Photo credit: Tony Savino
The dam within the Milwaukee River in Kletzsch Park
A sinuous dam within the Milwaukee River in Glendale’s Kletzsch Park forms a gentle waterfall. Fly-fishers often wade downstream from it. A bluff with ancient oak trees draws many visitors to three benches and a picnic table. Even on a brisk day last week, a steady parade of pedestrians walked the trail between the river’s west bank and the Milwaukee River Parkway.
This riverfront overlook might soon be erased and replaced.
Several Milwaukee County residents said at a recent Milwaukee County Board hearing that this spot’s natural beauty is unlike anything else in the county, but it will be destroyed if proposed drastic changes are executed.
The Milwaukee River Parkway, which winds through Kletzsch Park, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The dam, a Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps project, is a contributing feature of the parkway’s register listing. Created in 1918, Kletzsch Park also encompasses much of Indian Prairie. In 1855, pioneering Milwaukee scientist Increase Lapham documented Indian Prairie as a tribal ceremonial burial ground, with effigies, conical and intaglio mounds.
The staff of Milwaukee County and Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) have proposed major renovations to the bluff, adjacent land and water, as well as the continued maintenance of the dam, which remains in good condition. The entire project could cost up to $2 million. An estimated $165,000 from the county budget will fund dam repairs, which is matched by DNR funding. Additional grants, including funding from federal sources, will cover other elements of the project.
Guy Smith, executive director of Milwaukee County Parks, outlined the project in a memo to the county board requesting funds for the project’s final design. He said the only “required” elements are repairs to the dam’s east bank and clearing of vegetation near abutments. An optional “in-river fish passage” would make it easier for native fish to swim upstream, thus improving their habitat and the river’s ecology. Other objectives include increasing river access for persons with disabilities, replacing a canoe and kayak portage area, improving fishing access and creating a new viewing area and overlook. Smith’s memo did not list among project goals the preservation of the site’s existing landscape character.
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After public outcry about the original Kletzsch proposal in January 2019, a revised design no longer would remove mature oak trees along the bluff. Hackberry trees and other vegetation would be removed, and new vegetation planted. A massive amount of soil would be excavated.
Jim Uhrinak, a consulting arborist representing the Milwaukee Audubon Society, testified at the Milwaukee County Board’s Parks, Energy and Environment Committee in October that the intense disturbance of mature tree roots would predictably cause half of the open-grown bur oaks to be in serious trouble within five to eight years. “I’ve seen disastrous impacts over and over,” said Uhrinak, even as project planners often said they never expected such outcomes. In response, Karl Stave, Milwaukee County’s lead engineer for the project, said that three mature oaks might need to be removed, based on DNR criteria. In that case, that would be a bombshell.
Project Will Adversely Affect a National Register Asset
When federal funding is used in a project for a property on the National Register, a review process called Section 106 of the Historic Preservation Act of 1966 determines whether that property may be adversely affected. “Adverse effects” diminish characteristics qualifying a property for inclusion in the National Register, according to the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. A finding of adverse effects requires further consultation about how to resolve them.
Multiple consulting parties participate in Section 106 reviews, starting with the respective State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). According to a recent four-page letter from the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Felipe Avila, Kletzsch Park’s revised “project plans…will result in an adverse effect.”
Inexplicably, Stave told the county’s Parks, Energy and Environment Committee that the SHPO “has given us an OK” for the proposed project. Wisconsin’s SHPO does not have authority to approve projects. Instead, SHPO will continue to consult with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other parties about how to mitigate anticipated adverse effects.
Glendale’s Historic Preservation Commission must also review and approve the project.
Preserving ‘a Very Sacred Site’
Supervisors on the parks committee posed pointed questions about the project, including questions about community response to the plan. Sarah Toomsen, manager of planning and development for Milwaukee County Parks, declined to “characterize public opinion about the dam” and referred supervisors to an FAQ statement, which is posted online.
Supervisor Felesia Martin inquired about engagement with tribal communities, which is also required. Stacy Hron, a DNR water specialist, said a letter had been sent to tribal entities with cultural interests in Milwaukee County, but that no responses had yet been received. Martin said it “would not be satisfactory” to rely solely on one letter without secondary efforts to communicate, especially in situations involving burial mounds.
Several citizens voiced major concerns to supervisors. Some suggested “cheaper and less destructive” alternatives to proposed plans. Peter Thornquist, a lifelong Milwaukee County resident, opposed destruction of “this rare bluff that was originally part of Indian Prairie.” Thornquist said, “All efforts should be made to address the ecological area of concern and passing fish without destroying this beautiful natural heritage, a rare remnant of an oak savanna, and a very sacred site.”
Another citizen, Wendy Walcott, said the lure of federal and state money has driven an order for simple repairs to “become a hugely expensive and destructive project that will damage the very bones of the river it pretends to remediate.” Walcott said attendees at a September public information meeting were not allowed to speak publicly, and that county and DNR staff “remained firmly in control” of the flow of information. Attendees wrote questions on cards, of which a few were selected for responses by officials. The parks committee voted unanimously to delay a vote on the funding request until December to gather more information.
A Pattern of Harming Historic Assets
Previous projects have adversely affected historic resources in Milwaukee County Parks, which have been deemed eligible for the National Register as a park system. Replacement bridges along Honey Creek Parkway and the Kinnickinnic River Parkway did not retain the park system’s historic character when they were constructed in 2007 and 2009.
Milwaukee County and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation were required to commission a two-part study about historic park assets, “to both mitigate, in part, for those losses and chart a different course for the future.” The “Milwaukee County Parkway Inventory,” completed in 2012, was followed in 2013 by the “Milwaukee County Parks and Parkways Historic Properties Management Plan.” Both reports were prepared by architects, engineers and historians at Mead & Hunt.
The management plan specifies how to preserve the integrity of park structures, roads, trails and landscape and water features. For example, a section on topography says, “construction of new features in parks should not lead to adverse effects to existing landforms and topography that help define the historic character of the system. In particular…dramatic changes to topography should be avoided.”
