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During a visit to Juneau Lagoon along Milwaukee’s lakefront on Saturday, U.S. Congresswoman Gwen Moore met with representatives from the Department of Natural Resources and local environmental groups to talk about the importance of protecting habitat for birds as they travel along the Lake Michigan coast.
Under Wisconsin’s State Wildlife Grants program, several projects across the state receive state and federal funding to support projects that help keep at-risk species from becoming endangered. One of the projects to receive funding this year is a program to protect and manage migratory bird stopover sites in the Lake Michigan basin. Several of these sites are located along Milwaukee’s lakeshore.
“The parklands along Lake Michigan are very attractive to migrating birds,” Moore said, adding that “these stopover sites provide a much needed place for birds to stop, eat, rest and gain strength for the rest of their migration.
“As a member of Congress, it is my job to be a leader in the charge to nurture, utilize and protect Lake Michigan, as well as the environment as a whole. Our Wildlife Action Plan outlines actions that Wisconsinites can take to conserve wildlife and natural places before they become rarer and more costly to protect.”
Earlier this year Representative Moore, along with 167 of her colleagues in Congress, signed a letter requesting $85 million in federal funding for the State Wildlife Grants Program, up from $60 million last year. This funding supports state programs to protect wildlife before at-risk species become endangered and while it is cost-effective. This year, using a mix of federal and state funds totaling $1.5 million, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources was able to fund 29 programs, including a project to protect bird migrating sites in the Lakes Michigan and Superior basins.
The Great Lakes region--particularly the shoreline area--plays a crucial role for millions of migrating birds. The region is part of a global network of sites that ultimately links breeding grounds as far north as Greenland to wintering grounds as far south as Argentina's Tierra del Fuego.
“Several conservation organizations and agencies in the Great Lakes, including The Nature Conservancy, recognize that integrating protection of stopover sites with protection of breeding areas and wintering areas must be undertaken to protect migratory birds,” according to DNR Avian Ecologist Sumner Matteson.
He noted that migration may be part of the life cycle in which birds are most vulnerable. This is compounded by the rapid loss of stopover habitat due to changes in land use, which threatens migratory bird populations in the Great Lakes region because the pace of human alteration may exceed the time needed by birds to adapt. Matteson said the State of Wisconsin has an opportunity through the State Wildlife Grant program to work with The Nature Conservancy and other partners to compile and synthesize information on Great Lakes' stopover sites for migrating birds and recommend and implement actions to protect these stopover sites and habitats on Lakes Michigan and Superior.
In addition to the Juneau Lagoon and Veteran’s Park, other Lake Michigan stopover sites identified in the Milwaukee area include Lake Park, McKinley Park, the Inner Harbor at the mouth of the Kinnickinnic River, South Shore Park and the Shorewood Nature Preserve.
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