Invasive species can cause widespread damage to ecosystems, reducing overall health, biodiversity, and climate resilience. That’s why a collaborative team called the Lakeshore Invasive Species Management Area (LISMA) has been working on invasive Phragmites control efforts for over 10 years throughout northeast Wisconsin. Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership (LNRP), Glacierland Resource Conservation & Development Council (RC&D), Fox Wolf Watershed Alliance, and Stantec Consulting Services Inc. are championing LISMA to protect and enhance the resiliency of the Great Lakes region through an innovative, grassroots approach.
LNRP developed a biodiversity statement to guide, inform, and re-affirm our commitment to fostering biodiversity in our conservation and restoration work. We also created a short video to showcase the importance of biodiversity, how it connects to our work, and how you can be part of protecting it.
Joining the LNRP team as it celebrates 20 years of cultivating conservation, collaboration, and community is both an honor and a privilege. I am honored to continue the mission of supporting dozens of community-based partners and privileged to lead this organization and its amazing staff into the next decade. Supporting our mission for the next decade has never been more important as we focus on the vital natural resources that exist from the “Ledge to the Lakeshore.”
Twenty years ago, Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership (LNRP) was founded with the belief that the Lakeshore Basin's best hope lay in people reaching across fences to "foster partnerships, cultivate projects, promote discussion, and advocate for a balance between land use and natural resource conservation and protection". We hope you will join us in celebrating our 20th anniversary by helping to support the next chapter of LNRP through a charitable gift.
Given annually in recognition of Tom Ward for years of dedicated and inspirational service to our Lakeshore communities, the Ward Award honors individuals, landowners, businesses, and local units of government for leadership of collaborative efforts to control and eradicate invasive species in the Lakeshore region of Wisconsin. This year, the 3rd annual Ward award goes to Tony Fessler, representing Restoration of our Trees Sheboygan (ROOTS).
The Door County Soil and Water Conservation Department (SWCD) is conducting a study to evaluate post-drawdown conditions of the Forestville Millpond. Results will be used to assess changes in water quality, clarity, depth, aquatic plant community, and the overall health of the waterbody. Project deliverables will include a final report on the collected data and an analytical comparison to historic results.
The Lakeshore Water Institute, a collaboration between Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership (LNRP) and UW-Green Bay Manitowoc, hosted the annual Lakeshore Water Summit on Wednesday, October 11th. The summit provided a forum for students, who call themselves the “Stream Team,” to present on data that they collected and analyzed over the summer.
Calumet County is partnering with Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership, Glacierland Resource Conservation and Development Council and Stantec Consulting Services Inc. to map and treat invasive Phragmites across the county. Invasive Phragmites is a tall, colony-forming grass, introduced from Europe, that is invading both urban and rural areas. By mapping, treating, monitoring, and providing long-term control of these invasive populations, this project will have significant long-term benefits for migratory shorebirds, waterfowl, marsh spawning fish, pollinators, and other native fauna.
The seasons are most definitely turning. Change is something that happens whether (or “weather”) we like it or not, and being hearty Wisconsinites, we generally know how to adapt to change. As LNRP approaches the end of its 20th anniversary year, the board of directors and staff are also embracing some big changes; changes that are opening important opportunities for us as we look toward the future with optimism and great anticipation… as well as with open eyes to the challenges that continue to drive us as an environmentally-focused nonprofit.
LNRP empowers our regional network, watershed partners, and community groups with the tools they need to effectively engage community residents and steward their precious land and water resources. Together, we strive to enhance the health of our entire Lakeshore basin for future generations. In line with this guiding purpose, LNRP proudly established the “We All Live on the Water” endowment fund in the autumn of 2021 to ensure the sustainability of our collective impact.
Beyond donating to support LNRP’s mission, there are many other ways to share your love for LNRP. Thank you for contributing to conservation from the ledge to the lakeshore.
For 20 years, LNRP has been committed to the ideals of conservation, collaboration, and community as we serve 2,400 square miles of the Lakeshore Basin. You can find an overview of our impact here, and we encourage you to explore the 2021-2022 Impact Report for more details, reflections, and voices!
As LNRP celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2023, our mission has never been more important. We continue to work with our community-based partner organizations, stakeholders, allied businesses, and a diverse cadre of funders to cultivate conservation, collaboration, and community from the Ledge to the Lakeshore. And without you, none of this critical and positive work could happen. As the organization now navigates a transition in staff leadership, this is being viewed as a harbinger of great things yet to come!
The LMS Lake Michigan Champion of Conservation awards program recognizes and honors the outstanding achievements in several categories. Nominations are open to any group, program, organization, business, or individual located in the Lake Michigan Basin.
The LMS Lake Michigan Champion of Conservation awards program recognizes and honors the outstanding achievements in several categories. Nominations are open to any group, program, organization, business, or individual located in the Lake Michigan Basin.
Spring has sprung – and with it, all the requisite synonyms we all use to describe this time of year.
Rebirth. Reawakening. Renewal. Rejuvenation. Regeneration. Revival. And yes, Restoration.
All of the above words certainly connect intimately to our LNRP mission. Really, they capture the essence of the transformative community-focused, conservation-based work we do with our partners, friends, and supporters like you…
Amy Lentz joins the LNRP team with 8 years of experience in non-profit work, primarily in Milwaukee County. Those positions focused on environmental education, youth mentorship, and science communications, as well as political organizing. She has a M.S from UW- Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences and a B.S from UW-Madison in Environmental Science and History.
Extreme precipitation events, coastal storms, and fluctuating water levels pose threats to Lake Michigan coastal communities. Flooding, erosion, and storm surge can threaten properties and impair infrastructure and other assets that are vital to the region’s economic security. Agricultural and urban runoff during heavy rain events can also impair water quality in receiving water bodies, further threatening recreation and tourism. Planning, preparing for and adapting to these and other climate change hazards can enhance community resilience and strengthen coastal economies.
The Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership (LNRP), Stantec, and the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point (UWSP) are collaborating to improve water quality in Carstens Lake and Lake Michigan. A study identified high phosphorus levels in Carstens Lake, leading to the construction of an offline sedimentation basin and the use of UWSP's sorption technology to reduce contamination. The project aims to protect the lakes, create wildlife habitat, and diversify land use. Construction is set to begin in fall 2023 with two years of monitoring. LNRP also plans to enhance a degraded wetland area for additional water quality benefits and habitat value.
LNRP and Stantec Consulting Services have created project summaries showcasing collaborative initiatives in the Lakeshore Basin. The summaries cover projects funded by the US Forest Service and the Wildlife Conservation Society's Climate Adaptation Fund, a regional Collaborative Phragmites Control Program, and the Amsterdam Dunes Preservation Area Habitat Restoration project. These projects aim to enhance coastal ecosystems, control invasive species, and protect critical habitats for migratory birds in the Lakeshore Basin.
Project summaries were developed to showcase several collaborative projects in the Lakeshore Basin.
