State program awards grants for coastal resources

MADISON - The Bay-Lake Regional Planning Commission, which includes Kewaunee County as well as Door County, was awarded two grants totaling more than $45,000 for projects to protect and utilize coastal resources.

The commission was awarded a $25,161 grant for a coastal recreation study of Kewaunee, Sheboygan and Manitowoc counties and a $20,000 grant toward providing technical assistance to local governments in the Bay-Lake region.

The grants came from the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program, which distributed $2.4 million statewide for 34 grants that will be used by local and state governments, regional planning commissions, universities and nonprofit organizations to assist with projects, according to a news release from the Wisconsin Department of Administration.

The funds are part of the state's federally funded Coastal Management Program, which balances natural resource protections and sustainable economic development along Wisconsin's Great Lakes coasts, the release said.

Door County communities and organizations were awarded state grants totaling more than $140,000 for projects that protect and improve resources along Lake Michigan and Green Bay.

Egg Harbor was awarded $32,000 for a project to develop a design and engineering plan to expand the public beach at Beach Park.

A $31,260 grant was awarded to Sturgeon Bay for the Bradley Lake improvement plan. The city is developing a resource management plan for Bradley Lake to identify issues and opportunities for sediment removal, fishery restoration and habitat improvement. Bradley Lake is in Sunset Park.

The Door County Soil & Water Conservation department was awarded $18,620 to provide education and outreach to private landowners that are adjacent to the Door Peninsula Coastal Wetlands Ramsar Site in northern Door County. In the United States, Ramsar Sites are federally and internationally designated locations that include diverse examples of regionally and globally significant wetland communities.

Liberty Grove was awarded $29,500 toward building a staircase at Portes des Mortes Park. The staircase will allow access from the bluff to the water below it.

A wetlands study managed by the Nature Conservancy of Wisconsin was awarded $29,998. The project will investigate potential linkages between nonpoint source pollution and wetland water quality and habitat health in five Door County wetlands.

Liz Welter: 920-741-7950, or lwelter@doorcountyadvocate.com; on Twitter @welter_liz.

This article originally appeared on Wisconsin: State program awards grants for coastal resources