On:
In: Dam Removal, flooding, PFAS, Recreation

Paddling a free Little Wolf for the first time in nearly 150 years

On June 28, 2026, we joined supporters of the Friends of the Little Wolf River for a paddle near Manawa, WI. 

On the July 4 weekend of 2024, Manawa received so much rain that the abutment of the dam on the Little Wolf gave away, effectively destroying a structure that had been in place for nearly 150 years. Since then, the greater Manawa community has debated the future of the dam, the mill pond the dam created, and the Little Wolf River itself.

Manawa dam in the Little Wolf River

Out of that community conversation formed a new friendship between Ben Hlaban and Nick Heise. They are calling for the Little Wolf to remain a free-flowing river. Both have deep family ties to the area and grew up fishing in the Little Wolf. They believe a free-flowing river is key to a more natural path to flood resilience in a changing climate where the next 100- or 500-year flood is no longer a matter of “if” but “when.”

The best way to learn about the beauty and benefits of a free-flowing river is to experience it first hand. So we loaded up our kayaks and helped a couple dozen fellow river enthusiasts join us on a guided trip. 

A changing river

In between waving to neighbors, pointing out bird species, and picking up trash, Ben and Nick explained how much the riverbed has changed since the 2024 flood. What used to be a mill pond is now a flowing river with clear water, native mussels, cold water tributaries, and migratory sturgeon. 

They pointed out good fishing spots, a train bridge that could be a future segment of the Tomorrow River trail, and how rain and the river have pushed sand and sediment into new places.

“The first thing I noticed was how quiet it was,” said River Alliance of Wisconsin Communications Director Stacy Harbaugh. “You just hear birds and the breeze. I also expected the gap between the former shoreline of the mill pond and the edge of the river to be more dramatic. What we saw was a river, a floodplain, and a lot of potential for restoration of this paddler’s delight.”

We stopped for lunch (catered by the friendly local diner, Sunrise Cafe) and a discussion at a local park where we heard from Ben and Nick about the options for the community. Undeterred by a little rain, we continued on to paddle past the former dam and into a more heavily wooded area that will be stunning in the fall. We wrapped up our trip with a visit to Linda Mae’s, a local ice cream parlor, for treats. 

The future of the Little Wolf

The community of Manawa, WI is still debating what to do about the dam. The City of Manawa’s consultants say that the dam cannot be fixed. Rebuilding the dam would cost $8 million. Removing the remnants of the structure and letting the river flow freely would cost around $700,000.

What isn’t included in that estimate is how a healthy river and floodplain can help protect the community from flood damage in the future. There are still a lot of misconceptions about the role of dams in flood control. 

The best place to learn about opportunities for public comments on the future of the Little Wolf River is by following the Friends of the Little Wolf on Facebook. 

Other resources

Hear an interview with leaders of the Friends of the Little Wolf with Communications Director Stacy Harbaugh on the VMO Show.

Read an opinion piece in Silent Sports magazine that is a deep-dive into the history of the Manawa mill pond, why dams are contentious, and why a free-flowing river has value by Timothy Bauer of Miles paddled.  

Timothy also documented the stretch of river we traveled back in October 2025 for Miles Paddled where you’ll find descriptions of where to put in and take out, the boulder gardens, and the little riffles that make the trip exciting. The included YouTube video gives you a good idea of what the river looked like in that snapshot of time.

The post Paddling a free Little Wolf for the first time in nearly 150 years appeared first on River Alliance of WI.

Original Article

Blog - River Alliance of WI

Blog - River Alliance of WI

https://wisconsinrivers.org/little-wolf-river-paddle-2026/

Allison Werner

On:
In: Dam Removal, flooding, PFAS, Recreation

Manawa: Paddle the Little Wolf River with us on June 28

River Alliance of Wisconsin welcomes paddlers to join us on the Little Wolf River near Manawa, WI for a recreational opportunity to experience a free-flowing Little Wolf after the destruction of a dam after a storm and flood in 2024.

Register for the June 28 Little Wolf paddle

Join us on the Little Wolf River

On Sunday, June 28, we will meet up at 10 a.m. at a riverside location north of Manawa, Wisconsin. Location details will be sent to event registrants by email. Bring your own boat, and we will assist with a vehicle shuttle. A boxed lunch will be provided. Weather updates or an event cancellation will be shared with registrants the morning of the event by email. There is no rain date for this paddle.

Why paddle the Little Wolf

Paddling a free-flowing Little Wolf River is a significant action. There has been a millpond in Manawa since the 1870s when settlers dammed the river for the logging industry, and the dam was rebuilt in 1920s as a small hydropower dam. The segment of the river hasn’t flowed freely in 150 years.

On July 5 2024, heavy rains impacted the land around the Manawa Dam. The banks eroded, the flooded millpond destroyed part of the dam, and areas of the city including the annual Mid-Western Rodeo had to be evacuated. Since then, the Manawa community and their neighbors have debated whether to repair, rebuild, or remove the Manawa Dam, which had structural deficiencies even prior to the flood.

A feasibility study by the Cedar Corporation emphasized that repair was not feasible, replacement would cost $8.4 million, and removing the remnants of the dam and restoring the shoreline could cost as little as $700,000. From a cost perspective, the solution is clear. But what is harder to measure is the ecological and recreational value of the Little Wolf River.

That’s why we hope you’ll join us to see how the river has returned to a free-flowing state. We can witness the return of plants on its banks, scout for native mussels, and talk about what a river could do for the community’s future flood resilience in a changing climate. Bonus: we’ll get ice cream at the end of the trip!

 

This message is made possible by generous donors who believe people have the power to protect and restore water. Subscribe to our Word on the Stream email newsletter to receive stories, action alerts and event invitations in your inbox.  Support our work with your contribution today.

The post Manawa: Paddle the Little Wolf River with us on June 28 appeared first on River Alliance of WI.

Original Article

Blog - River Alliance of WI

Blog - River Alliance of WI

https://wisconsinrivers.org/little-wolf-paddle-2026/

Allison Werner

On:
In: Climate change, dams, flooding, infrastructure, Latest News, Michigan, Wisconsin
The river flooded the sidewalk and trees on Island Park - Grand Ledge, Michigan, march 2026

Richard B. (Ricky) Rood, University of Michigan

Michigan and parts of Wisconsin are in the midst of a historic flooding event in spring 2026. Days of heavy rainfall on top of snow have sent lakes and rivers over their banks and threatened several dams in both states, forcing people to evacuate homes downstream. By April 20, 2026, nearly half of Michigan’s counties were under a state of emergency. In Cheboygan, Michigan, large pumps were brought in to lower pressure on a century-old dam in the city.

The region’s aging water infrastructure was never designed for the volume of water it is facing. That’s a troubling sign for the future, with flooding becoming more common as global temperatures rise.

In many areas, the damage has been exacerbated by a culture of building homes and cabins on the shores of inland lakes and along riverine lakes behind small, often privately owned dams. Many of these dams were built over 100 years ago, with some long forgotten.

I am a professor emeritus of meteorology at the University of Michigan whose work focuses on helping communities adapt to climate change. The warming climate is worsening the flood risk, and disasters like the one Michigan is experiencing are setting higher benchmarks for safety as communities plan future infrastructure.

Where is all the water coming from?

