barrier, actually three of them with 155-foot sections of electrodes at the bottom of the 27-foot-deep canal.

A fourth barrier is under construction and will have three times the power of the existing ones. The USACE plans to throw the switch on that in early 2021.

This is ground zero in the battle to keep Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes through a manmade waterway linking Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River Basin. It’s a 120-year-old unnatural connection, enabling marine transport and a cleaner Chicago, since stormwater and treated wastewater now flows out of that city thanks to an engineering feat that reversed the natural course of the water. It’s also provided a highway to mix species between the two aquatic systems that nature never intended to mix.

I’m not someone who geeks out on engineering, shipping or electricity. And it certainly wasn’t the promise of lovely waterside aesthetics that drew me south. This section of the canal is set amid a heavily industrialized stretch with belching petrochemical refineries.

The area around the electrical barriers is heavily industrialized. Image by Moira Harrington.

No, my emotions got revving because of what this place represents. Eight USACE employees, some consultants with barrier manufacturer Smith-Root and a whole lot of electrical buzz are all that stands between the Illinois River’s Starved Rock Pool, which supposedly holds the planet’s largest concentration of Asian carp and is about 60 miles from where I visited, and the rippling waves of Lake Michigan. Wow!

I wasn’t the only one expressing emotions. Widell said she has “peaked” now that she’s had a visit. Our lead AIS Specialist Tim Campbell wasn’t able to make the trip but responded to Seilheimer, aka @DrFish on Twitter, with #jealous.

Hamerla told the story about how Skawinski had texted him earlier in the week: “Call me ASAP.” When the two connected and Skawinski extended the invitation, Hamerla’s response was reportedly an enthusiastic, “Heck, yea,” leading to a 4 a.m. departure from Stevens Point to meet at the appointed hour.

Strong feelings weren’t limited to our group. Chuck Shea, USACE barrier project manager, said what motivates him on a daily basis is, “Knowing that you’re working on something that benefits so many people.”

The podcast episode about Asian carp and the barrier will be released in spring or early summer. At that time and after listening, Willison and Widell are betting you’ll get some emotions going, too.

Original Article

Blog – Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/asian-carp-dispersal-barrier-elicits-emotions/

Moira Harrington