Little Manitowoc River

Friends of the Manitowoc River Watershed and Lakeshore Invasive Species Management Area

The Little Manitowoc Conservancy encompasses more than 2.5 miles of stream and 232-acres of adjacent habitat and is owned by the City of Manitowoc. Two community parks (Indian Creek Park and Lincoln Park Zoo) and one special use facility (Little Manitowoc River Walkway and Prairie) are located within the project area. The Little Manitowoc coastal wetland drains directly into Lake Michigan.

LNRP has developed a complete habitat assessment of the wetlands that quantify existing impairments of the wetland and establishes benchmark water quality, avian, and fish analysis. The habitat analysis shows 15 unique habitat types in the project area. We have collected three years of water quality data with a final round planned for 2021. We established benchmark data for avian species completing both a marsh bird survey and songbird survey in Spring 2015 and repeated in 2016.  We collaborated with Wisconsin Sea Grant to perform fish surveys in 2015 and 2016. We have completed a full invasive species management plan and treated non-native Phragmites for three years from 2013-2015.

 A conceptual plan was put in place for the coastal wetland restoration that was based on input from the appropriate stakeholders including representatives from the WDNR, US Fish and Wildlife, Ducks Unlimited, the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association, the Lakeshore Invasive Species Management Area, Friends of the Manitowoc River Watershed, and the City of Manitowoc. Construction began in the summer of 2018 but due to high lake levels required hydraulic dredging to remove sediment. The re-meander of the streambed to the original channel was completed along with the construction of the diversion berm. Materials were held in “dewatering” bags at the staging site until dry. These materials were moved in November 2018. Final landscaping and additional habitat structures were installed in Fall 2019 and Spring / Summer 2020.