For much of Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as northern Illinois, 2026 has been the wettest March and April on record.

In March, much of that precipitation fell as snow, including in an enormous blizzard that brought 3 feet of snow to parts of Michigan. In mid-April, persistent rains began. The rain, on top of all that snow, sent floodwaters running into rivers, streets and homes. The water carries large amounts of ice that damages shores, infrastructure and homes.

The moisture for much of these storms has been funneled northward from the warm Gulf of Mexico, thanks in part to a high pressure system sitting over the southeastern U.S.

The problem of warming winters

The kind of flooding Michigan and Wisconsin are experiencing in 2026 is what forecasters expect to see more of as global temperatures rise.

Winters have been warming faster than other seasons across the U.S. In Michigan and Wisconsin, winter months used to be reliably below freezing, but that’s changing. In the Cheboygan area, near the tip of Lower Michigan, March temperatures used to be below freezing on all but a few days. By the 1991-2020 period, the region averaged 10 days above or close to the freezing point – about twice as many as the 1951-1980 period.

The air coming in from the south is also warmer than in the past. Nationally, 2026 was the warmest March on record in 132 years of record-keeping in the contiguous U.S., with an average temperature more than 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) higher than the 30-year average. So, in addition to snowmelt starting earlier, melting is happening faster.

Michigan’s average wintertime temperature rose by more than 4 F (2.3 C) from 1951 to 2023. Though winter 2026 in Michigan was colder than the 1991-2020 average, the Gulf of Mexico, where the moisture originated, was warmer than average, accelerating the snowmelt.

How warming leads to downpours and flooding

A few aspects of a warming climate can lead to flooding.

First, temperatures are increasing. In higher temperatures, moisture evaporates faster from the ground, plants and surface water. That moisture, once in the atmosphere, eventually falls again as precipitation. However, for each degree Celsius that temperatures increase, the atmosphere can hold about 7% more moisture, resulting in more heavy downpours.

A warmer winter also means more melting snow and more rain-on-snow events that can quickly increase the amount of runoff into rivers.

The Great Lakes region and much of the Northeast already experience more precipitation than in the past. Winters with more persistent wetness – not just snow but also rain – prime the region for floods. With continued warming in the coming decades, 2026 might be among the least disruptive in the future.

Data shows that a scenario of persistent wetness, changes in winter and seasonal runoff is part of the future for Michigan and the other states and Canadian provinces along the Great Lakes Basin, as well as New England.

Fixing dams for the future

All of this means communities across the region will have to pay closer attention to the growing risks facing their vital infrastructure – particularly dams.

Even prior to the 2026 floods, Michigan had a well-documented problem with its aging inventory of 2,600 dams. In May 2020, an intense storm system that stalled over the region brought so much rain that the Edenville and Sanford dams both failed near Midland, Michigan, forcing 10,000 people to evacuate and causing an estimated US$200 million in damage.

After that disaster, a state task force issued recommendations for fixing the state’s water control infrastructure to meet the growing risks. But a member of the task force told The Detroit News in April 2026 that little had been done to address those recommendations.

Michigan and parts of Wisconsin are in the midst of a historic flooding event in spring 2026. Days of heavy rainfall on top of snow have sent lakes and rivers over their banks and threatened several dams in both states, forcing people to evacuate homes downstream. By April 20, 2026, nearly half of Michigan’s counties were under a state of emergency. In Cheboygan, Michigan, large pumps were brought in to lower pressure on a century-old dam in the city.

The region’s aging water infrastructure was never designed for the volume of water it is facing. That’s a troubling sign for the future, with flooding becoming more common as global temperatures rise.

In many areas, the damage has been exacerbated by a culture of building homes and cabins on the shores of inland lakes and along riverine lakes behind small, often privately owned dams. Many of these dams were built over 100 years ago, with some long forgotten.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ik4S2Kgn9ak?wmode=transparent&start=0 Michigan State Police captured scenes of stressed dams and flooding across Cheboygan County, near the tip of the Lower Peninsula, including the century-old dam in the city of Cheboygan that was nearly overwhelmed by flood water.

I am a professor emeritus of meteorology at the University of Michigan whose work focuses on helping communities adapt to climate change. The warming climate is worsening the flood risk, and disasters like the one Michigan is experiencing are setting higher benchmarks for safety as communities plan future infrastructure.

Where is all the water coming from?

For much of Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as northern Illinois, 2026 has been the wettest March and April on record.

In March, much of that precipitation fell as snow, including in an enormous blizzard that brought 3 feet of snow to parts of Michigan. In mid-April, persistent rains began. The rain, on top of all that snow, sent floodwaters running into rivers, streets and homes. The water carries large amounts of ice that damages shores, infrastructure and homes.

The moisture for much of these storms has been funneled northward from the warm Gulf of Mexico, thanks in part to a high pressure system sitting over the southeastern U.S.

The problem of warming winters

The kind of flooding Michigan and Wisconsin are experiencing in 2026 is what forecasters expect to see more of as global temperatures rise.

Winters have been warming faster than other seasons across the U.S. In Michigan and Wisconsin, winter months used to be reliably below freezing, but that’s changing. In the Cheboygan area, near the tip of Lower Michigan, March temperatures used to be below freezing on all but a few days. By the 1991-2020 period, the region averaged 10 days above or close to the freezing point – about twice as many as the 1951-1980 period.

The air coming in from the south is also warmer than in the past. Nationally, 2026 was the warmest March on record in 132 years of record-keeping in the contiguous U.S., with an average temperature more than 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) higher than the 30-year average. So, in addition to snowmelt starting earlier, melting is happening faster.

Michigan’s average wintertime temperature rose by more than 4 F (2.3 C) from 1951 to 2023. Though winter 2026 in Michigan was colder than the 1991-2020 average, the Gulf of Mexico, where the moisture originated, was warmer than average, accelerating the snowmelt.

How warming leads to downpours and flooding

A few aspects of a warming climate can lead to flooding.

First, temperatures are increasing. In higher temperatures, moisture evaporates faster from the ground, plants and surface water. That moisture, once in the atmosphere, eventually falls again as precipitation. However, for each degree Celsius that temperatures increase, the atmosphere can hold about 7% more moisture, resulting in more heavy downpours.

A warmer winter also means more melting snow and more rain-on-snow events that can quickly increase the amount of runoff into rivers.

The Great Lakes region and much of the Northeast already experience more precipitation than in the past. Winters with more persistent wetness – not just snow but also rain – prime the region for floods. With continued warming in the coming decades, 2026 might be among the least disruptive in the future.

Data shows that a scenario of persistent wetness, changes in winter and seasonal runoff is part of the future for Michigan and the other states and Canadian provinces along the Great Lakes Basin, as well as New England.

Fixing dams for the future

All of this means communities across the region will have to pay closer attention to the growing risks facing their vital infrastructure – particularly dams.

Even prior to the 2026 floods, Michigan had a well-documented problem with its aging inventory of 2,600 dams. In May 2020, an intense storm system that stalled over the region brought so much rain that the Edenville and Sanford dams both failed near Midland, Michigan, forcing 10,000 people to evacuate and causing an estimated US$200 million in damage.

After that disaster, a state task force issued recommendations for fixing the state’s water control infrastructure to meet the growing risks. But a member of the task force told The Detroit News in April 2026 that little had been done to address those recommendations.

