Friends has eighteen (18) private landowners under contract to remove invasive plants and restore their properties to more healthy conditions. This grant will cover 34 acres to add to the lands restored under our two previous grants with the WDNR Forest Weed Grant program in 2015 and 2016.
Friends is very excited about this new round of applicants and the different areas and conditions they will be working. Landowners will contract for forestry mowing, brush removal, prescribed burns, herbicide applications and other modalities using local contractors skilled in this restoration work. Each applicant also requires a cost share component.
Two properties are conservation easements on the Mukwonago River and Jericho Creek, several are on or adjacent to lakes, several abut restorations of the Nature Conservancy and the Waukesha County Land Conservancy to create habitat corridors for wildlife. Some of the work is in the headwater areas of the Mukwonago River, Jericho Creek, and some on the primary environmental corridors in Waukesha and Walworth counties. All of these are pristine areas which will have positive impacts on the Mukwonago River watershed health. Each landowner could receive assistance on a maximum of three (3) acres to allow more landowners to be awarded.
The contract period runs to June 30, 2021. We look forward to hearing and seeing the effects on the applicant’s properties as they progress.