Water@UW-Madison

We brought together a watershed stakeholder group to work collectively towards the goal of chloride reduction. A 2015 Lake Wingra Watershed Management Plan made clear that significant change would not be possible without salt reduction by commercial and institutional stakeholders. Our project goal was two-fold. First, we aimed to increase awareness of the link between road salt and Lake Wingra’s water quality through the free distribution of yard signs, window signs, and stickers, and through door-to-door canvasing. Secondly, we brought together commercial and institutional stakeholders to discuss smart salting best management practices (led by Wisconsin Salt Wise), and to convene a conversation around current practice and next steps. The goal was to create and sustain an equitable, collaborative partnership with community organizations and partners by actively engaging them in the project planning and implementation phases.  

As part of an awareness-raising campaign, we distributed hundreds of stickers and fifty yard signs to businesses and residents in the Lake Wingra watershed at the Monroe St. Farmer’s Market, the UW Aboretum, and via canvasing. Although we cannot quantify the number of signs that were put up this winter, we have seen dozens around, and even outside, the watershed. Realistically, our desired outcome of salt reduction by local businesses is difficult to assess for a winter with little snowfall. However, we do feel confident that the project provided resources and support to property owners and managers, who are often under-resourced and lack access to the necessary tools and information to make sustainable salt management decisions. Our project aimed to leave a sustained positive impact on the community through a long-term commitment to Lake Wingra and the watershed. We continue to work with collaborators and partners to improve the health of Lake Wingra.

We recorded oral narratives with Native and non-Native residents and conducted extensive archival research about the blocking of the channel. We worked collaboratively to develop an oral narrative interview script to talk through issues of consent and archiving with Tribal members, with input from Frank Beaver (LRBOI). Gottschalk and Holtgren recorded oral narratives with five Native and non-Native community members at Maple Island and in Manistee and met repeatedly with representatives from the Grand Rapids Public Museum about oral narrative preservation and collections. We visited six different archival collections in Michigan, preserving the Maple Island materials from those archival visits digitally. We created a series of static maps and an online StoryMap sharing the results of our work.

Oral narratives recorded through this funding have been preserved and portions have been shared publicly and incorporated in additional funding proposals. Maps created through this work were shared with community members by Muskegon River Watershed Assembly and will be linked through the Grand Rapids Public Museum web site in 2025. This work led to continued collaboration on three additional cross-institutional proposals emphasizing humanities research and practice. Oral narratives and archival research helped us identify the original 1880s dams that blocked the Maple River inlets, which shifts our planning for their removal, as well as sparking public interest in reopening the channel. At least as important, our careful detailing of Ottawa history and presence at Maple Island is helping to open space for LRBOI leadership and Tribal members to shift into primary roles on the restoration project, including taking the leading role in a large-scale funding proposal currently underway. This work has also shifted decision-making and practice on the Maple River Restoration Project in ways that make space for meaningful community input from Native and non-Native stakeholders.

We (1) collaborated with 10 local Madison nature organizations to develop a new community science initiative to monitor amphibian biodiversity and disease threats called “Friends of Amphibians” and (2) collaborated with Bayview Foundation, to improve the accessibility of freshwater community science opportunities by designing and implementing two field trips within Bayview Foundation’s Elementary School Program, which serves youths from culturally-rich backgrounds that are commonly underrepresented in community science. For the Friends of Amphibians initiative, we (1) identified a shared research question across nature areas in Madison and (2) developed protocols and trained community members to collect data. Over the course of four months, Friends of Amphibian community partners submitted over 162 independent observations on amphibian biodiversity and disease outbreak across 36 Madison ponds. For the Bayview Foundation collaboration, we (1) designed programming to engage students in science and nature and (2) conducted two field trips. Preliminary assessments (12 students and 3 Bayview staff) indicated a strong desire to participate in community science following the field trips not present prior to the field trips.

After completing the Bayview portion of this work, we connected with the community groups participating in the Friends of Amphibians initiative where they expressed their very strong interest in continuing to work together. We continued to build on our relationship with the Friends of Amphibians group by organizing one more community-lab field season planning meeting. In this meeting, we are looking at how we can broaden participation in our program by removing language barriers. Towards this goal, we pursued and received funding through extension to support this effort now that the community-based research portion of the work is complete.

To date, the team has installed 8 continuous chloride monitors in the creek, providing conductivity measurements every 10 minutes to a cloud-based database. Installation was done by team members from CARPC, the SCO, OFS and FSW. These monitors will provide a quantifiable understanding of how much chloride is moving through the creek and into Lake Monona. On the educational side, we have trained OFS crew members in installation of monitors and basic mapping and GIS (Geographic Information System) skills. The OFS crew spent a day installing monitors, and 3 half-days in the class and field learning about and using GIS-based mapping technology. Several students of the SCO also developed an understanding of monitor setup and installation.

