Clean Lakes Grants awarded to local initiatives
Since Clean Lakes Alliance’s founding in 2010, the organization has awarded more than $1.4 million in grants. The grants fund a variety of lake-related projects and practices. This year, Clean Lakes Alliance awarded $100,000 in grants to community groups around our watershed looking to make a difference for our lakes. Below is an update on how some of those organizations have used the funds.
Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood Association
The Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood Association is the benefactor of nearly $1,000 of $10,000 earmarked for Community Mini Grants. The group held a community-wide educational event called “Lake Wingra Watershed Gathering” in 2022. The educational event promotes a variety of at-home actions and highlighted its recently created rain garden.
Friends of Nolen Waterfront Association
Charged with holding a design contest to reimagine the John Nolen Drive causeway and waterfront, this group received a $10,000 grant from Clean Lakes Alliance to help facilitate the public input process. The new Master Plan will follow the John Nolen Drive reconstruction project starting in 2026. Learn more about the Friends of Nolen Waterfront Association.
Warner Park Community & Recreation Center
Each year, Madison Parks runs its Kids Need Opportunities at Warner (KNOW) program. The program provides youth the chance to explore and enjoy our lakes in ways that might not otherwise be available to them. Clean Lakes Alliance provided a $10,000 grant to this program to expand lake-related opportunities. This summer, the grant provided several students their first fishing experiences on boats and from shore.
Friends of San Damiano
Recently purchased by the City of Monona, the Friends of San Damiano received a $10,000 grant for community engagement and master planning of the approximately 10-acre piece of property along Lake Monona. In the summer of 2022, the Friends of San Damiano and the City of Monona hosted a number of activities on the property. The events helped gather feedback to help develop a vision for the new public space. The initial phase of community input will continue until the end of 2022. Then, an engineering firm will create conceptual plans geared toward the second round of public input in early 2023.
Dane County Land & Water Resources Department
Converting the newly-acquired, 160-acre, former agricultural land in the Pheasant Branch Conservancy to a “platinum prairie” requires a large diversity of native plants. Clean Lakes Alliance granted $25,000 toward this year’s planting, which took place in April. The planting covered the second of four quadrants in the new property. Learn more about Pheasant Branch Conservancy’s restoration.
Pheasants Forever
Clean Lakes Alliance awarded Pheasants Forever $1,000 as part of a five-year, $5,000 commitment for an agriculture and conservation specialist. The position works with private landowners and partners to identify and promote conservation practices on farmland that is not currently making a profit. Having this position has helped improve relationships in the watershed. The position is also bringing new business partners into the conversation to help spread conservation practices.