Because warming will continue for the coming decades, the 2026 flooding should be considered at the lower end of capacity for stormwater infrastructure and dams. Rather than relying on the statistics that described floods in the past, planners will have to anticipate the floods of the future.

Michigan is often touted as a climate haven because it is relatively cool and has plenty of water. The state is not, however, immune to the amped-up weather of a warming climate. Environmental security in the future requires improved and more adaptive infrastructure.

The post Extreme rain on snow is testing aging dams across Michigan and Wisconsin — this is the future in a warming world appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/22/extreme-rain-on-snow-is-testing-aging-dams-across-michigan-and-wisconsin-this-is-the-future-in-a-warming-world/

The Conversation

On:
In: Climate change, climate resilience, flooding

After the flood: your support helps us advocate for free-flowing rivers

Support River Alliance of Wisconsin with a special year-end gift that will sustain our work to unite water advocates across the state to protect and restore Wisconsin’s waters. Your generous contribution – and impact for Wisconsin’s waters – will be matched dollar for dollar up to $18,000.

 

Manawa, Wisconsin faces decisions after a flood

Early in the morning of July 5, 2024, a storm cell moved over central Wisconsin. In just two hours, four inches of rain had been dumped across the Little Wolf River watershed, which had already been hit with heavy rainfall in the preceding weeks.

In Appleton, streets became impassible. Flash flood warnings were issued in Calumet, Manitowoc, Outagamie and Brown counties. But the Waupaca County town of Manawa was hit the hardest.

Four hours after the storm began, downed trees and debris from the surging Little Wolf were pushed through Manawa’s 180-acre millpond and into the aging dam. The waters overwhelmed the dam, and the earthen berm to the north gave way.

The library nearby was forced to evacuate; the water treatment facility was flooded; the Mid-West Rodeo, the town’s largest annual event that brings hundreds of thousands of dollars into the community, was cancelled; and more than 100 people had to vacate their homes until the waters subsided.

How we help: when dam removal is necessary

Since our inception, River Alliance of Wisconsin has been a leading voice advocating for the removal of those dams that are unnecessary, unsafe, or incapable of withstanding the infrastructure demands new climate challenges will bring. This is an essential part of our mission to protect and restore Wisconsin’s waters.

Over the last few years, we’ve recommitted ourselves to dam removal advocacy, now with renewed urgency as devastating storms like the one that hit Manawa last year become more frequent, putting communities in direct conflict with the waters they were built around.

The benefits of dam removal are clear: cleaner water, improved wildlife habitat, lowered flooding risks, increased recreational opportunities, and lowered maintenance costs.

However, federal and state resources needed to remove dams and restore rivers are increasingly hard to come by.

Even in communities not faced with the threat of imminent dam failure, conversations about restoring our waters to their natural state are incredibly fraught.

At a fundamental level, these conversations are about restoring community-wide, democratic decision-making to our shared water resources. Who is allowed to reap the benefits of dammed rivers? Who will be forced to take on the consequences of extreme storms on unsafe dams or droughts on heavily impounded rivers?

For three decades, River Alliance of Wisconsin has helped water advocates navigate these complex interactions in their own communities across the state.

Wisconsinites form deep, emotional connections to our waters, so it can be hard to imagine the possibilities of a community existing in harmony with a free-flowing river when dams and their impounded waters are all that many community members have ever known.

And navigating the available options when dam removal is on the table is incredibly complex. The challenges are numerous: determining who has decision-making authority, which agency inspects and/or licenses the dam, where to find funding for removal and the accompanying habitat restoration, and how advocates can best make their voices heard.

River Alliance has become a trusted ally for people looking to restore their rivers and support climate-resilient communities because we have the experience and technical expertise to

  • help communities navigate complex conversations about dam removal and hydropower relicensing.
  • connect water advocates with resources needed to fund removal and restoration efforts.
  • be a voice for rivers when hydroelectric dam removal isn’t an option by demanding better conditions for wildlife, water quality and quantity, and recreation.
  • advocate for nature-based solutions for flood mitigation over human-built infrastructure.
  • connect Wisconsinites to our waters and wildlife through educational events and paddle trips – like our native mussel paddle on the Chippewa River in August.

What’s next for Manawa

Today the Manawa community has an incredible opportunity to imagine how a free-flowing Little Wolf, which has largely returned to its original channel, could enrich the city through fish passage, ecological health, recreation, and – critically – flood resilience.

For the Manawa dam, there are two paths forward: restore the river, or rebuild the dam for an estimated $8.4 million – 12 times the cost of restoration.

Like we have in communities across Wisconsin for the last three decades, we stand with local advocates in Manawa passionate about what a restored river could mean for their community. As climate change continues to threaten aging and sometimes unnecessary dams around the state, your support helps us work together to build a cleaner, more climate resilient Wisconsin.

Help us be an advocate for people who see a future of free-flowing rivers. Your generosity with a year-end gift helps River Alliance continue to protect and restore our waters for everyone who calls Wisconsin home.

Donate to River Alliance of Wisconsin

– Ellen Voss, Climate Resilience Director

 

This message is made possible by generous donors who believe people have the power to protect and restore water. Subscribe to our Word on the Stream email newsletter to receive stories, action alerts and event invitations in your inbox. Support our work with your contribution today.

Miles Paddled visits the site of the damaged dam in Manawa

The full video is a great way to witness changes in the landscape at river level. The view of the damaged dam starts around the 13:45 mark.

The post After the flood: your support helps us advocate for free-flowing rivers appeared first on River Alliance of WI.

Original Article

Blog - River Alliance of WI

Blog - River Alliance of WI

https://wisconsinrivers.org/2025-year-end-donations/

Allison Werner

On:
In: Detroit, Feature Homepage, flooding, infrastructure, Latest News, Michigan, News, water infrastructure, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
After water main break, officials say homes in Detroit’s Southwest will get repairs covered

By Adam Yahya Rayes and Sarah Cwiek, Michigan Public

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS, Michigan Public and The Narwhal who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/after-water-main-break-officials-say-homes-in-detroits-southwest-will-get-repairs-covered/

Michigan Public

On:
In: Climate change, flooding, Great Lakes coastal counties in Wisconsin, Karina Heim, Lake Superior Climate Champions Program, Lake Superior Reserve, Public Health, stormwater management, workshop planning

A program for community leaders in northern Wisconsin who are looking for ways to address climate change is available through Wisconsin Sea Grant and the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve. 

The Lake Superior Climate Champions Program began provides a yearlong opportunity for community teams to work on a goal of their choosing that addresses climate change, with a minimum of $2,500 in funding, guidance from Sea Grant and Reserve staff members and the chance to connect with other communities working on climate challenges. The program completed its first successful cohort last year and is seeking applicants for a new round of support in 2024.

Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Natalie Chin discusses climate change impacts with Climate Champions teams in 2023. Image credit: Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve

Participating teams of two to four people must be from one of the four coastal counties (Douglas, Bayfield, Ashland or Iron) and may include representatives from multiple jurisdictions. The teams can include community members in decision-making roles, such as tribal or county government staff, elected officials, members of local boards and committees or regional intergovernmental committees.

“All across Lake Superior’s coastal communities, we feel the impacts of climate change firsthand,” said Karina Heim, coastal training program coordinator with the Lake Superior Reserve. “Finding time and the capacity to address climate issues can be a challenge for local leaders. Our Climate Champions Program offers dedicated, yearlong support for climate work.”

