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Evan Hunsader
Environmental Geography
Prof. Holifield
24 April 2009
A Walk Along the River
The American anthropologist Margaret Mead once declared, “Never underestimate the
power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that
ever has." As an agent of change in our state, The River Revitalization Foundation has fought
for positive changes on behalf on Milwaukee’s waters for over ten years.
Water has shaped the city of Milwaukee since its conception. The Great Lakes and the
three large rivers; the Milwaukee, the Menominee and the Kinnickinnic, have helped accelerate
growth in Milwaukee by attracting many forms of industry. An untold number of businesses
have thrived due to the great resources theses waters provide. The River Revitalization
Foundation works to preserve these great resources by providing better public access to them and
improving water quality.
The organization has deep roots in Milwaukee, a reaction to recommendations made by
the Milwaukee River Revitalization Council. The organization was founded by the Kiwanis
Club of Milwaukee and the Rotary Club of Milwaukee. According to the organization’s website,
the mission of the River Revitalization Foundation is, “to establish a parkway for public access,
walkways, recreation and education, bordering the Milwaukee, Menomonee and Kinnickinnic
Rivers; to use the rivers to revitalize surrounding neighborhoods; and to improve water quality.”
Today, the organization is largely run by two full time workers, Vince Bushell and Andrew
Kurth. Both of them work to organize volunteers and educate people by giving guided hikes.
In fact, the maintenance of trails is more vital to protecting the rivers than one would
think. This is because the trails help showcase the rivers and provide residents with a connection
to them. During my time volunteering around the trails I saw many people enjoying the trails—
and therefore the river—with their families, friends, and animal companions. Even though the
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rivers provide important ecological and economic benefits, those services are not apparent to the
average citizen. The trails help put a face on the issue and give everyone a more personal
investment in Milwaukee’s rivers.
However, the trail land’s biodiversity is being threatened by invasive species. Garlic
mustard and buckthorn are two invasive species that are taking over much of the trail. The
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources describes garlic mustard as a herbaceous biennial
plant that is native to Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. The plant thrives around the rivers
bank since it benefits from the wet and shady conditions. It has displaced many native
Wisconsin wildflowers and has taken over the forest’s under story. Volunteers have aggressively
fought of the garlic mustard, but the plant it so bountiful and industrious that once it takes over a
large part of land it is nearly impossible to get rid of it. Hope does lay in finding a biologic
control, but until then garlic mustard is here to stay.
Buckthorn is another invasive species that has plagued Wisconsin’s forests. The
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources reports that buckthorn originated in Eurasia and
was “planted in hedgerows in Wisconsin as early as 1849.” Buckthorn is a woody shrub that
thrives almost anywhere and has taken over much of the woods under story in the banks of the
Milwaukee River. The R.R.F. controls the buckthorn by cutting it down and poisoning it with
Roundup. To retake the land, river birch is planted to displace the buckthorn. Mr. Bushell also
works to educate people about buckthorn since the shrub is still sold in many Wisconsin
nurseries! These invasive species pose new crises, and are a potent global threat that will
persists if the government does not prohibit the shipment of these exotic, invasive and dangerous
plants.
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Protecting the rivers requires a basic knowledge of hydrological systems since many
issues arise over watershed management. The Menominee and the Kinnickinnic River have only
one watershed zone while the Milwaukee River has two. Talking to Mr. Bushell, I found out that
the watershed zones represent the portion of land where its water drains initially to the rivers and
ultimately will end up in Lake Michigan. The R.R.F. keeps close track on watershed areas since
they are directly connected with the lake. For instance, the outbreak of E. coli in the waters is
connected with what lands are draining their water into the rivers. The great Lakes Water
Research Institute cites agricultural runoff, urban stormwater and sewage overflows as potential
sources of contamination in waterways.
Watershed is so important that the city spent 18 years and over one billion dollars
regulating it by creating “The Deep Tunnel Project.” The project vastly improved Milwaukee’s
ability to recover and retain all the runoff from urban and agricultural areas. The tunnel keeps
the runoff from going directly into the rivers and Lake Michigan. Instead, the water is collected
and pumped to be cleaned in a water treatment plant and then returned to Lake Michigan. The
project handles much more water than the old sewer system, thus reducing the need to bypass
treatment with overflow drains, helping keep the water clean.
There a two main sources of pollution that affect the river’s quality, point source
pollution and nonpoint source pollution. Acording to William M. Marsh and John Grossa Jr., in
Environmental Geography: Science, Land Use and Earth Systems, point source comes from a
specific source and nonpoint from “spatially dispersed, usually nonspecific, sources that are
released in various ways at many points in the environment.” Point source pollution has been
greatly reduced thanks to legislative acts such as the clean water act. Nonpoint pollution still
plagues the rivers since it is unregulated and picks up many containments as it makes it way to
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the river. With over 200,000 people living within one mile of the river many contaminants make
their way into the river. The deep tunnel project has helped to greatly reduce these contaminants,
but by educating the public we can eliminate the creation of the containments in the first place.
Mr. Bushell helped educate me about many environmental issues concerning the
Milwaukee River as well as Milwaukee’s history in general. The Milwaukee River is in an
extremely urban area and not by accident, many industrial factories benefited greatly by using
the water as a cooling agent for the machinery as well as other industrial practices. Today, the
aptly named “Riverview dormitories” border the Milwaukee River.
