The city of port washington (the city) and local partners are working to restore key habitats for migratory birds, wildlife, and pollinators in the valley creek corridor located in the city of port…

The City of Port Washington received a $135,000 Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service under the Coastal Program (CFDA 15.630) to restore habitats for migratory birds, wildlife, and pollinators in the Valley Creek corridor. Key project activities include controlling invasive species, diversifying the tree canopy, installing native plants, and converting maintained turf to native pollinator meadows at the Birchwood Hills and Upper Lake Park sites. The overarching goals are to enhance habitat for focal species like the Northern Long-Eared Bat and Rusty Patched Bumble Bee, while also improving water quality, reducing erosion, and educating the public on green infrastructure and ecosystem restoration. The project will be implemented from July 1, 2023 through December 31, 2025.

The city of port washington (the city) and local partners are working to restore key habitats for migratory birds, wildlife, and pollinators in the valley creek corridor located in the city of port washington, ozaukee county, wisconsin. Valley creek is an urban habitat island, which is increasingly vulnerable to climate change impacts such as extreme rainfall events, flooding, and erosion which has exacerbated underlying vulnerabilities due to habitat fragmentation, invasive species, loss of canopy from emerald ASH borer (EAB), urban and agricultural stormwater runoff, erosion, and sedimentation. To restore resiliency to this important urban corridor, the city proposes to control invasive species and diversify the canopy to promote long-term regeneration of a diverse, native forest community that can support imperiled species including northern long eared BAT (NLEB) and other at-risk bats, rusty patched bumble BEE (RPBB), monarch butterfly, and other native pollinators, and migratory birds that rely on the site for migratory stopover and breeding habitat. The two sites for this project, birchwood hills and upper lake park, were selected as priority areas to initiate ecological restoration that fulfills the need for restoring and enhancing critical habitat for focal rare species. Birchwood hills is located in the upper reaches of the valley creek corridor and consists of a 24-acre natural area, which has lost a substantial portion of its canopy to EAB infestation. Upper lake park is a popular recreational area at the bluff top with sweeping views over lake michigan. Upper lake park is located in the lower reaches of the corridor. The overarching goal of this project is to implement effective, sustainable restoration of critical habitat for key focal species (NLEB, RPBB, monarch, and migratory birds) within the valley creek corridor, through diversifying the tree canopy in forests and diversifying native forb and grass components of meadows, maintaining snags as roosting habitat, and managing invasive species. Secondary and complementary goals are to contribute to watershed improvements that will increase water quality, decrease erosion, and educate the public on the importance of green infrastructure and ecosystem restoration strategies.proposed project activities are focused on requisite steps to achieve the goals and objectives for focal species habitat at the birchwood hills and upper lake park project sites. At birchwood hills, activities consist of woody invasive species control, herbaceous and woody invasive species treatments, native tree and shrub installation, and native seed mix installation, which have been prioritized based onpreliminary site surveys conducted during 2022, and are focused on restoring habitat for focal species and resilience of a key headwater area for valley creek. Proposed activities at upper lake park will permanently convert approximately 1 acre of maintained turfgrass to a species-rich native pollinator meadow, located at the northwest corner of upper lake park. Activities will consist of site preparation, native seed mix and plug installation, which will be focused on restoring habitat for RPBB, monarch, and other native pollinators, and providing green infrastructure benefits to the valley creek watershed.project outcomes will include: 1) restoration of native plant community diversity and coverage on 20.9 acres of public parkland 2) mitigating EAB impacts and reducing threats of future canopy loss through planting of at least 15 species of native trees and shrubs 3) restoring high quality meadow habitat for native pollinators, by installing seed of at least 25 species of native forbs and grasses 4) enhancing upland infiltration, reducing stormwater runoff and erosion, recharging groundwater, and supporting spring-FED wetlands stream baseflows and 5) increasing the long-term viability of habitats to sustain native bats, birds, and pollinators.