Teams who want to participate need to apply online by March 15 at: https://go.wisc.edu/0385yk. Teams will be selected by April and the program will begin in May.

The previous year’s projects included creating the outline of a coastal adaptation plan for Washburn and Ashland, Wisconsin, that focused on flood resilience, climate adaptation and a project priorities list; also, emergency managers from Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas and Iron counties developed an online form to record road maintenance activities for Great Lakes coastal counties in Wisconsin.

Applicants are encouraged to seek support for a new climate resilience effort that is relevant to their community. This could include developing a new resource or tool, initiating an assessment, bringing people together in dialog or developing a specific climate plan.

Other possible project examples include: finding and using an assessment or planning tool to prepare for climate challenges (flooding, public health, etc.), planning a workshop or a facilitated process that allows for climate change learning and dialog and incorporating climate change considerations into an existing project or process, such as land-use planning or stormwater management.

For more information, visit: https://go.wisc.edu/am468e.

The post Applications open for community climate support program first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/applications-open-for-community-climate-support-program/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: contaminants, flooding, Jacquie Cronin, Jennifer Hauxwell, Roy Irving, Sarah Gravlee, Sarah Yang, Water Science Policy Fellow, Wisconsin Department of Health Services

In the roughly six months she has been the 2023 Water Science Policy Fellow, Sarah Gravlee’s throughline has been science, in many forms. It’s been her head-down task to complete a literature review of the hurdles facing public water systems. Gravlee’s been checking for lead water-service lines to a location where someone has applied for day care certification. She’s been fielding phone calls from people across Wisconsin with questions about contaminants in their private wells. There was also the meth house.

Person standing next to a tree, wearing a blue shirt with trees in the background.
Fellow Sarah Gravlee is connecting Wisconsin residents with information water.

“I joined one of our toxicologists in the field a few months ago,” Gravlee said. “We went to a home where someone used to smoke meth. We tested it to ensure it was safe for children to resume living there. It passed with flying colors. Well, not flying colors. There was a negligible amount of residue detected. We used a test similar to a PCR test (a DNA polymerase chain reaction test). We wiped windowsills down and mixed these samples with a chemical solution. The solution was dropped on a tester that uses color indication to quantify the meth levels.”

Gravlee’s two-year fellowship is supported by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) and the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute (WRI). Her indisputably wide range of tasks in such a short amount of time is precisely the intention of the sponsoring organizations.

Jennifer Hauxwell, WRI associate director and a co-mentor for Gravlee, noted the initial call for applicants stated that the fellow would capitalize on many opportunities to help communities facing hazardous conditions.

The mentor team is rounded out by Drs. Roy Irving and Sarah Yang at DHS and Environmental Health Capacity Evaluator Jacquie Cronin, also at DHS. This fellowship/co-mentoring model, Hauxwell said, serves the interests of all three participants, the university, agency and fellow.

The university, through WRI, contributes to workforce development—training the next generation of scientists to do community-engaged science. Then, “Agencies make progress on a water challenge for the people of Wisconsin and attract talent for a project, and potentially longer-term positions.” Hauxwell continued, “Fellows apply technical skills to real-world problems, learn how to engage partners and communities and are invited to step outside of a comfort zone.”

For Gravlee’s part, she’s ticking the boxes Hauxwell described. “I like working at the intersection between water and public health. I’ve enjoyed fielding questions from the public about water contaminants, sitting in on meetings about newly identified water contamination, and assisting in projects focused on reducing Wisconsin’s environmental health hazards. I’ve learned a lot about how DHS functions and collaborates with its partners, including the DNR, DATCP (Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection), UW-Extension and local health departments.”

She also offered: “I know the DHS fellowship is a little different than other fellowships that are focused on a singular project. I love that I have a variety of tasks, so every day is different.  DHS has been great about providing professional development opportunities and involving me in work that is in line with my interests.”

As for longer-term positions that could result from a fellowship, Gravlee isn’t yet sure of her future direction. “I never pictured myself working in public health before this fellowship, but I think it’s been a good fit. I could see myself continuing environmental health work or transitioning to work focused specifically on contaminated water resources.”

In the meantime, she’s soaking up the experience and providing solid contributions to, for example, implementing a wide-ranging Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant on building environmental health capacity. According to the DHS, 83% of community water systems in the state serve small populations, 3,330 or fewer people. Through a mini-grant program on which Gravlee works, local public health departments and tribal health agencies are getting assistance to address health hazards such as high nitrate levels, flooding and contaminants.

Based on that grant, Gravlee has been preparing for a conference presentation in March. It will focus on her and Cronin’s environmental health capacity support for local health departments investigating and resolving water-related issues. The pair is refining a presentation they previously delivered at a statewide conference in the fall.

The post Variable fellowship brings learning and results for all involved first appeared on WRI.

Original Article

News Release | WRI

News Release | WRI

https://www.wri.wisc.edu/news/4058-2/

Moira Harrington

On:
In: Agriculture, Eric Kastelic, flooding, groundwater, land use, loheide, monitoring, steve, well, wri

 

Researcher Steve Loheide spent much of his childhood on the banks of Crystal, Fish and Mud lakes in northern Dane County, Wisconsin. “I used to ride my bike between Fish Lake and Mud Lake. And they’re now one lake – they’re combined,” says Loheide.

Water levels in Crystal, Fish and Mud lakes have fluctuated drastically for at least a century. In his office, Loheide keeps a copy of a 1914 newspaper clipping titled “Crystal Lake, dried up, again filling with water.” According to the article, Crystal Lake dried up in the early 1900s and farmers started growing crops on the former lake bottom. But by 1914, water was starting to return.

Today, the lake is overflowing its banks, causing destruction of homes, businesses and crop land. During Loheide’s lifetime, he has witnessed a 17 foot increase in the water level in Fish Lake. This experience inspired Loheide, now an ecohydrology professor at UW-Madison’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, to embark on a research project to understand why groundwater flooding is plaguing these lakes and what we can do about it.

Aerial photo of a flooded lake.
Crystal, Fish and Mud lakes are located in the upper Yahara watershed in South Central Wisconsin.

“Groundwater flooding is perhaps a little bit more insidious” than surface water flooding, Loheide said. The groundwater flooding at these internally drained basin lakes is caused by a slowly rising water table. What is causing the water table to rise? Loheide and his collaborators professor emeritus Ken Potter and Ph.D. student Eric Kastelic ask that question in their project Biomanipulation of Groundwater Flooding, funded by the Wisconsin Water Resources Institute.

According to Kastelic, groundwater flooding in the area is likely due to multiple factors, like changes in both precipitation and land use over the last 100 years. “This part of Wisconsin used to predominately be tallgrass prairie and oak savanna,” said Kastelic. A century ago, settlers transitioned the landscape to shallow-rooted row crop agriculture. 

Loheide and Kastelic hypothesize that this transition from deep-rooted to shallow-rooted plants, paired with climate change, has affected the water table. As part of the project, the team will be documenting the changing water table and creating a model to study the feedbacks between land use change and climate change in hydrologic systems. “We want to model this system and determine if we had more trees on the landscape, would we see less groundwater flooding?” says Loheide.

