214 acres of landscape sponges added to Milwaukee area flood control

Nearly 214 acres of forested swamp and lowland woods in the Milwaukee River watershed were added to the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District's Greenseams flood management inventory in 2017.

The purchases came at a cost of $799,272.

MMSD contributed $417,173 of the cost for the acquisition of three wooded wetland properties in Washington and Ozaukee counties to preserve their water-absorbing capability, said Stephen McCarthy, MMSD landscape architect.

Dark-colored soils topped with a thick organic layer of decaying vegetation are the sponges on these landscapes. The soils store stormwater until it seeps into the ground.

Since 2000, Greenseams has protected 3,647 acres in the four-county metropolitan area for the purpose of reducing the risk of downstream flooding, McCarthy said. The list includes 108 properties in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington and Ozaukee counties.

One of the properties purchased this year is a 78.37-acre block of hardwood swamp and lowland woods south of Jay Road in the Town of Farmington in Washington County.

Tall, mature trees — black ash, red and silver maple — stand in the swamp a short distance from the road. A few hundred feet farther south, an unnamed creek meanders on a ribbon-like course as it flows west through the wetland.

The $227,272 acquisition of the former Saiia family property on the north shore of Lake 12 filled a gap between two previous Greenseams property purchases south of Jay Road, between Camp Awana and Fillmore roads, said David Grusznski, program director for the Milwaukee office of The Conservation Fund.

The district hired the organization in 2001 to manage property acquisitions for Greenseams.

The Lake 12 properties owned by MMSD form a 255.37-acre protected corridor that includes the headwaters of the unnamed creek, a tributary of the North Branch Milwaukee River. The properties are open to the public. Parking is available on the shoulders of the three town roads.

MMSD paid $108,173 of the purchase price for the Saiia property and a state Stewardship fund grant paid the remaining $119,099, Grusznski said.

Related:Pact would pay conservation group $1.2 million to manage MMSD program

Related:MMSD buys wooded floodplain, wetlands in Washington County

The Ozaukee Washington Land Trust was a conservation partner in the acquisition this year of the other two properties added to the Greenseams inventory, Grusznski said.

The 75-acre Kinnamon property and the 60.4-acre Beimborn property are located within the Kinnamon Conifer Swamp in the Town of Saukville in Ozaukee County. The swamp encompasses stands of white cedar as well as black ash.

The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission designated this largely undisturbed wetland, a few miles south of Newburg, as a natural area of regional importance.

The land trust bought the Kinnamon parcel for $277,000. Greenseams contributed $138,500, or half the purchase price, and the state Stewardship fund paid the other half. 

The land trust paid $295,000 for the Beimborn parcel. Greenseams contributed $170,500 and Stewardship paid the remaining cost.