Urban Reforestation and Wetland Restoration Program: Assessing the Relevance of a Community-based Partnership

MMSD is a nationally recognized regional utility in the Greater Milwaukee region that has led a variety of green initiatives over the last several decades. Together with extensive other stormwater initiatives (such as deep tunnels), these initiatives have reduced MMSD’s sewer overflows from 50-60 a year in early 1990s to an average 2.3 overflows per year by 2020s. Focus on urban greening is a key component to meeting MMSD’s ambitious goal of zero overflows by 2035. To that end, along with other key programs already in process, MMSD is actively developing the RWR Program that will plant up to six million trees and restore/enhance up to 4,000 acres of wetlands over the next 10 years. 

The scale of the program provides an opportunity to innovate and efficiently deploy infrastructure delivery frameworks. Accordingly, this project explored the use of a community-based partnership model for the RWR program, incorporating insights from the existing Fresh Coast Protection Partnership that MMSD and CIS established to implement green stormwater infrastructure.

This project is relevant generating environmental justice outcomes. This project is also a framework to bring together a large number of local partners that collectively work to make their neighborhoods green and climate resilient.