The research team hopes the data can help communities, like those surrounding Crystal, Fish and Mud lakes, build resilient landscapes. If the research shows that large-scale tree plantings could be a viable solution to groundwater flooding in internally drained basins, Loheide could see this being explored as a strategy to help vulnerable communities.

Watch the new video here.

The post Could trees prevent groundwater flooding? [New video] first appeared on WRI.

Original Article

News Release | WRI

News Release | WRI

https://www.wri.wisc.edu/news/groundwater-flooding/

Bonnie Willison

On:
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A Community-Led Approach To Stopping Flooding Expands

By Maia McDonald and Katrina Pham, Borderless

This piece is part of a collaboration that includes the Institute for Nonprofit News, Borderless, Ensia, Planet Detroit, Sahan Journal, and Wisconsin Watch, as well as the Guardian and Inside Climate News. The project was supported by the Joyce Foundation. 

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

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Survival of wild rice threatened by climate change, increased rainfall in northern Minnesota

By  Andrew Hazzard, Sahan Journal 

This piece is part of a collaboration that includes the Institute for Nonprofit News, Borderless, Ensia, Planet Detroit, Sahan Journal, and Wisconsin Watch, as well as the Guardian and Inside Climate News. The project was supported by the Joyce Foundation. 

ONAMIA, MINN.—Todd Moilanen paddles gently through wild rice beds on Ogechie Lake, trying not to disturb a loon sleeping on its back on a nest of reeds a few feet away.

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Climate costs imperil Detroit’s unique, diverse Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood

By Brian Allnutt, Planet Detroit

This piece is part of a collaboration that includes the Institute for Nonprofit News, Borderless, Ensia, Planet Detroit, Sahan Journal, and Wisconsin Watch, as well as the Guardian and Inside Climate News. The project was supported by the Joyce Foundation. 

DETROIT — In 2019, Blake Grannum experienced a catastrophic flood in her home in Detroit’s Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood.

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Mapping the Great Lakes: Flood risk

Love staring at a map and discovering something interesting? Then “Mapping the Great Lakes” is for you. It’s a monthly Great Lakes Now feature created by Alex B. Hill, a self-described “data nerd and anthropologist” who combines cartography, data, and analytics with storytelling and human experience.

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Alex Hill

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Weathering the floods: Detroit neighborhood faces uncertain future due to climate change

Across Detroit the effects of climate change are evident. In the Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood on the city’s lower east side, overflowing stormwater drains, contaminated waterways and flooded basements are just a few examples of how the city’s aging infrastructure struggles to keep up with our changing climate.  

The city’s combined sewer system is the crux of the problem.

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In: East River, flooding, green infrastructure, Julia Noordyk, nature-based

Sea Grant has had both a focus on and staff dedicated to the understanding and stewardship of the Green Bay watershed for nearly 50 years, dating back to when the Sea Grant Green Bay Subprogram was established on the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus in the late 1970s.

Close-up of smiling woman with long blonde hair.

Julia Noordyk, water quality and coastal communities outreach specialist.

Julia Noordyk now fulfills this longstanding Sea Grant responsibility for the bay of Green Bay, which she termed “a pretty special place.” The bay itself spans 1,600 miles. It’s at the heart of the world’s largest freshwater estuary, laced with agriculture and manufacturing. It’s also a storied place where Indigenous people have lived for 10,000 years and where the first European to have come to what is now known as Wisconsin stepped off a boat in Green Bay onto Red Banks, roughly a mile from the city of Green Bay.

In her role as water quality and coastal communities outreach specialist Noordyk weaves the legacy of this commerce, agriculture and human interaction into contemporary conversations and actions.

Noordyk said she educates people about, “green infrastructure, really working through codes and ordinances to reduce barriers to implement green infrastructure.”

Her second priority is community flood resilience, with a focus on the East River, one of the only undammed rivers in northeastern Wisconsin. It’s a tributary of the Fox River, which flows to the bay and is high in nutrient and sediments. Reducing runoff through nature-based infrastructure protects surface waters from contaminants and can reduce East River flooding.

This is what Noordyk sees as an evolution in water quality approaches for what she likes to call the “fresh-tuary.” “Historically, the (Sea Grant) office was set up and really focused on the Fox River, the bay of Green Bay and water quality. A lot of that was driven by industrial pollution like PCBs and also agricultural runoff,” she said. “That’s been most of the work for last 50 years, which is awesome. Now, the PCB cleanup is over, and things are improving.”

She continued, “Agriculture runoff is still one of the biggest issues in our area for water quality, but what has been changing over the past couple decades is how we think about restoration more broadly.”

Noordyk said there’s been a movement to address water challenges that communities care about and connect those issues to water quality. Front and center, she pointed to flooding. “How can we help solve problems that have benefits to both water quality and flood mitigation?”

Answering her own rhetorical question, Noordyk said, “We have to give people hope with science and with working to solve these environmental issues.” That is her goal for the next 50 years of Sea Grant’s work in her region.

As for the future of the human dimensions of her work, Noordyk said, “A small piece of my efforts is working towards a more inclusive workforce, making connections with our First Nation communities and the bay of Green Bay.”

Noordyk hosted a graduate assistantship that supported an Indigenous-identifying student in exploring the Great Lakes. She said, “That person is really focused on helping make connections between restoration and projects with UW-Green Bay and First Nations. It’s to bring the voice back to the land from a First-Nation perspective.”

 

The post Julia Noordyk and celebrating an anniversary in a “pretty special place” first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Moira Harrington

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America’s summer of floods: What cities can learn from today’s climate crises to prepare for tomorrow’s

By Richard B. (Ricky) Rood, University of Michigan, The Conversation

 is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.

Powerful storms across the South, following flash floods in Dallas, Death Valley, St. Louis, Yellowstone and Appalachia, have left cities across the U.S.

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Rising waters, sinking feeling: From the Great Lakes to the Ohio River, climate change puts coal ash impoundments at risk

Just upstream of Alabama’s Mobile Bay sits a vast region of wetlands known as the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, home to one of the most diverse ecosystems in the United States. As well as 21 million cubic yards of wet coal ash. 

The J.M. Barry Power Plant has been a flashpoint between environmental advocates and the state utility, Alabama Power, for years.

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Joshua Irvine

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In: Adam Bechle, Adam Christensen, Bay-Lake Regional Planning Commission, David A. Hart, disaster preparedness, flood resilience, flooding, Jackson Parr, resiliency, Wisconsin Emergency Management

Floods can be devastating for anyone who experiences one. Flooding impacts can be even more intense, however, for vulnerable populations. That includes people who live in poor housing conditions, lack transportation options, or possess limited English skills that would hamper their understanding of emergency messages.

Through funding announced June 23 by the National Sea Grant Office (NSGO), Wisconsin Sea Grant is working with nine communities in northeastern Wisconsin to strengthen their resilience to flooding events by looking at who lives in the most flood-prone areas of a city. Wisconsin Sea Grant is partnering with the Bay-Lake Regional Planning Commission and Wisconsin Emergency Management on this effort.

In addition to the Wisconsin project, the NSGO and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Disaster Preparedness Program are funding two other disaster preparedness projects in Hawaii and Massachusetts. (Find more details about those projects here.)

