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Menomonee Valley
Greening the Valley: Groundwork Milwaukee collaborated with Menomonee Valley Partners, AmeriCorps*NCCC and Milwaukee Community Service Corps in planting over 8,000 “emergent aquatics” in the Stormwater Park, in the western portion of the Menomonee Valley. These specialized plants will absorb large volumes of water, allowing this reconstructed wetland to handle a 100-year flood.
Installing stone steps between Canal street and the Park will make the area more accessible. Cutting a new section of the Hank Aaron State Trail south of the River (to be opened in 2007), planting hundreds of shrubs and trees and setting up a plant nursery for the future rounded out the projects. Groundwork Milwaukee especially thanks Nancy Aten for training the team.
The western Menomonee Valley was once the largest railroad repair shop in the country, and had been contaminated with petroleum products, arsenic and asbestos. When the railroad moved on, the land was considered Wisconsin’s largest brownfield – or polluted site. It has now been cleaned up – or remediated, and has 70 acres of land available as an industrial park, 25 acres of park space (including 3 soccer fields and the Hank Aaron State Trail) and 50 acres of natural area. (Please see renewthevalley.org for more information).
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