The chloride monitors report conductivity measurements to the cloud every 10 minutes. These monitors will provide a quantifiable understanding of how much chloride is moving through the creek and into Lake Monona. We now shift our focus to community engagement in the watershed: educating about the creek, learning more about community concerns, and encouraging active stewardship. We want to improve coordination and technical exchange among stakeholder groups focus on the health of the Starkweather Creek watershed so that current challenges can be dealt with systematically and coherently, and current efforts can be used as a springboard for the future. Our goal is to begin to develop a cooperative model for monitoring, cooperation and engagement that can be adapted to address contamination from sources other than chloride.

This project had a strong education and workforce development component. During the project, we trained 5 Operation Fresh Start (OFS) crew members in installation of monitors and basic mapping and GIS skills. The OFS program aims to provide young adults with an opportunity to gain experience in an environmental career. Through the project, we exposed OFS crew members to the principles of water quality monitoring and modern GIS-based mapping, and demonstrated how OFS landscape restoration efforts fit in a bigger picture that includes water quality and human health. This training will help increase support for monitoring activities and creating a sustainable partnership that will last well beyond the life of this project and support environmental and social justice.

This project gathered community member’s perspectives and preferences to inform drivers of community level vulnerability, and will be used to assess physical and social flood vulnerability in Madison. Surveys and interviews were conducted to support a community-based participatory research framework approach, directly engaging individuals and organizations to understand flooding concerns. The survey was virtually disseminated through email listservs. Printed flyers were posted at local public libraries and businesses with community boards. A member of the research team attended the Dane County farmers market hosted at the capitol square to engage community members directly, answer questions, and hand out flyers. They also attended a bilingual community event hosted by Wisconsin Ecolatinos at the UW Arboretum. In total, 745 surveys were returned with 459 fully completed (all questions answered.)

This project will directly contribute to development of social vulnerability indicators to identify flood based vulnerable communities and potentially inform holistic flood management practices in Madison. We will compare this index with both standard and flood focused social vulnerability indices and evaluate spatial similarity in census derived versus community informed vulnerability to flooding in Madison. Through our multiple types of delivery and engagement with respondents we learned that communities are greatly interested in both the results of this work and opportunities to be involved in local decision making. We intend for an executive summary of these findings to be shared with our community partners and disseminated back to the community. We believe this work has the potential to impact local policy by informing decision makers about infrastructural deficits, neighborhood level needs to improve adaptive capacity, and support community involvement in decision making.

Researchers employed a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative data analysis with qualitative community engagement. Key elements included (1) Evaluating the effectiveness of hydropanel technology as a water source, (2) Investigating historical governance decisions impacting water access and (3) Assessing community trust and potential for future infrastructure development. Researchers focused on establishing strong connections with the community built on trust. The allowed for more nuanced insights, especially after the partnering nonprofit stepped back. The foundation of trust allowed for continued, authentic community engagement emphasizing transparency and reciprocity, as researchers shared findings that directly benefited residents.

The research benefited Sandbranch residents directly through knowledge sharing and indirectly by raising awareness of their situation. It also provided valuable lessons for addressing water access issues in similar marginalized communities across Texas and Wisconsin, emphasizing the importance of community trust, systemic accountability, and holistic solutions beyond technological interventions. The project yielded significant impacts in the following ways:

1. Revealed limitations of technological solutions: Hydropanels produced only 1-2 gallons daily, proving inadequate for household needs.

2. Enhanced community knowledge: Clarified water treatment distinctions and assisted in locating an unmarked cemetery that marked the community's origins. This cemetery, containing graves of former residents dating back to 1912, provided crucial historical context and deepened the community's understanding of its roots.

3. Contributed to environmental justice scholarship: Provided insights into the interplay between technology, governance, and community needs.

4. Informed policy discussions: Highlighted the necessity of comprehensive, community-centered approaches to water access challenges.

5. Leveraged additional funding: Secured support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, expanding the project's scope and impact.

Abby Sunde worked with community members for several weeks over the summer to define a data management plan, provide training on ecologcal and hydrological data collection and conduct field sampling. Ms. Sunde and Mr. Siemering arranged a 2 day training trip to Trout Lake Station where eight community members received additional training. The project also supported additional air- and water-focused sampling and observation activities requested by community partners.

The project helped contribute to the capacity of an active and engaged community group to document ecological and hydrological conditions in the local aquatic ecosystem. Training was provided to eight community members on aspects of water and sediment sample collection and measurement of environmental parameters. This education will allow the group to better gather rich and robust environmental data to describe environmental conditions and associated effects human activities, management and extraction activities.