Work on the new project, which begins this month and continues through summer 2024, builds upon earlier Sea Grant-supported work using the Flood Resilience Scorecard. The scorecard is a comprehensive tool that helps communities look at their level of flood preparedness through a variety of dimensions.

The Bay-Lake Regional Planning Commission demonstrates its virtual site explorer at the Northeast Wisconsin Coastal Resiliency Open House in Manitowoc. (Photo: Adam Bechle, Wisconsin Sea Grant)

Jackson Parr, a Sea Grant staff member who served as the J. Philip Keillor Flood Resilience-Wisconsin Sea Grant Fellow from April 2021 to May 2022, will be a key player in this new effort. He worked extensively with the Flood Resilience Scorecard and Wisconsin communities during his fellowship, drawing on his dual master’s degrees in public affairs and water resources management.

While Parr’s fellowship work included both coastal and inland communities around the state, the new project will focus more specifically on the Lake Michigan coast from Sheboygan County northwards.

Parr will work with Wisconsin Sea Grant Assistant Director for Extension David A. Hart and Coastal Engineering Specialist Adam Bechle, as well as staff at the Bay-Lake Regional Planning Commission, including Environmental Planner Adam Christensen.

Said Parr of his fellowship period, “Over the last year, I’ve worked with 16 communities…and we’ve identified some common gaps across all communities in terms of flood preparedness and flood resilience.” He found that no community had used spatial GIS technology to pinpoint where priority populations—those most vulnerable to flooding—live.

This kind of detailed, granular analysis can lay the groundwork for keeping people safer, especially because two places very close to one another can have very different flood risk. Yet doing this GIS work can be challenging to communities for a variety of reasons, such as a lack of resources or administrative capacity.

Said Parr, “These communities are doing a lot of good work in addressing some disparities, just not related to flooding specifically, because that gets into a narrower area than most communities have the capacity to do.” That makes the technical assistance offered by the newly funded project a welcome addition to what communities are already doing.

In addition to the GIS work, other aspects of the funded project include running the Extreme Event game in the communities. The game was developed by the National Academy of Sciences. Explained Parr, “It’s a scenario of a storm event, and random things happen throughout the scenario, and participants have to think how they’d respond. Then they do back-end reflection on that process.”

Game participants will include local officials and emergency management staff, but can also include residents who want to learn more about disaster preparedness and resilience in their community.

Said Christensen of the Bay-Lake Regional Planning Commission, “We’ll assist in outreach efforts to communities about participating in the game, screen for underrepresented communities in those areas, contact necessary stakeholders, attain Extreme Event Facilitator Certification to facilitate the games and provide local knowledge and mapping services for the team.”

Staff from Wisconsin Emergency Management will also get training in running the games, so they can do them in any Wisconsin community, giving the project a reach beyond the nine cities that are its main focus.

Participants in an East River Collaborative field trip learn about nature-based agricultural practices that slow down runoff and can help lessen flooding and improve water quality in downstream communities like the city of Green Bay. (Photo: Adam Bechle, Wisconsin Sea Grant)

A third outcome of the project will be implementing what’s known as the Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard for participating communities. That assessment analyzes the variety of plans a community might have—from transportation to downtown revitalization to parks and recreation, for example—and helps them create consistent recommendations for floodplain management and disaster preparedness.

That helps avoid situations such as having one plan saying an emergency shelter should be located in a particular neighborhood, while another document prohibits that from a zoning angle, offered Parr as an example.

Taken together, the three main components of the project will help northeastern Wisconsin communities be better prepared to face challenges that may come their way, especially in a “perfect storm” event in which high Great Lakes water levels and extreme precipitation combine to cause significant flooding.

When asked about the biggest benefit of this project, said Christensen, “To me, the biggest benefit is the word ‘preparedness’—preparedness so that, when an extreme event occurs, the participating communities will be ready to react in an effective and efficient manner that saves lives.”

For more information about the project, contact Jackson Parr at jgparr@wisc.edu.

The post Disaster preparedness project in northeastern Wisconsin will build on earlier flood resilience work first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Jennifer Smith

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Climate-driven flooding poses well water contamination risks

By Michael Phillis and John Flesher, Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — After a record-setting Midwestern rainstorm that damaged thousands of homes and businesses, Stefanie Johnson’s farmhouse in Blandinsville, Illinois, didn’t have safe drinking water for nearly two months.

Flood water poured into her well, turning the water a muddy brown and forcing Johnson, her husband and their two young children to use store-bought supplies.

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National Guard to help with northeastern Minnesota flooding

ST. PAUL (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday activated the National Guard to help control record flooding in areas of northeastern Minnesota.

Emergency management officials in St. Louis and Koochiching counties requested the assistance to deal with high water caused by heavy spring rains and rapid snowmelt throughout the Rainy River Basin.

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The Associated Press

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AP analysis finds growing number of poor, high-hazard dams

By David A. Lieb, Michael Casey and Michelle Minkoff, Associated Press

Constructed four generations ago, the massive rock and clay dam at El Capitan Reservoir is capable of storing over 36 billion gallons of water, enough to supply every resident in San Diego for most of a year.

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The Associated Press

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Who’s at fault for Midland dam failures? Pretty much everyone, report says

By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

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Bridge Michigan

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Report: Climate change threatens these 29 Michigan chemical sites

By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

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Black Neighborhoods Will Bear Future Flood Burden

By Kimberly M. S. Cartier, Eos

This story originally appeared in Eos and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.

Residents of New Orleans are no strangers to floods and the losses that follow.

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What Michigan can do as global report details ‘closing window’ on climate

By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

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In: belle isle, Detroit, flooding, Great Lakes Now's Year-End Posts, infrastructure, Latest News, Michigan, News, Recreation and Tourism
Year in Review 2021: As the year ends, I’m still thinking about summer joy… and summer flooding

Like many people, I made some really big changes to my life in 2021. One of the more significant changes was leaving my former role at WDET, Detroit’s NPR station, and joining the team at Great Lakes Now as associate producer.  

Having joined the GLN team in October, it still feels like a brand new experience for me as the calendar year comes to a close, but so far, I’m learning a lot from Supervising Producer Rob Green and our fearless Program Director Sandra Svoboda.

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Anna Sysling

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Lower Rates: New flood risk assessment will reduce insurance rates in the Great Lakes region

Approximately 85,000 homeowners in the Great Lakes region will see rate reductions for the first time because of the National Flood Insurance Program’s new risk rating system, experts say.

The flood insurance program is managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It provides coverage to property owners, renters and businesses to help them recover from floods faster.

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Soil hauled from Detroit park as part of storm water project

By Corey Williams, Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — Tons of soil is being removed from a westside Detroit park as part of a storm water retention project to reduce flooding in streets and basements during periods of heavy rainfall.

The project at Rouge Park is expected to capture nearly 100 million gallons of storm water each year, alleviating pressure on the city’s combined sewer system, Detroit Water and Sewerage Deputy Director and Chief Engineer Palencia Mobley said Wednesday.

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In: Climate change, flood resilience, Flood Resilience Scorecard, flooding, Floods, Jackson Parr, Keillor Fellows, Keillor Fellowship, Public Health

Wisconsin’s Sea Grant’s “Lake Talks,” a series of informal science presentations, returns for the fall season with an event on Thursday, Sept. 23, from 7-8 p.m. Kicking off the new season is speaker Jackson Parr, the J. Philip Keillor Flood Resilience-Wisconsin Sea Grant Fellow. His talk is titled “Understanding Flood Resilience in Your Community.”

