Harbor District Water Projects Manager Lindsay Frost
To help protect Milwaukee’s inner-harbor fish population and habitats, which can be damaged by sheet piling (vertical sections of interlocking metal material), the Harbor District has implemented a creative solution: “fish harbor hotels”—structures that provide food and a respite for fish, such as sunfish, blue gills and bass.
The organization has brought the community on board, working on the project with several area schools, including Bradley Tech High School and Christ-St. Peter Lutheran School. Grants supplied by Sweetwater and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation enabled the initial start-up phase, which began last year. So far, 17 hotels have been installed near the Becher Street Bridge and the Bruce Street Boat Ramp in Walker’s Point, with more installations expected in the coming year.
Off the Cuff caught up with Harbor District Water Projects Manager Lindsay Frost to ask her a few questions about fish harbor hotels.
How did the fish harbor hotels project come about?
I was brought in to the inner harbor, where the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic Rivers meet, to look at problems and the project area; 90% of the inner harbor is vertical walls—it’s just essentially an open bathtub.
Steel sheet pilings promote shipping and protect properties from erosion, but they can damage fish habitats, and fish have to pass through the inner harbor to get to Lake Michigan. Harbor hotels are not created to be homes; we’re not building places for fish to move into. They’re just places for fish to hang out and get a snack.
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How are the hotels constructed? What materials are they made of?
Hotels consist of two fryer baskets bought from restaurant supply stores and little shelves—like those on a bookshelf. Baskets are filled with soil, gravel and native aquatic plants. Crayfish perch on top of the shelves, and fish swim below the structure. Everything is underwater and connected to a 10-12-foot pole. These hotels serve as cropping structures as well. Fish can go underneath them. Above the water, there is artwork—silhouettes of native fish.
The Harbor District has been working with several area elementary schools on this project. Can you talk a little bit about this experience so far?
Welding students at Bradley Tech did all the cutting and drilling for these structures. Some students were really excited about this project. Teachers, such as Mark Hoedel at Bradley Tech, feel it’s much more meaningful for kids to make a project that will benefit the area environment. We introduce students at Christ-St. Peter elementary school to food webs, ecology, etc. Students go on field trips to the inner harbor and help plant native plants in the fryer baskets.
The kids come up with ways to help fish in urban environments. It’s really interesting to hear the ideas that fifth grade students come up with—a mix of practical and creative. Some ideas, like cutting chambers underwater so fish have caves to swim in and sinking baskets down to the bottom of the water, are ingenious. Some kids would like to add lights and color to the structures.
What are your future plans for the fish harbor hotels?
The grants we received have helped us work with area schools on this project, which we plan to continue doing. Our goal is to build 40 hotels in two years. We should have about 50 hotels total installed in Milwaukee by the end of next summer.
