Village committee backs Friends group to seek grants for Shorewood Nature Preserve restoration
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Summary
The Community & Business Relations Committee recommended approval of a Friends group donation application that lets Surfrider Foundation and local partners submit grant proposals to restore and manage the Shorewood Nature Preserve; the partners say the plan covers about 6.5 acres and would take roughly five years to implement.
The Community & Business Relations Committee recommended approval of a Friends-group donation request that will allow the Friends of the Shorewood Nature Preserve, the Surfrider Foundation and local partners to apply for grants to restore and manage the preserve.
Rebecca, a village staff member, told the committee the partners are not requesting village funds but seek the village’s cooperation on communications, public involvement and site access so they can pursue outside grant funding. She said one near-term deadline is the Restore America’s Estuaries grant with an April 17 deadline and that she would provide a letter of support contingent on the application later coming back to the committee and the village board for formal approval.
“Surfrider would be the lead applicant on grants and would administer awards, do reporting and compliance,” Rebecca said, describing the division of roles the partners will take. Carla, Surfrider’s climate action program manager, said grant budgets would include compensation for Surfrider staff time to manage the awards and funds for local stewardship activities.
Roland Schrader, speaking for the Friends group, summarized the site’s history and volunteer stewardship. “We feel proud of the many improvements in this space, but we’ve reached a point where we need outside professional assistance to accomplish the plan which has been approved by the village,” he said.
Mike Merrick of Merrick Landscaping, the project’s design lead, described the land-management concept: removing hazardous trees, addressing major erosion, improving formal access points, and planting native vegetation. He said the team plans to install roughly 10,000 native plugs (about 100 woody species), create ephemeral pools to help frogs and salamanders, expand bird habitat, and restore native flora to support migration.
Merrick provided modeled environmental estimates for the conceptual plan: about a 3.5 million gallon annual reduction in stormwater runoff to Lake Michigan and roughly 37 fewer pounds of phosphorus per year. He said the project would restore approximately 6.5 acres and that full restoration and construction work would take about five years from the start of implementation.
Trustees questioned whether the group would be tied to Merrick Landscaping for implementation. One trustee asked why the Friends group would not keep bidding open to other vendors. Carla responded that having a technical design team on board makes grant applications more competitive and that, depending on the design, larger implementation work could be publicly bid. She also said Merrick would step away from any village votes on the project to avoid conflict-of-interest concerns.
A trustee moved to approve the Friends-group donation request so the partners can submit grant applications and bring projects back to the committee and board for review as funding is secured. The motion was seconded and passed by voice vote.
The committee’s recommendation will go to the full village board for final approval and to support any applications with a formal letter of support, consistent with the partners’ stated timeline.
