Parks Awards Contract for Franklin Habitat Restoration Project

Milwaukee County Parks has selected GEI Consultants, Inc. to help it restore 90 acres of farmland to natural prairie and forest.

GEI Consultants is an engineering and environmental consultant with offices across North America. The firm will help Parks restore agricultural land to natural areas in the Root River Parkway, returning native plants that support local wildlife.

Near the intersection of W. Oakwood Rd. and west of S. 27th St. in Franklin are 90 acres of field that have been farmed for the past 100 years. Parks plans to restore native prairie habitat to approximately 58 acres, and riparian and upland forest habitat in the other 32 acres.

Parks is funding the project through a grant from the Sustain Our Great Lakes program of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation — the largest private wildlife foundation in the U.S.

The long-term goals for restoring the fields to natural areas are to reduce agricultural sediment and fertilizer runoff and restore habitats for native pollinators. When polluted stormwater runs-off into local rivers, like the Root River, the pollutants eventually empty into Lake Michigan. The department also expects the project will better support habitats for wildlife like prairie crayfish, monarch butterfly, rusty patched bumble bee and unicorn clubtail, a species of dragonfly.

The project is scheduled to start this year and finish in 2028.