LNRP Fall Updates

Dear Members of our LNRP Community,

As I was gearing up to write this letter, I was tossing around some corny introduction sentence about how the leaves were changing and falling. I was planning to connect that image to all the amazing progress that LNRP has made this season, but I never finished following that train of thought. Instead, my mind wandered to a walk I had recently taken with my mom, where we visited a tree planted in honor of my grandmother.
This year alone, LNRP and our 16 partner groups have planted over 13,000 trees throughout our service area. 

We often talk about the environmental and water quality benefits of tree planting, and for good reason. Trees reduce erosion, improve air quality, temper urban heat islands, and sequester carbon dioxide. They provide beauty and aesthetic value. This November, as the leaves are falling from those 13,000 trees, I think it’s worth celebrating something a bit less tangible. Much like the memorial tree for my grandmother, each of these trees serve as a powerful reminder, though in this case, not of an individual, but of our community.

Each time you stop at Paddlers Park in Two Rivers, drive by Grant Elementary School in Sheboygan or walk though Silver Creek park in Manitowoc, remember the power that all of us working together have in shaping our environment. Our scale of change is magnified by our collective mission, to be conservation champions from the Niagara Escarpment to the Shores of Lake Michigan. Thank you for being a part of that.

Thank you,

Amy Lentz
Interim Executive Director

Reimagining Olson Park!

This fall, LNRP is making exciting progress on our restoration work at Olson Park in Algoma. With funding now secured from Sustain Our Great Lakes and the Fund For Lake Michigan, the project, led in partnership with the Friends of Crescent Beach, will reimagine Olson park as an ecologically thriving and welcoming community space for both residents and visitors.

In the past, Olson Park served as the city’s snow dump site, making the nearby Ahnapee River vulnerable to salt, roadside debris, and pollutants from vehicle use. Because the Ahnapee River flows directly into Lake Michigan, this site presented an important opportunity to improve water quality and restore ecological balance.

The project will bring both environmental and community benefits. Native plantings and ecosystem restoration will support more plant and animal species, especially pollinators and migratory birds that depend on our essential stopover locations such as Algoma. Along with the addition of the green infrastructure and native plantings, the snow dump site will be relocated which will help further prevent road salts and other pollutants from ending up in the river, and ultimately Lake Michigan.

New fishing piers and bird watching areas will provide space for outdoor recreational activities. There will also be interpretive signage near demonstration gardens that will help educate visitors about the local ecosystem and conservation. Lastly, there will be an additional boardwalk and trail through the restored ecosystem that will provide community access.

This is a multi-step construction process and the project team hopes to begin work as soon as possible.

• Step One: Finalize design and permitting
• Step Two: Site Construction: Building demolition, earth work and infrastructure installation
• Step Three: Ecological Restoration: Native seeding & tree planting
• Step Four: Finalize Amenities: Installation of fishing pier and boardwalk

When completed, Olson Park will serve as a model for how communities can blend habitat restoration, public recreation, and water quality protection, opening the park for year-round use to benefit both the people and creatures that use it.

Planting the Future at Paddlers Park!

The Friends of the Twin Rivers (FOTR) and the Two Rivers Parks & Recreation Department continue to make meaningful progress on the restoration of Paddlers Park in the City of Two Rivers. Last year, LNRP and FOTR supported the first phase of the project by funding a comprehensive native landscape design plan and purchasing nine native trees, which city staff planted on-site.

This fall, FOTR and the Parks & Recreation Department took the next step by restoring the park’s shoreline and improving the health of the East Twin River through a community planting event. Twenty-nine volunteers, representing all ages, came together on a Saturday afternoon to plant more than 1,500 native plug plants, including soft rush, purple-stemmed aster, Joe Pye weed, fringed sedge, and other erosion-reducing species. These plantings will help stabilize the shoreline and reduce stormwater runoff pollution. The Wisconsin DNR supported the activity through a Surface Water Education grant.

Looking ahead, FOTR and the City envision additional improvements at Paddlers Park, including a boat launch and dock, enhanced fishing access, and expanded paddling opportunities for all.

If you’re interested in learning more about FOTR or getting involved, please reach out to Patricia at patricia@lnrp.org.

A Season of Growth: Fall Community Highlights

This fall, LNRP partner groups embraced the changing seasons while wrapping up their community programming. Groups hosted meet-and-greets to share their missions and invite new engagement, coordinated native tree and plug plantings, led guided hikes and walking tours, planned beach cleanups, celebrated milestones, and offered a variety of other activities.

With winter approaching, partner groups are settling in–taking time to reflect on another year of successful community engagement and beginning to plan for the year ahead.

Email us at: inquiry@lnrp.org