During the planning and construction of the Riverview dormitories many environmental
issues were raised and two different environmental factors affected its construction. The land
upon which the dormitories were constructed used to hold oil tanks. Unfortunately, these tanks
leaked a large quantity of diesel fuel on the property. The property was therefore designated a
Brownfield site by the EPA, which meant it was unfit for elevated human use accoding to
Cunningham in Principle of Environmental Science: Inquiry and Applications (325). The
University decided to build anyway, and now regular soil tests are done to ensure safety.
The construction faced another challenge when the site was designated a critical habitat
for the endangered “butler gardener snake.” Under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which
provides “for the conservation of ecosystems upon which threatened and endangered species of
fish, wildlife, and plants depend,” the university is required to remediate the habitats destruction
(153). However, the University and the developers have yet to remediate their destruction;
thankfully, the foundation has placed many “snake habitats” along the area to ensure their
survival.
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The River Revitalization Foundation not only addresses inequalities concerning wildlife,
but they also try to help equalize Milwaukee citizen’s access to the river and the green space
around it. Milwaukee is an extremely segregated city. A 2002 study of census statistics entitled
“Racial and Ethnic Residential Segregation in the United States” done by Daniel H. Weinberg
and John Iceland found Milwaukee to be the most segregated city in the United States.
Segregation is apparent concerning the availability of parks and hiking trails along the river. The
southern portion of the river has fewer trails and no park while the northern portion of the river
has two nearby parks and well kept trails. The R.R.F. has worked very hard to renovate the trails
in the southern portion and has even bought land or gotten easements to ensure public access.
Everyone deserves access to these scenic, hidden gems and the R.R.F. has worked hard to make
the rivers available to everyone.
Construction of both commercial and residential buildings is also becoming dangerously
close to the river. Buildings near the river not only ruin the aesthetic value of the land, but
degrade the land’s ability to clean the water. Land surrounding the rivers acts as a filter and is
essential to keeping the river clean. One of the foundations primary focuses is to preserve
“riparian buffers against encroaching development.” The USDA Forest Service defines a
riparian buffer as, “the aquatic ecosystem and the portions of the adjacent terrestrial ecosystem
that directly affect or are affected by the aquatic environment. This includes streams, rivers,
lakes, and bays and their adjacent side channels, floodplain, and wetlands.” The plants and
grasses soak up many extra nutrients and even some metals in the water before it reaches the
river. To preserve the buffers the R.R.F. ensures that all building codes are followed by
developers and even purchases land to ensure it is kept in its natural state.
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The environmental dangers faced by the rivers are extremely numerous and require great
efforts to regulate. Thankfully, national legislative measures such as The Clean Water Act have
raised the standards of water quality and have helped ensure safe and clean drinking water.
However, national measures do little good if there is not enforcement of them so nongovernmental organizations like The River Revitalization Foundation are needed to ensure
standards are met. Other issues like environmental justice exist that are beyond the
government’s control or yet to be addressed nationally are issues that rely on grass roots action.
The R.R.F. has also help expand the trails in cooperation with the government, where
government funds fall short the R.R.F. can help fill the gap.
Of course, there are some limits that constrict how much change the R.R.F. can create.
Firstly, the R.R.F. can ensure the enforcement of federal laws, but action beyond what it required
by law is all voluntary. The interests of the R.R.F. are often a smidgen compared to corporate
interests; the foundation has less money, manpower and prestige. Secondly, water’s transient
and mobile nature make it difficult to regulate. Milwaukee’s watersheds cover a huge amount of
land, too large to adequately manage by such a small organization. One can manage the
immediate source of water, but the water coming in cannot be managed. Lastly, globalization
and technological progress has brought with it invasive species and synthetic chemicals.
Invasive species, from garlic mustard to the zebra mussel, pose a grave danger to our waters.
Invasive plants can displace native species and lower the effectiveness of the filtration powers
afforded by riparian buffers. The mussels devastate water quality and can lead to native species
extinction and loss of biodiversity. New synthetic chemicals pose dangers we can’t be prepared
for. Tradition filtration techniques are insufficient and many unknown dangers are posed to
humans, plants and animals.
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These limitations do not invalidate the River Revitalization Foundation’s work, they
enforce its importance. The new world brings many new challenges to the management of
water, but we can take theses chances to improve the availability of water for everyone. My
service learning experience with Mr. Bushell and the River Revitalization Foundation has taught
me much about science and politics. By combining scientific knowledge with progressive
political stances the foundation has improved life for anyone affected by the rivers; I am proud to
say I volunteered with Vince and the River Revitalization Foundation this semester.
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Works Cited
"About the Foundation." River Revitalization Foundation. 26 Apr. 2009
<http://www.riverrevitalizationfoundation.org/about.html>.
Bushell, Vince. "River Walk." Personal interview. 03 Mar.
“Dangers to Our Water.” Great Lakes WATER Institute. 26 Apr. 2009
<http://www.glwi.uwm.edu/>.
"Invasive Species - Common Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica)" 3 Sept. 2002. Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources . 27 Apr. 2009
<http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/invasives/fact/buckthorn_com.htm>.
"Invasive Species - Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)” 3 Sept. 2002. Wisconsin Department of
Natural Resources. 27 Apr. 2009 <http://dnr.wi.gov/invasives/fact/garlic.htm>.
Weinberg, Daniel H., and John Iceland. "Racial and Ethnic Residential Segregation in the United
States." Census 2000 Special Reports (2002).