The virtual event will be held on Zoom. It is open to everyone, though registration is required. (Register for this event now.) The hour will include time for audience questions.

The Keillor Flood Resilience Fellowship is jointly supported by Wisconsin Sea Grant and the Climate and Health Program at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS), where the fellow is stationed. The goal of the position is to boost resilience to flooding events in communities around the state—particularly smaller ones that may have less capacity or fewer resources to devote to this issue than larger municipalities.

Jackson Parr (submitted photo)

Parr’s topic is a timely one, as flooding and other damage from Hurricane Ida has captured the concern of the nation. While Wisconsin does not face hurricanes, other severe weather events have caused damage and displacement here. For example, widespread and significant flooding in the southern portion of the state in 2008 led to 31 counties being declared disaster areas. According to the National Weather Service, more than 40,000 homes and 5,000 businesses were damaged, and state officials estimated the total damage at more than $1.2 billion.

In his talk, Parr will describe a tool called the Flood Resilience Scorecard, which helps communities assess their level of flood preparedness through three lenses: environmental, institutional and social. The tool also assesses readiness for dealing with the health impacts that often follow floods. Parr and colleagues at DHS and Sea Grant work with communities on completing the scorecard, and, based on the outcomes, they help those communities take action to boost their readiness.

Parr is well-versed in Wisconsin communities as both a former Door County journalist and a two-time graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He holds master’s degrees in public affairs and water resources management.

Future Lake Talks this fall will focus on Wisconsin shipwrecks (October); Great Lakes children’s literature by Native American authors (November); and a conversation with Minnesota-based poet Moheb Soliman, who draws upon his Great Lakes travels in his work, including his most recent poetry collection, HOMES (December). Those talks will also be delivered via Zoom.

For Lake Talks event and registration information, visit the Sea Grant website, or follow Wisconsin Sea Grant on Facebook or Twitter. You can register for Jackson Parr’s talk now.

For questions about this series, contact Wisconsin Sea Grant science communicator Jennifer Smith.

The post Series of informal science talks returns with a focus on flood resilience in Wisconsin communities first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Jennifer Smith

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In: Adam Bechle, Climate change, Department of Health Services, flood resilience, Flood Resilience Scorecard, flooding, Floods, Jackson Parr, Keillor Fellow, Keillor Fellowship, Margaret Thelen, Natalie Chin, public healh

Making tracks is nothing new for Jackson Parr, the J. Philip Keillor Flood Resilience-Wisconsin Sea Grant Fellow. A serious athlete who once committed to walking across the entire United States (his plan has morphed to running it in segments), he has also traversed the scenic towns of Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula as a newspaper reporter and editor.

Jackson Parr (Photo: Len Villano)

Now, he’s getting acquainted with dozens of small communities statewide to help them build resilience to flooding hazards.

Parr began his one-year Keillor Fellowship in April. The position stems from a partnership between Wisconsin Sea Grant and the Climate and Health Program at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS).

He’ll work extensively with the Flood Resilience Scorecard, a toolkit that measures how well prepared a community is to cope with the effects of flooding—and identifies steps they can take to boost that preparedness.

The Illinois native brings a varied set of skills to this work. Parr holds two master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison: one in public affairs and one in water resources management. His capstone project for the water resources degree involved analyzing the severe flooding of Coon Creek in Vernon County in August 2018. The project was suggested and advised by UW research scientist Eric Booth.

The village of Coon Valley was downstream from the breached dams during the August 2018 flood event. (Photo: John Lee)

“There were a few dam breaches in that region during that flooding event, and it devastated the area,” said Parr. Flash flooding brought on by torrential rains displaced residents and caused major damage to homes, businesses and public infrastructure. “While I didn’t have an academic interest in flooding before working on that capstone project,” said Parr, “I found myself fascinated with the ways that rural communities navigate these issues.”

As he noted, sometimes smaller communities lack the administrative capacity or technical expertise required to fully address issues or tap into available funding sources that might help them. As a Keillor Fellow, Parr will be in a position to link communities with needed resources.

By March 2022, when his fellowship concludes, Parr hopes to have worked through the Flood Resilience Scorecard with 30 communities. Those locations will be chosen through collaboration with Wisconsin’s nine regional planning commissions.

First rolled out in 2019, the scorecard focuses on three key areas that affect a community’s resilience to flooding: environmental factors (such as precipitation patterns and soil composition), institutional factors (such as city planning documents) and social factors. Social factors include the socioeconomic makeup of the community, which may affect what happens after flooding.

“Since this effort is a partnership with the Department of Health Services, they’re definitely interested in the public health aspect of flooding. Demographic data is important in considering populations that might have socioeconomic vulnerabilities that would exacerbate their health outcomes related to flooding,” said Parr.

As an example, he noted that residents in low-income communities often lack the resources to find other housing when displaced. As a result, those populations face not only physical injuries related to flooding, like blunt-force trauma and hypothermia, but extreme stress and other mental health impacts.

“The goal is to identify communities that face these vulnerabilities and hopefully target more resources toward those communities to achieve health equity,” he said.

As Parr conducts this work, he has a trio of mentors. At DHS, he reports to Climate and Health Program Coordinator Margaret Thelen. On the Sea Grant side, he’s working with Climate and Tourism Outreach Specialist Natalie Chin and Coastal Engineering Specialist Adam Bechle.

Said Thelen, “The partnership between the Department of Health Services and Sea Grant has allowed us to work together to integrate our flood resiliency tools for local decision makers. These resources allow Wisconsin to better prepare for and respond to increased extreme precipitation events due to climate change. We are fortunate to have Jackson Parr, through the Keillor Fellowship, working to improve these tools and make them more accessible to municipalities across the state.”

Parr in his triathlon days. Though he no longer competes, he’s running across the United States in segments. (Submitted photo)

As university travel restrictions related to the pandemic ease, Parr hopes to complete in-person assessments, arranging visits to work through the scorecard with elected officials, administrators and planning staff in the selected communities.

“There’s a huge value in having these conversations face to face; it takes collaboration from people of different backgrounds” who actually live in those communities, said Parr.

But completing the scorecard with a community is not an end point, Parr stressed. Rather, he hopes it is a springboard for taking action.

“While community leaders would immediately get some high-level recommendations on ways to improve resilience, I’d go back and look through our conversations and come back to the municipality and work with them on implementing recommendations. It’s a whole other ballgame to actually pass an ordinance or apply for a grant or participate in a buyout program. The goal is for communities to act on the recommendations they receive,” said Parr.

Parr can be reached at jackson.parr@dhs.wisconsin.gov.

The post Keillor Fellow will enhance flood resilience in Wisconsin communities first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Jennifer Smith

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In: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Partnership, Climate change, Collaboration, Detroit, environmental equity, Feature Detroit, Feature Homepage, flooding, infrastructure, Lake Michigan, Latest News, Michigan, News
Flooding Tells ‘Two Different Stories’ In Michigan

By Jane Johnston, Circle of Blue

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/flooding-climate-income-inequality/

Circle of Blue

On:
In: Collaboration, culture, flooding, high water, indigenous communities, Latest News, Michigan, News, Recreation, Tourism and Culture
In Michigan, rising lake levels disturb sacred ground

By Elena Bruess, Circle of Blue

At the shoreline, between lake and land, Melissa Wiatrolik reflects on those who were here before Michigan became Michigan. She had been raised in a community that honored the dead, that understood that their ancestors were always present. As a child, she had watched her own family clean the gravestones of those before her.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/michigan-rising-lake-levels-sacred-ground/

GLN Editor

On:
In: Buffalo, Climate change, flooding, infrastructure, Lake Ontario, Latest News, New York, News, water levels, Waterfront Development
Review Underway: Will IJC’s efforts be enough for flooded shoreline municipalities?

The International Joint Commission has started an early review of its Lake Ontario water management plan, overseen by a board that includes some of its most ardent critics, in response to extensive flooding and outcry from the lake’s shoreline communities.

The IJC— the international body that regulates waterways between the United States and Canada — has received $1.5 million in funding from the U.S., with an additional $1.5 million in matched funds from Canada, for the expedited review of Plan 2014.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/review-underway-ijc-lake-ontario-flooded-shoreline/

Samantha Cantie

On:
In: Climate change, Detroit, detroit river, Feature Detroit, flooding, infrastructure, John Hartig, Lake St. Clair, Latest News, Michigan, News, Ontario, Waterfront Development
Great Lakes Moment: Warmer, wetter, wilder

Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.

Scientists have predicted that warmer, wetter and wilder weather is coming and that this will be one of the greatest environmental challenges of the 21st Century.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/water-levels-climate-change-warmer-wetter-wilder/

John Hartig

On:
In: flooding, infrastructure, Latest News, Lighthouses, Museums and Cultural Institutions, Michigan, museums, News
Rescuing History: Museum experts across Michigan race to save the Midland archive

For three long days, Terri Trotter – president and CEO of the Midland Center for the Arts – waited anxiously for floodwaters to recede far enough that a team of experts could assess the damages at Heritage Park and the Doan Center in downtown Midland, Michigan.

The Midland County Historical Society Doan Center located in Heritage Park houses a research library and archive comprised of thousands of historical documents and photographs, Trotter said.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/05/rescuing-history-museum-michigan-midland-flooding/

Kathy Johnson

On:
In: AP, flooding, Illinois, national guard, News
Illinois governor activates Guard to help prepare for flooding

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Gov. J.B. Pritzker has activated nearly 60 Illinois National Guard soldiers and ordered additional steps by the state to prepare for projected flooding along the Illinois River and other streams.

The National Weather Service forecasts the Illinois River will reach major flood stage Saturday morning at Meredosia, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Springfield, and continue to rise through the middle of next week.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/05/ap-illinois-governor-national-guard-flood/

The Associated Press

On:
In: Climate change, Collaboration, COVID-19, flooding, infrastructure, Latest News, natural disasters, News
Is America prepared to handle natural disasters during the COVID-19 pandemic?

By Ari Kelo, theRising

This story originally appeared in theRising and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.

From lengthened hurricane seasons to deadly bushfires, the natural disasters symptomatic of climate change are becoming more and more pronounced each year.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/05/america-prepared-natural-disasters-covid-19-coronavirus/

theRising

On:
In: Chicago, Climate change, Collaboration, Feature-Chicago, flooding, Illinois, infrastructure, Lake Michigan, Latest News, News
Record Rainfall Prompts Reversal of Chicago River into Lake to Ease Flooding

By Patty Wetli, WTTW News

Chicago is drying out Monday after a record rainfall that flooded streets and yards over the weekend.

According to the National Weather Service, Sunday’s precipitation total at O’Hare Airport was 3.11 inches, the most ever recorded on May 17.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/05/record-rainfall-chicago-river-lake-michigan-flooding/

GLN Editor

On:
In: Adam Bechle, coastal hazards, erosion, flooding, lake levels, Lake Michigan

Wisconsin Sea Grant’s outreach specialists are used to traversing the state, sharing information of relevance directly with impacted communities. In this year marked by a global pandemic, however, it hasn’t been so easy—yet staff are finding ways to get the job done.

In mid-March, Coastal Engineering Outreach Specialist Adam Bechle had planned, along with a variety of partners, to deliver three nights of back-to-back information on high Great Lakes water levels in three Lake Michigan coastal communities: Manitowoc, Somers and Mequon. Yet, due to the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation, those in-person sessions were replaced by a single online one on March 18.

The Zoom session featured Bechle along with speakers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—Detroit District, National Weather Service Forecast Office in Milwaukee/Sullivan and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The Wisconsin Coastal Management Program and local governments also played a role in putting the session together. About 112 participants watched it live.

The archived, two-hour webinar may be viewed on Wisconsin Sea Grant’s YouTube channel. “People in our Lake Michigan coastal communities have been hungry for information about what’s in store for water levels and what options they may have for dealing with some of the negative impacts,” said Bechle. “If people missed the live webinar, they can still get this information online, where they can hear directly from a variety of experts all in one place.”

Topics covered include forecasts for water levels through the summer, emergency management activities being undertaken by the Army Corps of Engineers, the local impacts of recent storms, how coastal processes in the water affect what’s happening on land, and the permitting process for constructing erosion control structures.

Listen and watch on YouTube.

Further questions may be directed to Bechle at bechle@aqua.wisc.edu.

Original Article

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/whats-in-store-for-great-lakes-water-levels-find-out-online/

Jennifer Smith

On:
In: Adam Bechle, coastal hazards, erosion, flooding, Great Lakes, water levels

Great Lakes water levels have been at or near record highs in recent months, prompting concern among many Wisconsin residents.

Those interested in learning what’s in store for Great Lakes water levels through spring and summer 2020 are invited to attend one of three upcoming informational meetings in communities along Lake Michigan.

At each session, attendees will hear from experts from Wisconsin Sea Grant, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Weather Service and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. There will also be time for attendees to ask questions. Seating at all sessions is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The three sessions are:

Manitowoc: Tuesday, March 17, 6 to 8 p.m.
UW-Green Bay, Manitowoc Campus
University Theater
705 Viebahn St.
Manitowoc, WI 54420

Somers/Kenosha: Wednesday, March 18, 6 to 8 p.m.
UW-Parkside
Student Center Cinema
900 Wood Rd.
Somers, WI 53133

Mequon: Thursday, March 19, 6 to 8 p.m.
MATC Mequon Campus
Lecture Hall, Room A289
5555 W. Highland Rd.
Mequon, WI 53092

Dr. Adam Bechle, a coastal engineering outreach specialist with Wisconsin Sea Grant, will speak at all three panels. Said Bechle, “We have worked with federal, state and local partners to host a couple of these meetings in the past few months, and they have been quite well attended. With Great Lakes water levels already breaking records this year, demand for information continues to grow. These meetings will help folks understand the current water level situation, as well as possible steps forward to address the impacts of these high water levels.”

Those who are unable to attend the events in person may attend virtually through Zoom.

Additionally, a recording will be posted on Wisconsin Sea Grant’s YouTube channel after the events.

View or print an event flyer here.

View or print a list of resources for Great Lakes property owners here.

Questions about the events may be directed to Bechle at (608) 263-5133.

Original Article

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/experts-host-additional-panels-about-great-lakes-water-levels-and-their-impact/

Jennifer Smith